Brit. Lit. Start of Year Vocab

The feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage:

Writing that ridicules or holds up to contempt the faults of individuals or groups:

A literary work with two or more levels of meaning — a literal level and a symbolic one:

When the conflict runs it’s course and usually intensifies:

The person who tells the story

A poem about a trivial matter written in the style of serious epic:

The imaginary voice assumed by the writer of a poem:

A contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true:

When a character’s traits are explicitly described

A conversation between characters:

A long narrative poem about the adventures of gods or of a hero:

A struggle between a character and an outside force:

A short nonfiction work about a particular subject:

Introduces the setting, characters, and basic situation of a story:

The body of songs, stories, and poems preserved by being passed from generation to generation by word of mouth:

This introduces the central conflict and develops the rising action:

When an event occurs that directly contradicts expectations:

Writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally:

A struggle between opposing forces

When a character’s traits are shown through what they think / do, or the thoughts and actions of other characters

The time and place of the action of a literary work:

A term to describe a moment of insight in which a character recognizes a truth:

The sequence of events in a literary work:

When words are used to suggest the opposite of their original meaning:

A general name given literary techniques that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions.

When the story is finished and an insight is revealed:

The writer’s attitude toward the readers and toward the subject:

An effect created in literature when a writer confronts a power or mystery in nature that exceeds human understanding:

The central idea, concern, or purpose of a literary work:

A struggle within a character:

The effect created when words suggest and support two or more divergent interpretations:

A story written to be performed by actors

The objective meaning of a word, independent of other meanings the word calls to mind:

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art:

A tale, originally religious , that explains the actions of gods or heroes / the causes of natural phenomenon

When the conflict reaches a high point of interest or suspense: