Literary Terms Part 2

Front 1

Oxymoron

Back 1

a form of paradox that combines a pair of opposite terms into a single expression – example: sweet sorrow, cold fire, jumbo shrimp

Front 2

Personification

Back 2

a kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics

Front 3

Plot

Back 3

the sequence of events or actions in a literary work

Front 4

Point of View

Back 4

the perspective from which the story is told

Front 5

Protagonist

Back 5

the central or main character in a literary work

Front 6

Repetition

Back 6

the deliberate use of any element of language more than once—sound, word, phrase or sentence

Front 7

Rising Action

Back 7

the events in a story that build tension and lead to the climax.

Front 8

Rhyme

Back 8

is the repetition of sound in two or more words

Front 9

End Rhyme

Back 9

occurs at the end of lines

Front 10

Internal Rhyme

Back 10

occurs within a line

Front 11

Slant Rhyme

Back 11

is approximate rhyme

Front 12

Rhyme Scheme

Back 12

is the pattern of end rhymes

Front 13

Sarcasm

Back 13

is the use of verbal irony in which a person appears to be praising something, but is actually insulting it.

Front 14

Setting

Back 14

is the time and place of a literary work in which the events take place.

Front 15

Shift

Back 15

is a change or movement in a piece that results from a realization or insight gained by the speaker or reader.

Front 16

Simile

Back 16

is a comparison of two different things using “like” or “as”

Front 17

Symbol

Back 17

any object, person, place or action that has both meaning in itself and that stands form something larger than itself, such as quality or an attitude, belief or value

Front 18

Syntax

Back 18

the arrangement of words and the order of grammatical elements of a sentence

Front 19

Theme

Back 19

is the central message of a literary work. It is not the same as subject, which can be expressed in a word or two; courage, survival, pride, etc. The theme is the idea the author want to convey about that subject. A literary work can have more than one theme. Themes are often not directly stated, but rather implied.

Front 20

Tone

Back 20

is the writer’s or speaker’s attitude towards a subject, character or audience. It is conveyed through the author’s choice of words and detail.