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28 Cards in this Set
- Front
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Characterization |
The ways individual characters are represented by thenarrator or author of a text. This includes descriptions of the characters’physical appearances, personalities, actions, interactions, and dialogue. |
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Imagery |
A term used to describe an author’s use of vividdescriptions “that evoke sense-impressions by literal or figurative referenceto perceptible or ‘concrete’ objects, scenes, actions, or states” (Baldick121). Imagery can refer to the literal landscape or characters described in anarrative or the theoretical concepts an author employs. |
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Plot |
The sequence of events that occur through a work toproduce a coherent narrative or story.
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Point of View (POV) |
The perspective (visual, interpretive, bias, etc) atext takes when presenting its plot and narrative. For instance, an authormight write a narrative from a specific character’s point of view, which meansthat that character is our narrative and readers experience events through hisor her eyes. |
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Types of Narrative |
The narrator is the voice telling the story orspeaking to the audience. However, this voice can come from a variety ofdifferent perspectives |
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1st Person |
A story told from the perspective of one orseveral characters, each of whom typically uses the word “I.” This means thatreaders “see” or experience events in the story through the narrator’s eyes.
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2nd Person |
A narrative perspective that typically addressesthat audience using “you.” This mode can help authors address readers andinvest them in the story. Pride and Prejudice addresses the reader directly as“dear reader” |
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3rd Person |
Third person: Describes a narrative told from the perspective of an outside figure who does not participate directly in the events of a story. This mode uses “he,” “she,” and “it” to describe events and characters. Any of the fairytales.
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Style |
Comprised of an author’s diction, syntax, tone,characters, and other narrative techniques, “style” is used to describe the wayan author uses language to convey his or her ideas and purpose in writing. Anauthor’s style can also be associated to the genre or mode of writing theauthor adopts, such as in the case of a satire or elegy with would adopt asatirical or elegiac style of writing.
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Symbol(ism) |
An object or element incorporated into a narrative torepresent another concept or concern. Broadly, representing one thing withanother. Symbols typically recur throughout a narrative and offer critical,though often overlooked, information about events, characters, and the author’sprimary concerns in telling the story. TheA in The Scarlet Letter is a symbol of the sin of adultery. Likewise, thecharacter of Pearl, Hester’s daughter, is a symbol for her affair—a literalproduct of it. The comet, the scarf, etc…all symbols with deeper meaning thanthe objects would normally convey.
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Theme |
According to Baldick, a theme may be defined as “asalient abstract idea that emerges from a literary work’s treatment of itssubject-matter; or a topic recurring in a number or literary works” (Baldick258). Themes in literature tend to differ depending on author, time period,genre, style, purpose, etc. Pride andPrejudice has a theme of love,matrimony, and the business of attracting a husband. A Time to Kill and Hamletboth have themes of revenge. |
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Bildungsroman |
This is typically a type of novel that depicts anindividual’s coming-of-age through self-discovery and personal knowledge. Suchstories often explore the protagonists’ psychological and moral development.Examples include Dickens’ Great Expectations and Joyce’s A Portraitof the Artist as a Young Man. HarryPotter (the series as a whole) is considered a bildungsroman. |
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Epistolary |
• A novel comprised primarily of letters sent and received by itsprinciple characters. This type of novel was particularly popular during theeighteenth century. Examples: •The Princess Diaries •World War Z •Perks of Being aWallflower •Carrie |
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Irony |
the expression ofone's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typicallyfor humorous or emphatic effect. |
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Dramatic Irony |
a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which thefull significance of a character's words or actions are clear to the audienceor reader although unknown to the character. |
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Satire |
• A style of writingthat mocks, ridicules, or pokes fun at a person, belief, or group of people inorder to challenge them. Often, texts employing satire use sarcasm, irony, orexaggeration to assert their perspective. |
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Antagonist |
• A character orcharacters in a text with whom the protagonist opposes. |
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Anti-hero |
• A protagonist of astory who embodies none of the qualities typically assigned to traditionalheroes and heroines. Not to be confused with the antagonist of a story, theanti-hero is a protagonist whose failings are typically used to humanize him orher and convey a message about the reality of human existence. |
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Personification |
• the attribution of apersonal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or therepresentation of an abstract quality in human form. |
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Protagonist |
• The primary character in a text, often positioned as “good” or thecharacter with whom readers are expected to identify. Protagonists usuallyoppose an antagonist. |
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Allegory |
a literary mode that attempts to convert abstractconcepts, values, beliefs, or historical events into characters or othertangible elements in a narrative. More simply put—a story with two levels ofmeaning |
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Allusion |
When a text references, incorporates, or responds toan earlier piece (including literature, art, music, film, event, etc). |
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Hyperbole |
exaggerated language,description, or speech that is not meant to be taken literally, but is used foremphasis. For instance, “I’ve been waiting here for ages” or “This bag weighs aton.” |
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Metaphor |
• a figure of speechthat refers to one thing by another in order to identify similarities betweenthe two (and therefore define each in relation to one another). |
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Metonymy |
a figure of speech that substitutes one aspect orattribute for the whole itself. Literally using something closely associatedwith the person or object to represent it.For instance, referring to a woman as “a skirt” or thesea as “the deep.” Doing so can not only evoke a specific tone (determined bythe attribute being emphasized or the thing to which it refers), but alsocomments on the importance of the specific element that is doing thesubstituting |
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Simile |
• a figure of speech that compares two people, objects, elements, orconcepts using “like” or “as.” |
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Alliteration |
the occurrence of the sameletter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. |
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Onomatopoeia |
· the formation of a word from the soundassociated with what it is named. |
