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lit terms
lit terms
33
Literature
10th Grade
12/08/2009

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Term
allegory
Definition
story or tale with two or more levels of meaning- a literal level and a symbolic level
Term
allusion
Definition
refrence to a well known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art
Term
anecdote
Definition
brief story about an intresting, amusing, or strange event. the excerpts from The Names and Walden included many anecdotes
Term
apostrophe
Definition
figure of speech in which the speaker directly adresses an absent person or a persinified quality, object, or idea
Term
autobiography
Definition
form of nonfiction in which a person tells his/her own life story (Benjamin Franklin)
Term
characterization
Definition
act of creating and devolping a character
Term
direct characterization
Definition
author simply states a character's triats
Term
indirect characterization
Definition
character is revealed through words, thoughts, or actions of the character, descriptions of the characters appearance or background; the ways other characters react to him/her; what other characters say about him/her
Term
couplet
Definition
pair of rhyming lines; a 2 line stanza
Term
dialect
Definition
form of language spoken by people in a particular region or group. Twain's Huck Finn is one of the earliest American novels to accuretely reflect the various dialects of certain regions in the south
Term
genre
Definition
a division or type of literature ( fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama)
Term
gothic
Definition
the use of primitive, medieval, wild, or mysterious elements in literature. Edgar Allen Poe's "Pit and the Pendulum" has many gothic elements
Term
hyperbole
Definition
deliberate exaggeration or overstatment; "To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet contains elements of exaggeration and examples of hyperbole (water of al the rivers cannot quench the thirst/fire of her love/..."worth more than all the riches that the east doth hold")
Term
Iambis pentameter
Definition
line of poetry with 5 iambic feet
Term
Iambic tetrameter
Definition
line of poetry with 4 iambic feet
Term
imagery
Definition
desciptive or figurative language used to creat word pictures for the reader (appeals to the 5 senses)
Term
irony
Definition
contrast between what is stated and what is meant or between what is expected to happen and what actually happens; the reader expects a parent to protect his/her child, so the characters of Pap Finn or Aurthur Dimmesdale create irony
Term
myth
Definition
fictional tale that explains the actions of gods or heroes or the causes of natural phenomena
Term
narrator
Definition
speaker or character who tells the story
Term
omniscient narrator
Definition
all-knowing narrator
Term
narrative poem
Definition
poem that tells a story; "The Raven" is 1 example of this type of poem
Term
oral tradition
Definition
passing of songs, stories, and poems from generation by word of mouth; most Native American myths have come to us through oral tradition
Term
oxymoron
Definition
figure of speech that combines 2 opposing or contradictory ideas
Term
plain style
Definition
type of writing in which uncomplicated sentances and ordinary words are used to make simple direct statements; puritans were known for this type of writing
Term
point of view
Definition
perspective or vantage point from which a story is told
Term
rhyme
Definition
repetition of sounds at the ends of words
Term
rhyme scheme
Definition
regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem
Term
rhythm
Definition
pattern of beats or stresses in spoken or written language
Term
romanticism
Definition
literary and artistic movements in the 19th century that arose as a reaction to the Neoclassicism of the 28th centuryl writers placed a premium on emotions, nature, individuality, and exotica, and imagination.
Term
similie
Definition
figure of speech that makes a direct comparison using "like" or "as"
Term
symbol
Definition
anything that stands for or represents something else; in Moby Dick the whiteness of the whale symbolizes the pure innocence of nature
Term
theme
Definition
central message or insight into life revealed by a literary work
Term
transcendentalism
Definition
American literary and philosophical movement of the 19th century which promoted the idea that individual conscience and intuition transcend experience and are thus a better guide to truth
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