Lit Terms

Front 1

Exposition

Back 1

Beginning of a story that introduces the setting (time and place) and characters

Front 2

Inciting incident

Back 2

The spark (conflict) that gets the story going

Front 3

Rising action

Back 3

After the inciting incident, these events draw the reader further into the story

Front 4

Climax

Back 4

The high point of the story (the gun fight, the big game, when events reach a peak)

Front 5

Falling action

Back 5

The events near the end that close a story

Front 6

Final suspense

Back 6

A question or event near the end that still needs to be settled (Do the boy & girl get back together?)

Front 7

Resolution

Back 7

The wrapping up of loose ends of the story

Front 8

First person

Back 8

Point of view in which the narrator takes part in the story; this point of view uses "I."

Front 9

Third person limited

Back 9

The narrator is outside the story telling the story from the point of view of one or a few characters

Front 10

Third person omniscient

Back 10

The narrator, outside the story, can tell what all characters are thinking and feeling.

Front 11

Four types of conflict

Back 11

Human vs Human, vs Self
vs Society, vs Nature

Front 12

Foreshadowing

Back 12

Clue an author gives about events yet to occur

Front 13

Three kinds of irony

Back 13

Dramatic, verbal and situational

Front 14

Dramatic irony

Back 14

Discrepancy between what one character knows and what the audience/reader knows to be true; I know something you don't know.

Front 15

Verbal irony

Back 15

When a person says the opposite of what he or she really thinks, and everyone knows it "I think I'll hit my head again; that felt great!"

Front 16

Situational irony

Back 16

Discrepancy between events and our expectations; things turn out the opposite of what we think.

Front 17

Tone

Back 17

The author's attitude towards his/her subject. Does the author use a funny, serious, or sarcastic slant, for example?

Front 18

Mood

Back 18

The climate or feeling that the author creates, especially by describing the setting, weather, etc.

Front 19

Symbolism

Back 19

Something that means more than itself or stands for something else. Example:
The father who removes his son from a blanket so he eats at a table like a white man--a symbolic gesture.

Front 20

Theme

Back 20

A theme is what the story means to the reader. It's what the story can teach us about life.

Front 21

Imagery

Back 21

Language that appeals to the senses; pictures painted with words.

Front 22

Figurative language

Back 22

Any language beyond literal language; expressing ideas or comparisons creatively; simile, metaphor, personification, for example.

Front 23

Simile

Back 23

A comparison using like or as

Front 24

Metaphor

Back 24

An implied comparison:
The moon was a ghostly galleon OR
The ghostly galleon lit our way home

Front 25

Alliteration

Back 25

Repeated consonant sounds at the beginnings of words close together : Maybe Mark mowed Meyer's lawn.

Front 26

Personification

Back 26

Giving human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas:
The car refused to start

Front 27

Onomatopoeia

Back 27

Words that mimic sounds:
Pow, Crash!, Zip, Ring

Front 28

Hyperbole

Back 28

An exaggerated statement:
I've seen this movie a million times.

Front 29

Assonance

Back 29

The repetition of vowel sounds in words close together:
He stole a rose in Dover .

Front 30

Ballad

Back 30

A poem that tells a story such as "The Highwayman"

Front 31

Narrative

Back 31

The telling of a story.
Did anyone believe his narrative?

Front 32

Stanza

Back 32

Two or more lines of poetry that form a division of a poem.