Literature Final Exam Study Guide

Salma Olivares #24

May 4,2011

Prose:Is an unpoetic language

Poetry:the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.

Novels:a fictitious prose narrative of considerable length and complexity, portraying characters and usually  presenting a sequential organization of action and scenes.

Novellas:a fictional prose narrative that is longer and more complex than a short story; a short novel.

Short story:a piece of prose fiction, usually under10,000 words.

Nonfiction:the branch of literature comprising works of narrativeProse dealing with or offering opinions or conjectures upon fact sand reality, Including biography, history, and the essay (opposed to fiction and distinguished from poetry and drama).

Drama:a composition in prose or verse presenting in dialogue or pantomime a story involving conflict or contrast of character, especially one intended to be acted on the stage; a play.

Folk Literature:Develop in every culture, reflecting the history and beliefs of the people who create it. Is part of an oral tradition in which stories are told, revised, and retold as they are passed from one generation to the next. It explains important events in the history of a people or the natural world.

Plot:Is a sequence of events linked by cause and effect.

Conflict:It is a problem.

Characters:the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.

Point of view: an opinion, 

attitude, orjudgment: He refuses to change his point of view in the matter.

Setting:the surroundings or environment of anything.

Theme:The subject of the story.

Autobiography:an account of a person's life written or otherwise recorded by that person.

Biography:A written account of anotherperson's Life.

Expository Essay:

presents a subject in detail, apart from criticism, argument, or development; i.e., the writer elucidates a subject by analyzing it. 

Essay:a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.

Expressing a quality ofthe word it modifies.

Descriptive:

of, pertaining to, or coming as from a particular person; individual; private: a personal opinion.

Personal:

Persuasive:able, fitted, or intended to persuade: a very persuasive argument.

Informational Text:

anything used to give information in the text format. The can be anything, but it will give the person information about something.

Dialogue:the conversation between characters in a novel, drama, etc.

Stage Directions:

an instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stageactions, movements of performers, orProduction requirements.

Characterization:

portrayal; description: the actor's characterization of a politician.

Narrative Poem:

a poem that tells a story and has a plot.

Lyric Poem:a short poem of song like quality.

Form:external appearance of a clearly defined area, as distinguished from color or material; configuration: a triangular form.

Line:a mark or stroke long in proportion to its breadth, made with a pen, pencil, tool, etc., on a surface: a line down the middle of thepage.

Stanzas:an arrangement of a  certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem.

Rhythm:movement or procedure with uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat, accent, or the like.

Rhyme:Identity in sound of some part, especially the end, of words or lines of verse.

Sound devices:

also known as musical devices, are elements of literature and poetry that emphasize sound.

Alliteration:the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration),  as in from stem to stern, or with a vowelsound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration), as in each to all.Compare consonance 

Onomatopoeia: the formation of a wo

rd, as cuckoo  or boom,  by imitation of a sound madeby or associated with its referent.

Figurative Language:

speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special effect or meaning, speech or writing employing figures of speech.

Legend:a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by Tradition from earlier times and popularly acceptedas historical.

Folk Tale:a tale or legend originating and traditional among a people or folk, especially one forming part of the oraltradition of the common people.

Myth:a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event,with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice,rite, or phenomenon of nature.

Fables:a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimateobjects as characters;apologue: the fable of the tortoise and the Hare.

Moral:expressing or conveying truths or counsel as to right conduct, as a speaker or a literary work; moralizing: a Moral novel.

Characters’ Motives:

Is a technique authour's use to portray a character.

Character Traits:a distinctive but not necessarily invariable feature exhibited by all individuals of a group and capable of being described or measured

Speaker: a person who speaks.

Analogy:a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: the analogy between the heart and a pump.

Break down long sentences:

Summarizing is briefly stating the main points of a piece of writing.

Internal Conflict:

a struggle which takes place in the protagonist's mind and through which the character reaches a new understanding or dynamic change.

Word Root:the form of a word after all affixes are removed; "thematic vowels are part of the stem".

Anecdote:a short, obscure historical or biographical account.

Tribute:a gift, testimonial, compliment, or the like,

given as due or in acknowledgment of 

gratitude or esteem.

Tone:any sound considered with reference to its quality, pitch,strength, source, etc.

Idioms:an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as kick the

bucket  or hang one's head,  or from the general grammatical rules of a language, as the table round  for the

round table, and that is not a constituent of a larger expression of like characteristics.

Direct Characterization:the method of character

development in which the author simply tells what the character is like

Indirect Characterization:the writer reveals information about a

character and his personality through that character's thoughts, words, and actions, along with how other characters respond to that character, including what they think and say about him.

Modern Fairy Tale:Include elements of traditional

fairy tales, including mysterious and fantastic events, magic and wishes, and animals with unusual abilities.

Repetition:the act of repeating; repeated  action, performance, production, or presentation.

Word Parts:Come from common word origins and

related things.

Local Color:distinctive, sometimes picturesque cha

racteristics or peculiarities of a place or period as represented

in literature or drama, or as observed in reality.

Levels of Meaning:include the literal meaning,

what the words actually say and deeper meanings, meaning for author.

Analogy:a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: the analogy between t

he heart and a pump.

Simile:a figure of speech in which two unlike things areexplicitly compared, as in “she is like a rose.” Comparem

etaphor.

Metaphor:a figure of speech in which a te

rm or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance

Literal Meaning:what the word are actually

saying.

Humorous Essays:is a form of nonfiction writing

intended to make the reader laugh.

Significant Events: detailed imagery of significant

environmental events which are visible in remotely-sensed data. 

Compare and Contrast Characters:one thing that helped deciding,

which split personalities.