10th Grade Literary Terms

Fiction

Structure
• Chronological: The storyline follows the literal, sequential order of events.
• In medias res: "In the middle[s] of things"): The classical tradition of opening
an epic not in the chronological point at which the sequence of events would
start, but rather at the midway point of the story. Later on in the narrative,
the hero will recount verbally to others what events took place earlier. Usually
in medias res is a technique used to heighten dramatic tension or to create a
sense of mystery (http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_I.html)

Specific Literary Example:

_______________________________________________________________

• Flashback: A method of narration in which present action is temporarily

interrupted so that the reader can witness past events--usually in the form of
a character's memories, dreams, narration, or even authorial commentary
(such as saying, "But back when King Arthur had been a child. . . .").
Flashback allows an author to fill in the reader about a place or a character, or
it can be used to delay important details until just before a dramatic moment.
(http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_I.html)

Specific Literary Example:

_______________________________________________________________

• Frame narrative: The result of inserting one or more small stories within the
body of a larger story that encompasses the smaller ones
(http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_I.html)

Specific Literary Example:

_______________________________________________________________
Style

• Diction: An author’s word choice. To discuss a writer’s diction is to consider

the vocabulary used, the appropriateness of the words, and the vividness of
the language. Diction may be formal or informal and conversational.

Specific Literary Examples:

Formal:___________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Informal/Conversational:_____________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
• Syntax: the standard word order and sentence structure of a language, as
opposed to diction (the actual choice of words) or content (the meaning of
individual words). http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_I.html)

Specific Literary Example:

_______________________________________________________________

• Tone: The writer’s attitude toward his or her audience and subject. The tone
can often be described by a single adjective, such as ‘formal’ or ‘informal,’
‘serious’ or ‘playful.’

Specific Literary Examples:

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Tone of this example: ________________________________________

• Mood: The feeling created in a reader by a literary work or passage.

Specific Literary Examples:

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Mood created: _____________________________

• Point of view: The perspective from which a story is told. If the narrator is
part of the action, the story is told from the first-person point of view. We see
and know only what the character telling the story sees and knows. In a story
told by a third-person, the narrator is someone outside the action. An
omniscient third-person narrator is all-knowing; the narrator knows more
about he characters and events than any one character can know. A limited
third-person narrator tells only the thoughts and feelings of one character.

Specific Literary Examples:

First-person:
_________________________________________________________________

Third-person:
_________________________________________________________________

Omniscient third-person:
_________________________________________________________________
 Limited third-person:
_________________________________________________________________

Irony: The general term for literary techniques that portray differences between
appearance and reality, expectation and result, or meaning and intention.

• Dramatic irony: There is a contradiction between what a character thinks

and what the reader or audience knows to be true.

Specific Literary Example:_____________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

• Verbal irony: Words are used to suggest the opposite of what is meant.

Specific Literary Example:____________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

• Situational irony: An event occurs that directly contradicts the expectations

of the characters, the readers, or the audience.

Specific Literary Example:____________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

• Understatement: The opposite of exaggeration.

Specific Literary Example:

_______________________________________________________________________

Theme

• Motif: A conspicuous recurring element, such as a type of incident, a device,

a reference, or verbal formula, which appears frequently in works of literature.
(http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_M.html#meiosis_anchor)

Specific Literary Example:

_______________________________________________________________________

• Archetype: An original model or pattern from which other later copies are
made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent
common patterns of human life. Often, archetypes include a symbol, a theme,
a setting, or a character that some critics think have a common meaning in an
 entire culture, or even the entire human race.
(http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html)

Specific Literary Example:

_______________________________________________________________________

• Fable: A brief story illustrating human tendencies through animal characters.

Unlike the parables, fables often include talking animals or animated objects
as the principal characters. The interaction of these animals or objects reveals
general truths about human nature, i.e., a person can learn practical lessons
from the fictional antics in a fable.
(http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html)

Specific Literary Example:

_______________________________________________________________________

• Parable: A simple, brief narrative that teaches a lesson by using characters

and events to stand for abstract ideas.

