Lit terms 2

Limerick

A light humorous poem with a regular metrical scheme and a rhyme scheme of AABBA

Falling action

In a play or story, the action that follows the climax

Lyric

The words of a song, usually with a regular rhyme scheme

Memoir

A biographical or autobiographical narrative emphasizing the narrator's personal experience during a period at an event

Idiom

A figure of speech that belongs to a particular language, people, or region and whose meaning cannot be obtained, and might even appear in ridiculous, by joining the meanings of the word composing it.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that compares or equates seemingly unlike things. In contrast to a simile, a ______ implies the comparison instead of stating it directly, no using LIKE or AS

Irony

A form of expression in which the intended meaning of the words used is the opposite of their literal meaning.

Fantasy

A form of literature that explores unreal worlds of the past, present or the future

Genre

A literary or artistic category. The main literary _____ are prose, poetry, and drama. Each of these is divided into smaller _______.

Hero

A literary works main character, usually one with admirable qualities.

Historical Fiction

A novel, novella, play, short story, or narrative poem that sets fictional characters against a historical backdrop and contains many details about the period in which it is set

Fiction

A prose narrative in which situations and characters are invited by the writers situation and characters are invented by the writer. Some aspects of a ______ work may be based on fact or experience. _______ includes short stories, novellas, and novels.

Meter

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllable's that gives a line of poetry a predictable rhyme

Fable

A short, simple story tale that teaches a moral. The characters in a ______ are often animals who speak and act like people. The moral, or lesson, of this is usually stated outright

Folktale

A traditional story passed down orally long before being written down. Generally the author of a ________ is anonymous. They include animal stories, trickster stories, fairy tales, myths, legends, and tall tales

Legend

A traditional story, based on history or an actual hero, this is passed down orally. A _______ is usually exaggerated and gains elements of fantasy over the years

Journal

An account of day to day events or a record of experiences, ideas, or thoughts. A ______ may be also called a diary

Flashback

An interruption in a chronological narrative that tells about something that happened before that point in the story began. A _______ gives readers information that helps to explain the main event of the story

Haiku

Japanese form of poetry that has three lines and seventeen syllables. (5 7 5)

Figure of Speech

Language of a specific kind, such as analogy, metaphors, simile, or personification

Imagery

Language that emphasizes sensory impressions to help the readers of a literary work see, hear, feel, smell, and taste the senses described

Figurative Language

Language used for descriptive effects, often to imply ideas indirectly. Expressions of ________ ________ are not literary true but expresses some truth beyond the literal level. Although it appears in all kinds of writing, ________ _________ is especially prominent in poetry.

Informational text

One kind of nonfiction. This kind of writing conveys facts and information without introducing personal opinion

Lyrical poetry

Poems, usually short, that expresses strong professional feeling about a subject or an event

Free verse

Poetry that has no fixed pattern of meter, rhyme, line length, or stanza arrangement

First-person narrative

Point view

Local color

The fictional portrayal of a regions features or particularities and its inhabitants' distinctive ways of talking and behaving, usually as a way of adding a realistic flavor to a story

Main idea

The most important idea expressed in a paragraph or an essay. It may or may not be directly stated

Humor

The quality of a literary work that makes the character and their situations seem funny, amusing, or ludicrous. This can be as effective in nonfiction and fiction

Folklore

The traditional beliefs, customs, stories, songs, and dances of the ordinary people. ______ is passed on by word of mouth and performance rather than in writing

Foreshadowing

The use of clues by an author to prepare readers for events that will happen in a story