English 9 Honors Final

Allusion

An author includes a reference to religion, history, or mythology in his/her text.

Anaphora

a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive lines, clauses, or sentences

Antagonist

The character or force that comes into conflict with the main character; the character(s) or things that oppose the literary hero.

Author

The genesis/origin of the story starts here; inspiration starts here for the writer.

Author's Style

This makes authors unique; might be their subject matter, how they write, or their writing characteristics.

Biography

This type of writing is considered nonfiction. This is a story about someone's life written in the third person. They don't write it themselves.

Characterization

The author's process of revealing a character's personality in a short story/novel to help readers learn about the characters; there are two types: direct and indirect.

Climax

The high point of a plotline.

Comedy

Originated by Shakespeare, the protagonist's situation goes from bad to good.

Connotation

The emotional attachment/image associated with a word. For example, one would say "I am furious!" for the word mad or "You look amazing!" for the word nice.

Denotation

The definition of a word; every word has a dictionary meaning to it.

Dialect

The regional accent placed on words; how the characters say words.

Dialogue

A character speaks

Direct Characterization

When a writer tells us directly what he/she wants us to know about a character, often in the exposition. Often, this is material we quote from a text.

Dramatic Irony

When Romeo finds Juliet in a drugged sleep, he assumes her to be dead and kills himself. The reader, however, knows differently! We know he isn't dead but instead is in a coma-like state. Alas, upon awakening to find her dead lover beside her, Juliet kills herself.

Dynamic

A character that has changed in an important way during the story.

Enjambment

a line that continues without a pause into the next line, creating a seamless flow of thought or meaning

Exciting Force

The event that ignites a story's plotline.

Exposition

The first part or beginning of the plotline.

External Conflict

Struggles characters have such as battling a shark or fighting a neighbor.

Falling Action

The events after the climax in a plotline.

Fiction

This is literature that is not true.

Flashback

This often helps to explain the background information. A scene that interrupts the present action to tell what happened at an earlier time.

Foreshadowing

The writer's use of clues to hint at what will happen later in the plot.

Iambic Pentameter

a poetic meter where each line contains ten syllables, alternating between unstressed and stressed syllables in a pattern of five iambs

Indirect Characterization

When a writer uses the appearance/speech or actions of a character to challenge us to exercise our own judgment of a character. We then take details to determine our own interpretation of the character.

Internal Conflict

A character struggles with issues/conflicts in his/her heart & mind.

Invented Symbol

Examples include: an eye doctor's sign, a marlin, the Mississippi River, The Hearth and the Salamander; not easily recognizable symbols because they specifically apply to a short story, poem, or novel.

Irony

There are three different types of these (verbal, situational, and dramatic) that could be in a story. This is a contrast between what we expect to happen and what does happen.

Man vs. Self

A character struggles with issues and conflicts in his/her heart and mind

Man vs. Society

A character struggles with things like racism, sexism, or ageism

Metaphor

a figure of speech that compares two dissimilar things without using "like" or "as"

Mood

This is our emotional response to the writer's tone in his/her story.

Motivation

When the reader analyzes a character to determine what makes him/her act in certain ways. One way to "round out" a character is to show what moves him or her.

Nobel Prize

An award that is given to an author for a collection of good writings; comparable to a lifetime achievement award.

Nonfiction

This is literature that is true.

Novel

Long, unified fiction story dealing with character relations and their changes.

Omniscient Point of View

A "God-like" observer who narrates a story. They know the thoughts/feelings of many characters.

Personification

Giving non-human objects human characteristics.

Plot Development

This is what actually happens in the story, also known as the story's framework. The action of the story moves from a problem to a solution. This is the entire sequence or order of events that fit a definite pattern.

Point of View

This is the voice you hear when you read a story or the perspective of who is telling the story. It changes depending upon word choice.

Protagonist

The literary hero; the character we focus our attention on; the person whose conflict sets the plot in motion.

Resolution

The ending of a story in a plotline.

Rising Action

The events prior to the climax in a plotline.

Round Character

A multi-dimensional, realistic character who is complex, multi-faceted, and has a personality.

Rhyme scheme

the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem or verse.

Satire

Writing that ridicules a human weakness in order to bring about social reform.

Setting

Often explained in the exposition of a story. The story happens in a certain time, place, season, scenery, and among certain people.

Simile

a comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as"

Situational Irony

This occurs when what actually happens is the opposite of what the reader expected/appropriate.

Stanza

a group of lines forming a basic unit in poetry

Static

A character that has not changed in an important way during the story.

Suspense

This is when we wonder what will happen next and how the conflict is going to end. This is the quality of anticipation that we feel when we read a story.

Symbol

A person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself & for something beyond itself.

Theme

The central idea or main idea the author is trying to convey.

Third Person Point of View

The narrator is outside the story but telling it from the vantage point of only one character.

Tone

The author's attitude toward what he/she is presenting about the characters, a situation, or a subject.

Tragedy

Originated by Shakespeare, the protagonist's situation goes from good to bad.

Universal Symbol

An easily recognizable type of symbol; they are familiar because they have been used more than once.

Verbal Irony

A mother discovers her son watching South Park instead of doing his homework. Clearly frustrated, she says, "Don't let me tempt you from your duties, kiddo, but when you're finished with your 'serious' studies there, maybe we could take some time away from recreation and do a little math." This mother is using:

Verisimilitude

The degree of believability or truth in a story.