Specific Literary Example:___________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Characterization

• Direct characterization: The author directly states a character’s traits.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Indirect characterization: The author shows a character’s personality

through his or her actions, thoughts, feelings, words, and appearances or
through another character’s observations and reactions.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________
Humor

• Wit: Elements in a literary work designed to make the audience laugh or feel
amused, i.e., the term is used synonymously with humor. In seventeenth-
century usage, the term wit much more broadly denotes originality, ingenuity,
and mental acuity--especially in the sense of using paradoxes, making clever
 verbal expressions, and coining concise phrases.
(http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html)

Specific Literary Example:

________________________________________________________________________

• Sarcasm: Another term for verbal irony--the act of ostensibly saying one
thing but meaning another (http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html)

Specific Literary Example:

________________________________________________________________________

• Malapropism: Misusing words to create a comic effect or characterize the

speaker as being too confused, ignorant, or flustered to use correct diction.

(http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_M.html)

Specific Literary Example:

________________________________________________________________________

• Dark humor: Making light of typically morbid events or subjects.

Specific Literary Example:

________________________________________________________________________

• Innuendo/Double entendres: Expressions or comments that indirectly carry

the suggestion of something improper

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Parody: A comical piece of writing that mocks the characteristics of a specific

literary form. Through exaggeration of the types of ideas, language, tone, or
action in a type of literature or a specific work, a parody calls attention to the
ridiculous aspects of its subject.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

Nonfiction/Argument
Rhetoric (art of argumentation and discourse)/Rhetorical strategies
• Claims: An assertion that presents an argument from a personal point of view
Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Counterclaims: An assertion, from the opposite point of view, that refutes

the original claim

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Bias: A personal preference or inclination that is the result of personal

emotion, situation, or experience; subjective

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Case study: A real-life example that supports or proves a claim/counterclaim

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Analogy: Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise

dissimilar.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Logical reasoning: Drawing a conclusion or supporting an argument without

the use of personal emotion or bias. The three main types of logical reasoning
are induction (see below), deduction (see below), and abduction (using
the conclusion of an event to prove the preexisting condition—example: ‘The
grass is wet. The grass becomes wet after it rains; therefore, it must have
rained.’)

Specific Literary Example:

______________________________________________________________________

• Rhetorical questions: Questions that are meant to provoke thought, not a

literal answer, from an audience.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________
(Honors only)
• Pathos: creating an emotional reaction within the audience

Specific Literary Example:

________________________________________________________________________

• Ethos: projecting an understanding, trustworthy, or charismatic image

Specific Literary Example:

________________________________________________________________________

• Logos: using logical arguments such as induction or deduction

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Logical fallacies (basic intro): Fallacies are statements that might sound
reasonable or superficially true but are actually flawed or dishonest. When
readers detect them, these logical fallacies backfire by making the audience
think the writer is (a) unintelligent or (b) deceptive. It is important to avoid
them in your own arguments, and it is also important to be able to spot them
in others' arguments so a false line of reasoning won't fool you.

Specific Literary Example:

________________________________________________________________________

• Induction: The logical assumption or process of assuming that what is true

for a single specimen or example is also true for other specimens or examples
of the same type. For instance, if a geologist found a type of stone called
adamantium, and he discovered that it was very hard and durable, he could
assume through induction that other stones of adamantium are also very hard
and durable

Specific Literary Example:

________________________________________________________________________

• Deduction: The process of logic in which a thinker takes a rule for a large,
general category and assumes that specific individual examples fitting within
that general category obey the same rule. For instance, a general rule might
be that "Objects made of iron rust." When the logician then encounters a
shovel made of iron, he can assume deductively that the shovel made of iron
will also rust just as other iron objects do. This process is the opposite of
induction.

Specific Literary Example:

 ________________________________________________________________________Poetry

Sound Patterns

• Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds. Writers use

alliteration to give emphasis to words, to imitate sounds, and to create
musical effects.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants

in two or more stressed syllables.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Consonance: The repetition of similar consonant sounds at the ends of

accented syllables. Consonance is used to create musical effects and to
emphasize particular words.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• End rhyme: Rhyme in which the last word at the end of each verse is the
word that rhymes

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Internal rhyme: A word in the middle of a line rhymes with a word at the
end of the same metrical line

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________
 • Cacophony: (Greek, "bad sound") The term in poetry refers to the use of
words that combine sharp, harsh, hissing, or unmelodious sounds. The
opposite of euphony.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Euphony: (from Greek "good sound") Attempting to group words together

harmoniously, so that the consonants permit an easy and pleasing flow of
sound when spoken

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Shift: Any slight alteration in a word's meaning, or the creation of an entirely

new word by changing the use of an expression

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Blank verse: Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

Figurative Language

• Connotation: The connotation of a word is the set of ideas associated with it

in addition to its explicit meaning. The connotation of a word can be personal,
based on individual experiences, but more often, cultural connotations—those
recognizable by most people in a group—determine a writer’s word choice.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Denotation: The denotation of a word is its dictionary meaning, independent

of other associations that the word may have. The denotation of the word
lake, for example, is an inland body of water.
 Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Metaphor: A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it

were something else. Unlike a simile, which compares two things, compares
two things using like or as, a metaphor implies a comparison between them.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Simile: A figure of speech in which like or as is used to make a comparison

between two unlike ideas.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Personification: A nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Synecdoche: A part of an object representing the whole, or the whole of an

object representing a part. For instance, a writer might state, "Twenty eyes
watched our every move." Rather than implying that twenty disembodied
eyes are swiveling to follow him as he walks by, she means that ten people
watched the group's every move. When a captain calls out, "All hands on
deck," he wants the whole sailors, not just their hands

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Hyperbole: A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement; often used for comic

effect.

Specific Literary Example:

 _________________________________________________________________

• Paradox/Oxymoron: Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes

sense on a deeper level. Common paradoxes seem to reveal a deeper truth
through their contradictions, such as noting that "without laws, we can have
no freedom." Shakespeare's Julius Caesar also makes use of a famous
paradox: "Cowards die many times before their deaths" (2.2.32).

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Metonymy: Using a vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more

general idea. Some examples of metonymy are using the metonym crown in
reference to royalty or the entire royal family, or stating "the pen is mightier
than the sword" to suggest that the power of education and writing is more
potent for changing the world than military force.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Extended metaphor: In an extended metaphor, as in a regular metaphor, a

subject is described as though it were something else. However, an extended
metaphor differs from a regular metaphor in that several comparisons are
made. Extended metaphors sustain the comparison for several lines or for an
entire poem.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

Fixed Forms

• Narrative: A poem that tells a story.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Lyric: A lyric poem is a musical verse that expresses the observations and
feelings of a single speaker. Lyric poems have a musical quality achieved
through rhythm and such other devices as alliteration and rhyme.
 Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Sonnet: A 14-line lyric poem, usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Ballad: A ballad is a narrative poem consisting of quatrains of iambic

tetrameter alternating with iambic trimeter. Common traits of the ballad are
that (a) the beginning is often abrupt, (b) the story is told through dialogue
and action (c) the language is simple or "folksy," (d) the theme is often
tragic--though comic ballads do exist, and (e) the ballad contains a refrain
repeated several times.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Ode: A long, often elaborate stanzaic poem of varying line lengths and
sometimes intricate rhyme schemes dealing with a serious subject matter and
treating it reverently. The ode is usually much longer than the song or lyric,
but usually not as long as the epic poem. Conventionally, many odes are
written or dedicated to a specific subject.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

Drama

• Tragic hero: A privileged, respected, and glorified character of upstanding

reputation, who, by virtue of a tragic flaw and fate, suffers a fall from glory
into suffering (http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com)

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Deus ex machine: An unrealistic or unexpected intervention to rescue the

protagonists or resolve the story's conflict (http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com)
 Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Recognition: The point at which a character understands his or her situation

as it really is (http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com)

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Reversal: The point at which the action of the plot turns in an unexpected
direction for the protagonist (http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com)

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Epiphany: A character’s sudden realization or understanding of the meaning

or truth about something

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Catharsis: The purging (release) of the feelings of pity and fear that,
according to Aristotle, occur in the audience of tragic drama. The audience
experiences catharsis at the end of the play, following the catastrophe
(http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com)

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Hamartia: A character’s flaw and/or limitation

Specific Literary Example:

 _________________________________________________________________

• Hubris: Excessive pride and/or self-confidence; arrogance. In Greek

tragedies, hubris in a character often provokes the gods into retribution

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Chorus: A group of characters in Greek tragedy (and in later forms of drama),

who comment on the action of a play without participation in it
(http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com)

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Aside: Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, which are not
"heard" by the other characters on stage during a play
(http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com)

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Romantic comedy: A story about romance presented in a light-hearted and

humorous plotline.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• High comedy: Comedy that is sophisticated and clever; often pokes fun at
the upper classes

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________
• Low comedy: Comedy based on crude or low-class subject matter; slapstick

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________

• Comic relief: The use of humor in a comic scene to temporarily relieve an

otherwise tense/serious situation.

Specific Literary Example:

_________________________________________________________________