Lit Terms #2

First Person Point of View

a style of narration where a story is told from the perspective of a character who is actively participating in events. It uses words like me, my, mine, we, us, our, etc.

Third Person Point of View - Omniscient

a style of narration where an outside, all knowing narrator tells the story. It uses words like he, she, and they.

Third Person Point of View - Limited

The narrator sees things through one characters eyes and reveals that character’s feelings and thoughts

Voice

Author's distinctive use of language to convey their personality.

Author’s Purpose

The author’s main reason for writing (to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to expose a particular problem in society, etc.)

Round Character

Complex, showing many different qualities/personality traits – revealing faults as well as virtues

Flat Character

A flat Character is a person who has a two-dimensional fictional character who also lacks emotional depth

Dynamic Character

A Dynamic Character is a literary figure who undergoes a significant, internal  transformation in their personality  or a worldview

Static Character

A static character is a character who does not change much throughout a story. Their personality, beliefs, and actions stay mostly the same.

Direct Characterization

When the author directly tells the reader what a character is like.

Indirect Characterization

The author gives clues about a character by describing what a character does, says, as well as how other characters react to them.

Theme

Central message or insight about life.

Setting

time and place in which a story occurs

Colloquilism

Informal speech that people use in everyday language (Y’all come over to my house.)

Allegory

A story, poem, picture, or other work of art in which the characters, settings, and events stand in for deeper moral, religious, political, or social ideas. 

Satire

A genre of literature, art, or performance that uses humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize the vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings of individuals, institutions, or society.

Style

The choices an author makes when writing such as diction, syntax, and other literary devices. 

Hyperbole

figure of speech that uses extreme, obvious exaggeration to make a point, add humor, or show strong emotion.

Imagery

descriptive or figurative language used to create “word pictures” for the reader

Metaphor

comparison between two object without using like or as

Simile

comparison of two unlike things using like or as.

Narrative

story told in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or drama

Narrator

speaker or character who tells the story

Tone

reflection of a writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject of literary work

Understatement

A writer or speaker deliberately makes the situation less important or serious than it is

Testimonial

Formal statement testifying to someone or something’s character 

Protagonist

the main character or leading figure in a story, play, novel, or film who drives the plot forward and faces the central conflict

Antagonist

a person, group, institution, or natural force that opposes or struggles against a main character (the protagonist) in a story, or any person who acts in active opposition to someone else

Anthropomorphism

the act of giving human traits, emotions, intentions, or physical forms to non-human entities, such as animals, objects, weather, or deities

Denotation

strict literal dictionary definition of a word

Connotation

the non-literal, implied, suggested meaning of a word (e.g lemon for a poor performing vehicle)

Free Verse

poetry not written in a regular pattern or meter or rhyme

Euphemism

A mild word substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

Diction

Word choice in writing and literature, or enunciation and pronunciation in speech

Genre

Category of literary work characterized by a particular form or style