E6: Conformity & Assimilation

Name_______________________Date Started________

ELA Regents Literary Terms

1. Alliteration: repetition of the same consonant sounds in words that are

close together in a poem, or repetition of consonant sounds that are very similar. Ex. the sound of steel on stones

2. Allusion: reference to a statement, a person, a place, or an event from

literature, history, religion, myth, politics, sports, science, or pop culture. Ex. Holdens allusion to Gatsby in The Catcher in the Rye.

3. Assonance: repetition of similar vowel sounds that are followed by different

consonant sounds, especially in words that are close together in a poem.

4. Autobiography: an account of the writers own life.

5. Character/Characterization: the process of revealing the personality of a

character in a story.

6. Climax: the high point of interest or suspense in a literary work. It generally

appears near the end of a story, play, or narrative poem.

7. Conflict: struggle or clash between opposing characters or between opposing

forces. Two kinds: external: character vs. outside forces or characters internal: character vs. him or herself

8. Diction: a writers or speakers choice of words. Consider the vocabulary

used, appropriateness of the words, and vividness of the language.

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Ex: The diction used by the author is formal, or informal and conversational.

9. Figurative Language: writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal

meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid. Examples include: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, irony, oxymoron, paradox, and personification.

10. Flashback: scene in a movie, play, short story, novel, or narrative poem that

interrupts the present action of the plot to flash backward and tell what happened at an earlier time.

11. Foreshadowing: the use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in the

plot. Ex: In Of Mice and Men the deaths of both the mouse and puppy foreshadow the death of Curlys wife.

12. Genre: denotes a type of literature

Ex: Ballad: a song that tells a story Short story: short, concentrated, fictional prose narrative Historical novel: makes use of events from the historical past to add interest to the narrative

13. Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration for effect

14. Imagery: descriptive or figurative language used in literature to create word

pictures for the reader. These pictures or images are created by details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, or movement.

15. Irony(three kinds):

situational ironycontrast or discrepancy between expectancy and realitybetween what is said and what is really meant, between what is expected to happen and what really does happen, or between what appears to be true and what is really true dramatic ironyoccurs when the audience or the reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know. Example: The audience knows that the sword in the duel scene in Hamlet is poisoned. verbal ironya writer or speaker says one thing but really means something completely different (sarcasm).

16. Metaphor: comparison of two unlike things without using like or as

Ex: My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin. Naomi Shihah Nye
17. Motif: the repetition or variations of an image or idea in a work used to

develop theme or characters

18. Narrator: a speaker or character who tells a story. The omniscient narrator

is all-knowing, while the limited narrator knows only what one character does.
19. Oxymoron: a figure of speech wherein the author groups contradictory

terms to suggest a paradox (a paradox is something that seems to oppose common sense, but contains some truth) Ex: cruel kindness
20. Personification: special kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing or

quality is talked about as if it were humanthat is, it is described as behaving and feeling the way people do. Ex: Emily Dickinson describes the wind as tapping like a tired man.
21. Plot: series of related events that make up a story or drama 22. Point of view: vantage point from which the writer tells the story. 3 kinds: 3

a) omniscient (all knowing)person telling the story knows

everything there is to know about the characters and their problems. b) first-person: one of the characters is actually the narrator telling the story, using the pronoun I. c) third-person limitedthe narrator, who plays no part in the story, zooms in on the thoughts and feelings of just one character.
23. Protagonist/Antagonist: main character/character that opposes the main

character
24. Resolution: the moment when all the problems are resolved one way or

another and the story is closed

25. Rhetorical question: one that does not expect an explicit answer; it is used

to pose an idea to be considered by the speaker or audience

26. Sarcasm: a comic technique that ridicules through caustic language; tone

and attitude may both be described as sarcastic in a given text if the writer employs language, irony and wit to mock or scorn

27. Setting: time and place of a literary work. The description of it often

establishes the mood of the story.

28. Simile: indirect comparison that uses like or as to link the differing items in

the comparison. Example: Alexandra is as bright as a bulb.

29. Stanza: a group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a single unit

30. Stream of consciousness: presents thoughts as if they were coming directly

from a characters mind. Instead of being arranged in chronological order, the events of the story are presented from the characters point of view,

mixed in with the characters feelings and memories just as they might spontaneously occur in the mind of a real person.
31. Structure: the shape of the work

Ex: The authors use more dialogue than narration.

32. Symbol: a person, a place, a thing, or an event that stands for itself and for

something beyond itself as well

33. Theme: the central idea about people or about life in a work of literature 34. Tone: the attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a

character. It can be described by a single adjective i.e. serious, playful, bitter