English Literary Terms

IB ENGLISH EXAM

Be familiar with and able to apply the following terms:

1. Allegory— An allegory is a story with (count 'em) two levels of meaning. First, there's the surface of the story. You know, the characters and plot and all that obvious stuff. Then there's the symbolic level, or the deeper meaning that all the jazz on the surface represents.

ex) animal farm

2. Allusion— a reference to another event, person, place, or work of literature - usually implied rather than explicit and often provides another layer of meaning to what is being said

3. Aphorism— Aphorism is a statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner. The term is often applied to philosophical, moral and literary principles.

EX:

Youth is a blunder; Manhood a struggle; Old age regret. [Benjamin Disraeli]

The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. [William Faulkner]

Life’s Tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late. [Benjamin Franklin]

4. Analogy— Analogy is a comparison between two things. Analogies function to describe or explain one thing by examining its similarities with another thing. The two things may be very dissimilar and the analogy forces the reader or listener to understand the connection between them. On the other hand, the analogy could provide a comparison between two very similar things, one of which might be more obscure; the analogy provides a way for a reader or listener to understand the more obscure thing by picturing the more common thing.

5. Antagonist— Definition of Antagonist In literature, an antagonist is a character, group of characters, or other force that presents an obstacle or is in direct conflict with the protagonist. The antagonist is most often one character who has a goal that opposes the protagonist’s goal and will try to stop the protagonist from getting what he or she wants.

6. Caricature— a character described through the exaggeration of a small number of features that he or she possesses for satirical effect

Examples of Caricature:

Her eyes were lasers, boring a hole through me. Her ears were smoking, and her hair was on fire. Mom was mad.

We loved our teacher Mr. Tanner. He wore shoes that were scuffed, and pants that were so tight around his belly that we wondered if he would pop out of them. His shirts were neatly pressed, but so starchy that he crackled when he walked. And, he was forever forgetting his Coke bottle glasses-perched on top of his head while he looked for them on his desk. But, he loved books, and he made us love books too.

7. Characterization—

a) direct - the author directly tells u about a charcter

b) indirect - author tells u about a character thru their actions

c) flat - Flat characters are two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work.

d) round - round characters are complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.

e) static - A static character is one that does not undergo inner changes or undergoes a little change. It is a character that does not develop or grow such as Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.

f) dynamic - Like a round character, a dynamic character also undergoes changes throughout the narrative due to several conflicts he encounters on his journey. A dynamic character faces trials and tribulations and takes time to learn from encounters, other characters, experiences, and mistakes he/she commits.

8. Cliché— a phrase, idea, or image that has been used so much that it has lost much of its original meaning, impact, and freshness

9. Climax— highest emotional point in story

10. Comedy— Comedy is a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its tone, mostly having cheerful ending.

11. Conflict— In literature, a conflict is a literary element that involves a struggle between two opposing forces usually a protagonist and an antagonist.

12. Context— Context is the background, environment, setting, framework, or surroundings of events or occurrences. Simply, context means circumstances forming a background of an event, idea or statement, in such a way as to enable readers to understand the narrative or a literary piece. It is necessary in writing to provide information, new concepts, and words to develop thoughts.

13. Denouement— the ending of a play, novel, or drama where 'all is revealed' and the plot is unraveled

14. Dialogue— A dialogue is a literary technique in which writers employ two or more characters to be engaged in conversation with each other.

15. Diction— the choice of words that a writer makes

16. Dramatic irony— Dramatic irony occurs in a piece of literature when the audience knows something that some characters in the narrative do not.

EX) the reader might be aware that a certain trap has been set and feels suspense when an unknowing character is about to walk right into this trap.

17. Dramatic monologue— A dramatic monologue is a type of poem in which the speaker is directly addressing and talking to some other person. The speaker in such poems usually speaks alone, in a one way conversation, and so it is called a monologue.

18. Empathy— a feeling on the part of the reader of sharing the particular experience being described by the character or writer

19. Figurative language/figurative speech— language that is symbolic or metaphorical and not meant to be taken literally

a. Metaphor— a comparison of one thing to another in order to make description more vivid; it actually states that one thing is the other

b. Personification— the attribution of human feelings, emotions,