Download - Literary Terms Week 2
Literary Terms Week 2
Michelle Holmes
Block 3
4/26/11
English
Grade 10
1. Verbal irony: verbal irony verbal irony verbal irony verbal irony verbal irony Definition: occurs when
what is said contradicts what is meant or thought. Sentence: If somebody says “we’ll see” they usually
mean no and that’s an example of verbal irony.
2. Dramatic irony: Definition: occurs when another character(s) and/or the audience know more than
one or more characters on stage about what is happening. Sentence: I recall reading a story about a guy
that thought he was two different people and the reader knew this but the other characters didn’t , and
this is an example of dramatic irony.
3. Metaphor: Definition: an imaginative comparison used to enhance the meaning of what is being
compared; may be direct (X is Y) or implied ("He wanted to win her heart" comparing love to a battle).
Sentence: An example of a metaphor is “Your face is the sun.”
4. Meter: meter meter meter meter meter meter Definition: an arranged pattern of rhythm in a line of
verse. Sentence: Different poems have different meters.
5. Narrator: Definition: tells the story in a prose piece. Sentence: In my favorite book Lizzie McGuire is
the narrator.
6. Speaker: Definition: tells the story in a poetic piece. Sentence: The speaker in a poem that I know is
William Shakespeare.
7. Onomatopoeia: Definition: the use of words that by their sound suggest their meaning. Sentence:
clap and boom are examples of onomatopoeia.
8. Oxymoron: Definition: a figure of speech consisting of two apparently contradictory terms. Sentence:
dirty soap is an oxymoron.
9. Personification: Definition: when something nonhuman is given human characteristics (must be
HUMAN, or it's a metaphor). Sentence: an example of personification is “the sun smiled down at me.”
10. Plot: plot plot plot plot plot Definition: the pattern of events in a play, poem, or fictional work.
Sentence: Plot is what happens in a story. The plot of Up was very fun.