DP1 Literary Terms and Literary Devices | Baamboozle - Baamboozle

A reflection of the writer's (or character's) attitude in a text

Tone

She woke to the sound of her alarm clock. It was six o'clock already. She jumped out of bed and got dressed.

Third-person narration

When the author uses tension to create an ominous feeling of anticipation in the reader

Suspense

The events that make up a work of fiction in chronological order (i.e. Harry Potter is born a wizard, his parents are killed, he's left to live with the Dursleys, etc.)

Story

My momma always said: 'Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get' .

Simile

Hogwarts, Middle Earth, Westeros, the Multiverse, the Middle Ages, a dystopian future or high school

Setting

You are probably wondering how this all began. Let me tell you.

Second-person narration

A complex character that is fully developed, like Harry Potter or Lord Voldemort

Rounded character

After something has upset the status quo, things get more and more intense in the story

Rising action

Oops. Did I say that out loud?

Rhetorical Question

The final part of the story, in which things either return to the status quo, or a new status quo is reached

Resolution

It happened again and again and again. I couldn't stop it

Repetition

Harry Potter or The Lion King's Simba

Protagonist

The perspective from which the story is being told

Point-of-view

The way the story events are sequenced and told (i.e. Harry Potter grows up being neglected by the Dursleys, finds out he's a wizard)

Plot

Fear gripped the patient waiting for the diagnosis

Personification

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others

Paradox

I am a deeply superficial person

Oxymoron

All of a sudden, I heard a buzzing sound

Onomotopoeia

“As the campers settled into their tents, Zara hoped her eyes did not betray her fear, and Lisa silently wished for the night to quickly end”

Omniscient narrator

The person or character who is telling the story

Narrator

A lesson learned from a story, like 'be yourself' or 'don't judge a book by its cover'

Moral

The emotions evoked through a story

Mood

Love is a battlefield

Metaphor

The muggle word and the wizarding world existing side-by-side in Harry Potter

Juxtaposition

A marriage counselor files for divorce

Irony

The thing that happens to upset the status quo and send the characters on their journey.

Inciting incident

The giant tree was ablaze with the orange, red, and yellow leaves that were beginning to make their descent to the ground.

Imagery

To infinity... and beyond!

Hyperbole

"I have a bad feeling about this"... right before the character enter the creepy basement in a horror movie.

Foreshadowing

When a character only has one major character trait and is not developed much beyond that. Example: Harry Potter's Crabbe and Goyle (Malfoy's friends)

Flat character

When a character remembers something that happened at an earlier point in time

Flashback

I woke up in a sweat. I knew I had just awoken from a terrible dream, although I couldn't quite recall it.

First-person narration

After the most exciting point in the story, when things slowly start settling down

Falling action

The first part of a story, where we meet the characters and get to know the setting. Before something happens that upsets the status quo.

Exposition

"The cat sat by the empty food bowl and looked at her with a hard stare.” vs. “The cat stalked over to the barren food bowl and leveled her with a baleful glare.”

Diction

The supermarket is on Wall Street, two blocks from here.

Denotation

My sister's new boyfriend is very Wall Street

Connotation

A struggle between two opposing forces

Conflict

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain

Assonance

Harry Potter's Lord Voldemort or The Lion King's Scar

Antagonist

You better watch out / you better not cry / you better not pout / I’m telling you why

Anaphora

Gee, thanks Einstein!

Allusion

Quick Question

Alliteration