English 11 Literary Terms

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English 11 Literary Terms
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Voice

• Voice has two meanings. First, voice is how you,
  as the reader, hear the author speaking. It is
  the combination of qualities that conveys the
  author's unique attitude, personality, and
  character.
• In the second meaning, voice is the
  characteristic speech and thought patterns of
  narrator that may be a creation, or persona, of
  the writer.
• Because voice has so much to do with the reader's
  experience of a work of literature, it is one of
  the most important elements of a piece of
  writing.

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Dramatic Irony

• When readers know more about the situation than
  the characters do
• Example In a murder mystery novel, we see the
  murderers movements but the detective doesnt.

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Situational Irony

• Contrast between what is expected to happen and
  what actually does happen
• Example A police station is burglarized.

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Diction

• Choice of words in a piece of work the kind of
  vocabulary that is used

Diction affects tone! For example To a friend "a
screw-up" To a child "a mistake" To the police
"an accident" To an employer "an oversight"
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Symbolism

• A person thing or action that represents more
  than itself typically something concrete that
  represents abstract concepts like faith or
  courage.
• Example
• Conch shell in The Lord of the Flies

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Hyperbole

• An exaggeration for effect.
• I am so hungry I could eat a horse!
• Youre killing me with all that talking!
• When they started making excuses for why they
  couldnt do it, she knocked them out with all the
  reasons why they could.

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Foil (Character)

• A minor character whose qualities and actions
  tend to contrast with those of a major character
  so that the audience can better appreciate the
  major character.
• In Macbeth, Banquos qualities, and his death,
  show us just how horrible Macbeth is by in
  contrast.

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Stage Directions

• Written notes within plays which explain the
  movements, appearance and inner feelings of
  actors at specific points in a play.
• MERCY Oh, Jesus! (Falls back on bed. Enter Mary
  Warren, breathless. She is seventeen, a
  subservient, naïve girl.)
• MARY I just come from the farm, the whole
  countrys talking witchcraft!

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Irony

• Contrast between what is generally expected and
  what actually happens contrast between
  appearance and actuality
• It is said that when Mary, Queen of Scots, was to
  be beheaded, a special French executioner was
  hired for the job. When she greeted him, she
  pressed a coin into his hand saying, Do it
  quickly, as I have but a thin neck. But the man
  was so distraught at her polite resignation that
  he botched the job. It took three chops to sever
  her head from her body.

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Metaphor

• Comparison of two UNLIKE things not using like
  or as
• Usually linked by is/are or was/were
• Examples
• She is a cow!
• Hes a criminal behind the wheel.
• He was a madman on the football field

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Understatement

• A statement which lessens the importance of what
  is meant.
• Example Its 125 degrees in the desert and you
  say, "It's a little warm today."
• Your friend is in the Intensive Care Unit and you
  say Hes a little under the weather.

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Paradox

• A statement or situation that seems contradictory
  but nevertheless expresses some truth.
• The money for a music video can feed people and
  provide lots of resources for others.
• Al Capone gave money to poor people.

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Pun

• A play on words. You use the word in a way that
  plays on its different meanings.
• Ex. The hungry gorilla went ape.
• Shift happens
• She got the gold mine and I got the shaft.

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Simile

• Comparison using like or as
• Examples
• As graceful as a three-legged elephant.
• Dance like nobodys looking.
• As busy as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking
  contest.

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Personification

• You give something human traits.
• Example
• The clouds were crying.
• The brakes screamed as she slammed the pedal to
  the floor.
• Hell is gaping and waiting for sinners.

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Cliché
An overused phrase.

• Keep ahead of the pack.
• Never give up.
• Give 110 percent.
• Shes so phat!
• Its a rat race.
• __________like theres no tomorrow.

• All's fair in love and war
• bats in the belfry
• It goes without saying
• moment of glory
• stubborn as a mule
• what comes around, goes around

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Theme

• The central or overarching idea in a piece of
  literature. Some big themes are
• Our relationship with nature (Man vs. Nature)
• Our relationship with society (Man vs. Society)
• alienation and isolation
• disillusionment
• rebellion and protest
• loss of innocence
• coming of age
• the American Dream

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Dialogue

• The exact words exchanged among characters.
• Jesus, you startled me. I wasnt expecting you
  here.
• Its been a real day for expectations. Where were
  you? Ive been waiting here for an hour. You
  didnt leave a note or
• I wasnt planning on going anywhere
• I can see that. Wheres your coat?
• I left the house in a hurry. I um my mother
• The hospital reached you? God, Im sorry. Thats
  why
• The hospital?
• They called me when they couldnt get you.
• I dont understand.
• Your mother. You said
• I ran out to buy some flowers for her. Shes been
  so down.
• For three hours youve been buying flowers?
• http//hollylisle.com/dialogue-examples/

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Imagery

• Words which appeal to the senses and so invoke
  sensory impressions in the mind of the reader.
• MY heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains     
• My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk

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Tone

• Tone is the authors attitude toward the writing
  (his characters, the situation) and the readers.
  A work of writing can have more than one tone. An
  example of tone could be both serious and
  humorous. Tone is set by the setting, choice of
  vocabulary and other details.
• (Mood, on the other hand, is the general
  atmosphere created by the authors words and the
  feeling the reader gets from reading those words.)