Honors English 2 50 literary devices

serious literary work in which a dignified character meets destruction usually through some personal flaw or weakness.

Shifting by the author to earlier events in the story.

In tragedy, the release of strong emotions in the audience.

A person or force who opposes something else.

Repetition of consonant sounds, usually the initial consonant.

A situation in which the reader or audience knows things, which the characters do not.

Language which helps one see more clearly and vividly, a person, feeling or thing.

A character who remains the same throughout the story.

a tale in verse or prose in which characters, actions or settings represent abstract or moral qualities.

sensationalist entertainment with excessively virtuous or evil characters, sordid realism, violence.

A happening turns out to be quite different from what we had expected.

Verse written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

defect in a tragic hero/heroine which leads to his/her downfall

A figure of speech in which something non-human is given human characteristics.

Hints given by the author to prepare the reader for future events.

Something in a literary work that maintains its own meaning and represents something else.

type of comic play, which ridiculous situations, characters coarse wit and physical buffoonery are used to make us laugh

The highest emotional point in a story.

A very brief story to illustrate a lesson using animals as characters.

Central character

having two or more meanings; not clear

A pair of successive rhymed lines of poetry.

Time and place in a narrative

A reference to a person, place, event, or literary work, which the writer expects the author to recognize.

Long speech by a character delivered in front of one or more other characters.

story written to be acted out on stage

A dramatic convention where a character turns to speak to another character or directly to the audience.

Characteristic way of writing.

The all-knowing author.

An attempt in literature to represent life as it is, without sentimentalizing or idealizing it.

Use of a word whose sound initiates or reinforces its meaning.

The problem that must be solved; the struggle.

literary work that mocks/ridicules the stupidity or vices of individuals, groups, institutions, or society in general

methods used to present the personality of a character in a work of literature.

The main idea of a literary work.

To hear or read and them assume.

The author’s attitude toward his/her characters and subject.

amusing literary work, which ends happily when the hero/heroine overcomes obstacles.

A series of events that occur in a story.

speech/writing praising a person; especially a funeral oration

general mood/feeling established in the story

A dramatic moment where a character makes an extended speech alone, usually of private thoughts.

Background material usually presented at the beginning of a work.

conversation/speech among two or more characters

vantage point from which a narrative is told

Comparison between two dissimilar things intending to add meaning to one.

A re-wording of a text passage for purposes of clarification.

imitation of a piece of literature/music/art for amusement or instruction

an event/detail that is chronologically out of its proper time in history

lyric poem which expresses mourning, usually over the death of an individual