1. Literary Terms Copy these terms and definitions into your notes. As we read this year, you will be asked to find examples of these terms in the novels. More terms will be added as well. American Literature 11 Miss Kuffa

2. Allegory ▪A story that represents abstract ideas or moral qualities. An allegory has both a literal and a symbolic level of meaning.

3. Allusion ▪A reference to a person, place, poem, book, event, etc., which is not part of the story, that the author expects the reader will recognize.

4. Anti-Hero ▪The main character in a book who lacks the usual heroic qualities such as courage, wisdom, self-sacrifice, etc.; the opposite of the traditional hero.

5. Bias ▪A particular tendency or inclination, especially one that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question; prejudice.

6. Climax ▪The point of greatest dramatic tension or excitement in a story. – The middle (top) of the plot diagram: ▪Exposition/Introduction ▪Rising Action ▪Climax ▪Falling Action ▪Resolution/Denouement

7. Connotation ▪The associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning. – The opposite is denotation: the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression. ▪Explicit: fully and clearly expressed or demonstrated; leaving nothing merely implied; unequivocal ▪Implicit: implied, rather than expressly stated

8. Cultural Significance ▪Cultural significance means aesthetic, historic, scientific, social or spiritual value for past, present or future generations. Cultural significance is embodied in the place itself, its fabric, setting, use, associations, meanings, records, related places and related objects. Places may have a range of values for different individuals or groups.

9. Figurative Language ▪Speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning; speech or writing employing figures of speech. – Two of the most common are: ▪Simile: A comparison between two different things using like or as. ▪Metaphor: A comparison of two things that are basically dissimilar in which one is described in terms of the other.

10. Flashback ▪A scene that interrupts the ongoing action in a story to show an event that happened earlier.

11. Foreshadowing ▪The use of hints or clues in a story to suggest what action is to come. Foreshadowing is frequently used to create interest and build suspense.

12. Frame Story ▪A secondary story or stories embedded in the main story; a narrative providing the framework for connecting a series of otherwise unrelated stories.

13. Genre ▪A literary genre is a category of literary composition. ▪Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even (as in the case of fiction) length. ▪ The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups.

14. Hero ▪The central character, usually one who possesses noble qualities such as self-sacrifice, courage, wisdom, etc.

15. Imagery ▪The use of words to evoke impressions and meanings that are more than just the basic, accepted definitions of the words themselves. – Based on the five senses: – Touch: tactile – Taste: gustatory – Sight: visual – Hearing: auditory – Smell: olfactory

16. Inference ▪The act of drawing a conclusion that is not actually stated by the author.

17. In Medias Res ▪A Latin expression that means “beginning in the middle of the action.”

18. Irony ▪A perception of inconsistency, sometimes humorous, in which the significance and understanding of a statement or event is changed by its context. – Dramatic Irony: The audience or reader knows more about a character’s situation than the character does and knows that the character’s understanding is incorrect. – Structural Irony: The use of a naïve hero, whose incorrect perceptions differ from the reader’s correct ones. – Verbal Irony: A discrepancy between what is said and what is really meant; sarcasm.

19. Mood ▪The emotional aspect of the work, which contributes to the feeling the reader gets from the book.

20. Motif ▪A situation, incident, idea, or image that is repeated significantly in a literary work.

21. Naif ▪An innocent; a person unfamiliar with and unaware of the dangers and temptations of the world.

22. Narrator ▪The one who tells the story. – The narrator must not be confused with “author,” the one who writes the story. – If the narrator is a character in the book, the proper term is “first-person narration.”

23. Naturalism ▪A literary movement that began in the late nineteenth century, which emphasized that man was as much a prisoner of instinct, environment, and heredity as animals; man has no free will in the theory of naturalism.

24. Personification ▪A figure of speech in which an object, abstract idea, or animal is given human characteristics.

25. Point of View ▪The position or vantage point, determined by the author, from which the story seems to come to the reader. – The two most common points of view are: ▪First-person: the reader receives all information from a character in the story. ▪Third-person: the narrator is not a character in the story.

26. Protagonist ▪The central or main character in a story around whom the plot centers. – Opposite is the antagonist, often characterized as a villain, who is the main force opposing the protagonist.

27. Round Characters ▪Characters that have many sides; they have both faults and virtues, and therefore, are able to surprise the reader. They are like real people. – The opposite are flat characters, which are often underdeveloped and one-dimensional. – Two other ways to categorize characters are static (unchanging) and dynamic (changing or evolving through the story).

28. Symbol ▪An object, person, or place that has a meaning in itself and that also stands for something larger than itself, usually an idea or concept; some concrete thing which represents an abstraction.

29. Theme ▪The central or dominant idea behind the story; the most important aspect that emerges from how the book treats its subject. – Sometimes theme is easy to see, but, at other times, it may be more difficult. – Theme is usually expressed indirectly, as an element the reader must figure out. – It is a universal statement about humanity, rather than a simple statement dealing with the plot or characters. – Themes are generally hinted at through different methods: a phrase or quotation that introduces the novel, a recurring element in the book, or an observation made that is reinforced through plot, dialogue, or characters. – It must be emphasized that not all works of literature have themes.

30. Tone ▪The atmosphere in a literary work or the attitude the author puts in a literary work.

31. Tragic Hero ▪The main character in a tragedy; in order to fit the definition, the hero must have a tragic flaw, which causes his or her downfall.

32. Writing Terms Copy these terms into your notes. We will define them together. As we write this year, you will be asked to demonstrate understanding and proper usage of these terms. More terms will be added as well. American Literature 11 Miss Kuffa

33. Active Voice

34. Antecedent

35. Appositive

36. Argument/Position

37. Audience

38. Body

39. Claim

40. Clarity

41. Cohesiveness

42. Commonly Confused Words

43. Compare/Contrast

44. Conclusion

45. Conjunction

46. Content/Meaning

47. Controlling Idea/Main Idea

48. Counterargument

49. Dangling Modifier

50. Edit

51. Exposition/Expository

52. Focus

53. Fragment

54. Informative

55. Introduction

56. Irrelevant Details