Essential Elements for Language Arts 10th Grade Literary Elements 1. Allegory a story in which people, things, and actions represent an idea or generalization about life; they often have a strong moral or lesson 2. Allusion a literary reference to a familiar person, place, thing, or event 3. Analogy a comparison of two or more similar objects, suggesting that if they are alike in certain respects, they will probably be alike in other ways as well 4. Anecdote a short summary of a humorous event used to make a point 5. Antagonist The person or thing working against the protagonist, or hero, of the work 6. Autobiography An author’s account or story of her or his own life 7. Biography The story of a person’s life written by another person 8. Characterization The method an author uses to reveal characters and their personalities 9. Climax Usually the most intense point in a story -- A series of struggles or conflicts build a story or play toward this 10. Comedy Literature in which human errors or problems appear funny – these stories end on a happy note 11. Conflict The problem or struggle in a story that triggers the action – there are five basic types 12. Conflict: One character in a story has a problem with one Person vs. Person or more of the other characters 13. Conflict: A character has a problem with some element of Person vs. Society society: the school, the law, the accepted way of doing things 14. Conflict: A character has a problem deciding what to do in Person vs. Self a certain situation 15. Conflict: A character has a problem with nature: heat, Person vs. Nature cold, a tornado, an avalanche, or any other element of nature 16. Conflict: A character must battle what seems to be an Person vs. Fate uncontrollable problem. Whenever the conflict is (God) an unbelievable or strange coincidence, it can be attributed to this 17. Content The set of acts or circumstances surrounding an event or a situation in a piece of literature 18. Denouement The final resolution or outcome of a play or story 19. Diction An author’s choice of words based on their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness 20. Diction: An expression that is usually accepted in informal Colloquialism situations and certain locations, as in “He really grinds my beans.” 21. Diction: (technical diction) the specialized language used Jargon by a specific group , such as those who use computers: override, interface, download 22. Didactic Literature that instructs or presents a moral or religious statement 23. Drama The form of literature known as play; but drama also refers to the type of serious play that is often concerned with the leading character’s relationship to society 24. Epic A long narrative poem that tells of the deeds and adventurers of a hero 25. Epigram A brief, witty saying or poem often dealing with its aka. Aphorism subject in a satirical manner: “There never was a good war or a bad peace.” - Ben Franklin 26. Epiphany A sudden perception (moment of understanding) that causes a character to change or act in a certain way 27. Epitaph A short poem or verse written in memory of someone 28. Epithet A word or phrase used in place of a person’s name; it is characteristic of that person: Alexander the Great, Material Girl, Ms. Know-It- All 29. Exposition Writing that is intended to explain something that might otherwise be difficult to understand; in a play or novel, it would be the portion that gives the background or situation surrounding the story 30. Fable A short fictional narrative that teaches a lesson; it usually includes animals that talk and act like people 31. Falling action The part of a play or story that works out the decision arrived at during the climax 32. Figure of Speech: An opposition, or contrast, of ideas: “it was the Antithesis best of times, it was the worst of times . . . “ -- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities 33. Figure of Speech: An exaggeration or overstatement: “I have seen Hyperbole this river so wide it had only one bank.” – Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi 34. Figure of Speech: A comparison of two unlike things in which no Metaphor word of comparison (as or like) is used: A green plant is a machine that runs on solar energy.” -- Scientific American 35. Figure of Speech: The substituting or one word for another related Metonymy word: “The White House has decided to create more public service jobs.” (White House is substituted for president) 36. Figure of Speech: A literary device in which the author speaks of or Personification describes an animal, object, or idea as if it were a person: “The rock stubbornly refused to move.” 37. Figure of Speech: A comparison of two unlike things using the Simile words like or as: “She stood in front of the altar, shaking like a freshly caught trout.” Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 38. Figure of Speech: A way of emphasizing an idea by talking about it Understatement in a restrained manner: “Aunt Polly is prejudiced against snakes.” (She was terrified of them.) – Mark Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer 39. Flashback Returning to an earlier time (in a story) for the purpose of making something in the present more clear 40. Foil Someone who serves as a contrast or challenge to another character 41. Foreshadowing Giving hints or clues of what is to come later in a story 42. Genre Refers to a category or type of literature based on its style, form and content; the mystery novel is a literary one of these 43. Gothic novel A type of fiction that is characterized by gloomy castles, ghosts, and supernatural happenings – creating a mysterious and sometimes frightening story -- Bram Stoker’s Dracula is probably the best known gothic novel still popular today 44. Hubris Derived from the Greek work hybris, means “excessive pride” – in Green tragedy, hubris is often viewed as the flaw that leads to the downfall of the tragic hero 45. Imagery The use of words to create a certain picture in the readers mind; imagery is usually based on sensory details: “The sky was dark and gloomy, the air was damp and raw, the streets were wet and sloppy.” – Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers 46. Irony Using a work or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or normal meaning; there are three kinds 47. Irony: dramatic When the audience sees a character’s mistakes, but the character does not 48. Irony: verbal When the writer says one thing and means another: “the best substitute for experience is being thirteen” 49. Irony: of situation When there is a great difference between the purpose of a particular action and the result 50. Local color The use of language and details that are common in a certain region of the country: “Mama came out and lit into me for sitting there doing nothing. Said I was no-count and shiftless . . . “ --Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree 51. Malapropism The type of pun, or play on words that results when two words become jumbled in the speaker’s mind; this term comes from a character in Sheridan’s comedy The Rivals – the character “Mrs. Malaprop, is constantly mixing up her words, as when she says “as headstrong as an allegory [she means alligator] on the banks of the Nile. 52. Melodrama An exaggerated form of drama (as in television soap operas) characterized by heavy use of romance, suspense, and emotion 53. Memoir Writing based on the writer’s memory of a particular time, place, or incident; reminiscence is another term for memoir 54. Mood The feeling a text arouses in the reader: happiness, peacefulness, sadness, and so on 55. Moral The particular value or lesson the author is trying to get across to the reader 56. Myth A traditional story that attempts to justify a certain practice or belief or to explain a natural phenomenon 57. Narration Writing that relates an event or series of events: a story 58. Narrator The person who is telling the story 59. Naturalism An extreme form of realism in which the author tries to show the relation of a person to the environment or surroundings; often, the author finds it necessary to show the ugly or raw side of that relationship 60. Novel A lengthy fictional story with a plot that is revealed by the speech, action and thought of the characters 61. Novella A prose work longer than the standard short story, but shorter and less complex than a full- length novel 62. Oxymoron A combination of contradictory terms as in jumbo shrimp, tough love, or cruel kindness 63. Parable A short descriptive story that illustrates a particular belief or moral 64. Paradox A statement that seems contrary to common sense, yet may, in fact, be true: “The coach considered this a good loss.” 65. Parody A form of literature that intentionally uses comic effect to mock a literary work or style 66. Pathetic fallacy A form of personification giving human traits to nature: cruel sea, howling wind, dancing water 67. Pathos A Greek root meaning suffering or passion; it usually describes the part in a play or story that is intended to elicit pity or sorrow from the audience or reader 68. Picaresque novel A work of fiction consisting of a lengthy string of loosely connected events; it usually features the adventures of a rogue living by his or her wits – Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a picaresque novel 69. Plot The action or sequence of event in a story; it usually is a series: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution, as the story develops 70. Point of view The vantage point from which the story is told – there are three types of these 71. Point of View: The point of view that allows the narrator to share Omniscient the thoughts and feelings of all the characters 72. Point of View: The point of view that allows the narrator to share Limited omniscient the thoughts and feelings of only one character 73. First Person The most objective point of view, allowing the Narrative story teller to record the action from his or her aka. Point of view: own point of view, being unaware of any of the Camera view characters’ thoughts or feelings 74. Protagonist The main character or hero of the story 75. Pseudonym This term is also referred to as “pen name” – it means “false name” and applies to the name a writer uses in place of his or her given name 76. Quest Features a main character who is seeking to find something or achieve a goal; in the process, this character encounters and overcomes a series of obstacles, returning wiser and more experienced 77. Realism Literature that attempts to represent life as it really is 78. Renaissance Means “rebirth”; is the period of history following the Middle Ages, beginning in the late fourteenth century and continuing through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; this term now refers to any period of time in which intellectual and artistic interest is revived or reborn 79. Resolution Also known as denouement, the portion of the play or story in which the problem is solved; it comes after the climax and falling action and is intended to bring the story to a satisfactory end 80. Rising action The series of struggles that builds a story or play toward a climax 81. Romanticism A literary movement with an emphasis on the imagination and emotions