Elements 3rd Quarter Exam

Elements of Literature units 7, 8 and 9

plot

connected incidents in a work

conflict

an essential part of the plot; turn for the central character's struggle with the forces that may destroy it

antagonist

the main character's opponent

protagonist

the chief or main character

tone

the attitude of a work toward its subject

incident

the basic unit of all narrative

atmosphere

the emotion pervading a story

setting

the time and place--when and where the story takes place

flashback

earlier events in a story that have been inserted parenthetically into later events

internal conflict

the type of conflict in which the central character struggles with a problem inside himself

round character

characters who are presented in detail as individuals, usually with some inward complexity

flat characters

characters with little individuality

external conflict

the type of conflict in which the opponent of the central character is a person, situation, or natural force

tragedy

stories ending unhappily

comedy

stories ending happily

situational irony

a contrast between what's expected and what actually happens

dramatic irony

a contrast between what characters know and what readers know

genre

common types of literature

fiction

an imagined story

autobiography

the subject is the writer himself; the writer writing about himself

biography

general term for the history of the life of a person

anecdote

a narrated memorable incident from the life of an important person; basic unit of biography

suspense

a literary device in which tension holds our attention between one moment and another

memoir

a type of autobiography that focuses on events and personality of the author's public rather than private life

personification (just matching examples)

gives human characteristics to animals, abstractions, ideas, or objects

alliteration (just matching examples)

repetition of initial consonant sounds in accented syllables

simile

A comparison using "like" or "as"

metaphor

A comparison without using like or as

assonance

Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity

consonance

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.

onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

James Thurber

The Day the Dam Broke

E.B. White

A Slight Sound at Evening

Plutarch

Life of Caesar

Eudora Welty

Listening from One Writer's Beginnings

John Greenleaf Whittier

Telling the Bees, Barbara Frietchie

Thomas Hardy

Tony Kytes

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Sire de Maletroit's Door

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Stephen Crane

A Gray Sleeve

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Lady Clare

Walter de la Mare

The Listeners

Christina Rossetti

Who Has Seen the Wind?

Fray Angelico Chavez

Rattlesnake

George Herbert

The Windows

Robert Frost

Dust of Snow, The Span of Life

Theme of Tony Kytes, the Arch-Deceiver

Something about deception and honesty

Theme of The Listeners

All humans are searching for ultimate truth, and truth cannot be known.

Theme of the Wise Old Apple Tree in Spring

Poetry can and should keep alive that which is beautiful and worthwhile for the enjoyment of posterity

Theme of Traveling Through the Dark

Life's moral dilemmas often require hard decisions

Theme of Lady Clare

Be honest, don't keep secrets

Theme of Barbara Frietchie

patriotism

Appealing images from Poems

High flight - Laughter-silvered wings - sound and sight
Dust of snow - the dust of snow - touch and sight

Traveling through the dark - the steady purring of the engine - sound

Traveling through the dark - the warm exhaust turning red - sight and touch

Situational irony of "A Miserable Merry Christmas"

He told his parents he didn't want any presents other than a pony, but the following morning he was weeping because he didn't get anything

Use of the title of "A Miserable Merry Christmas"

We expect a merry christmas to be merry, not miserable - verbal irony

"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh" - two symbols and their meanings; one main metaphor

Peach blossoms and the face of the drum represent the fragility of youth, the drum beat is the heartbeat of the army

Examples of conflict from fiction

Person versus person - Sherlock Holmes vs. Doctor Roylott

Person versus nature/situation - Basketball player vs. physics

Person versus society/circumstance - the Traveler vs. the locked door

Person versus self - Lady Clare

Is fiction truthful, and if so, how?

Fiction does not pretend to tell the truth in an ordinary sense, but it does claim to tell the truth in a deeper sense

Four divisions or groupings of literature

Fiction, Nonfiction, Prose, Poetry

Difference between narrative and lyric poems

Narrative - tells a story

Lyric - shares the thoughts and feelings of the speaker

Diction

word choice