Lit terms

LITERARY TERMS ASSIGNMENT

Below is the list of literary terms that you will need to know and understand almost immediately in this course. Many of them you have been exposed to before and should already know. Others may be new. Your job for each term is to write down the definition and two examples either of your own creation or from literature. Make sure and use definitions that you understand. Split up the work with peers if you choose. This is your reference document, and you will need to know and be able to use these terms regularly.

Allegory

Allusion

Apostrophe

chiasmus

Connotation/denotation

diction

elegy

epithet

euphemism

farce

hyperbole

imagery

irony

juxtaposition

metaphor

mood

simile

metonymy

paradox

parody

point-of-view

personification

onomatopoeia

oxymoron

rhetorical question

 Satire

Definition: The use of humor, irony, and exaggeration to both expose and critique. It makes fun of an idea, person, or thing not just to entertain but also to inform/make people think.

Example: Mark Twain's writing in “ The Lowest Animal”, Political cartoons 

Sonnet

Definition: A fixed poetic form consisting of 14 lines written with a specific rhyme. 

Elizabethan: Three quartrains, with a final rhymed couplet.   

Petrarchan: Broken into two parts, the first 8 lines are the octave, the second 6 lines are the sestet

Example: Sonnet 18, william shapeskere and The Cross of Snow by Longfellow. 

Symbol

Definition: A person, thing, object, or place that stands for something/has a physical meaning.

Example: The A in The Scarlet Letter and Ethan's son's plagiarized essay symbolizing moral decay. 

synecdoche

Definition: A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole

Examples:  “ hands” referring to hired workers in Of Mice and Men, “ boots on the ground” referring to the people wearing the boots. 

Tone

Definition: the attitude and feeling conveyed by the speaker, author, or narrator. 

Examples: anxious, peaceful.