12th grade ELA

Foreshadowing

When a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.

Genre means the type of art, literature or music characterized by a specifc form, content and style. For example, literature has four main genres; poetry, drama, fction and nonfction. All of these genres have particular features and functions that distinguish them from one another. Arrogance, excessive self-pride and self-confdence. The word was used to refer to the emotions in Greek tragic heroes that led them to ignore warnings from the gods and thus invite catastrophe. It is considered a form of hamartia or tragic faw that stems from overbearing pride and lack of piety. Descriptive language that appeals to our physical senses. Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. The Inciting Incident (or “exciting incident” as someone once referred to it) is the event or decision that begins a story's problem. This is a more subtle way of introducing the character to the audience. The audience has to deduce for themselves the characteristics of the character by observing his/her thought process, behavior, speech, way of talking, appearance, and way of communication with other characters and also by discerning the response of other characters. A technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated. Metaphor is a fgure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things or objects that are poles apart from each other but have some characteristics common between them.

Genre

Hubris

Imagery

Inciting Incident

Indirect Characterization

Irony

Metaphor

Mood

Mood is the atmosphere of a piece of writing; it’s the emotions a selection arouses in a reader.

Motif

Motif is an object or idea that repeats itself throughout a literary work.

Personifcation Giving human qualities to inanimate objects: “The ground thirsts for rain; the wind whispered secrets to us.” Prosopopeia (also spelled prosopopoeia) is a form of powerful personifcation in which an inanimate object gains the ability to speak.

A protagonist is the central character or leading fgure in poetry, narrative, novel or any other story. A protagonist is sometimes called a “hero” by the audience or readers.

Protagonist

Resolution

The part of the plot (usually at the end of the story) when the confict is resolved.

Simile

A simile is a fgure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as”. Therefore, it is a direct comparison.

Soliloquy

When a character in a play reveals his inner thoughts by delivering a speech alone on stage

Symbol

Objects used to signify larger ideas and qualities

Theme

The general idea or meaning of a literary work

Tone

The author’s attitude toward a subject. While journalistic writing theoretically has a tone of distance and objectivity, all other writing can have various tones. A dramatic composition, often in verse, dealing with a serious or somber theme, typically that of a great person destined through a faw of character or confict with some overpowering force, as fate or society, to downfall, death or destruction.

Tragedy