2. Essential Literary Terms M. Groome English Language Arts Delta High School Note: I don’t claim that these definitions (or list) are perfect. Please contact me if you have suggestions for revisions. mgroome@deltaschools.com M. Groome English Language Arts Delta High School Note: I don’t claim that these definitions (or list) are perfect. Please contact me if you have suggestions for revisions. mgroome@deltaschools.com

3. Suggestions for Use  Treat these slides as flash cards.  Try to write/say the definition before viewing the next slide.  Pause each slide for as long as you need to read, understand, copy, etc.  Rewind and play this presentation as much as you need.  Make these terms meaningful by relating them to examples from books, films, poetry, songs, etc. that you know.  Treat these slides as flash cards.  Try to write/say the definition before viewing the next slide.  Pause each slide for as long as you need to read, understand, copy, etc.  Rewind and play this presentation as much as you need.  Make these terms meaningful by relating them to examples from books, films, poetry, songs, etc. that you know.

4. protagonist

5. the character who drives the action, usually the hero/female hero

6. antagonist

7. the character/force who obstructs the protagonist or gets in the protagonist’s way

8. setting

9. the story’s time and location

10. tone

11. the author’s attitude toward the subject

12. mood

13. the way the text makes the reader feel

14. point of view (POV)

15. the perspective from which the story is narrated

16. first person point of view

17. the narrator is a character (uses first person pronouns)

18. third person omniscient point of view

19. the narrator is not a character and knows the thoughts and actions of more than one character (godlike, all-knowing)

20. third person limited point of view

21. the narrator is not a character and knows the thoughts and actions of one character (narrates from one character’s perspective)

22. plot

23. the framework of events that make up a story (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution/denouement)

24. exposition

25. the background information readers need to know to understand the story (usually found at the beginning)

26. rising action

27. the events that build up to the story’s climax

28. climax

29. the emotional high point of the story, the turning point, the point at which the reader knows how the story will end

30. falling action

31. the events that lead away from the story’s climax toward the resolution/ denouement

32. resolution or denouement

33. the point at which the conflict is resolved, all the story’s loose ends are tied up

34. conflict

35. the force that provides a challenge for the protagonist (man v. man/self/ society/nature)

36. theme

37. the text’s message, the central idea, not a cliché, not the text’s subject

38. foreshadowing

39. hints of what is to come later in the story

40. flashback

41. narration that provides information about an event that has occurred before the story begins

42. symbol

43. something that represents not only itself but something else, usually something larger than itself

44. metaphor

45. a comparison of two unlike things without using “like,” “as,” “than,” or “resembles”

46. simile

47. a comparison of two unlike things using “like,” “as,” “than,” or “resembles”

48. personification

49. giving human qualities to nonhuman things

50. onomatopoeia

51. words that sound like what they mean

52. alliteration

53. repeating (consonant) sounds in close progression for stylistic effect

54. repetition

55. repeating words, phrases, or clauses for stylistic effect

56. hyperbole

57. extreme exaggeration for stylistic effect

58. imagery

59. language that appeals to the senses

60. oxymoron

61. two words that mean the opposite but have new meaning when placed together

62. allusion

63. a reference to something that exists outside the world of the text (history, literature, religion, pop culture, etc.)

64. irony

65. a twist, when the opposite of what you expect happens