English 9A Literary
Terms Notes
“The Scarlet Ibis”
Point of View (narrative)
Narrator=teller of the story
 (To narrate=to tell a story)
 Through whose eyes does the reader view
the story?
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1st person (insider)
3rd person (outsider)
1st person point of view
(an insider)
A character in the story who can tell the story
from the “I ” vantage point; cannot tell you
thoughts of others (only his own thinking)
Examples:
TKAM (Scout Finch)
The narrator of “The Scarlet Ibis”
3rd Person point of view
(an outsider)
3rd Person OMNISCIENT
(all-knowing narrator)
Outsider tells the story
and can enter the minds
of all the characters
3rd Person LIMITED
 Outsider tells the story focusing on only
one character’s perspective
Example: “The Most Dangerous Game”
Whose perspective is focused on in this story?
3rd Person OBJECTIVE (dramatic)
 Outsider tells the story like a newspaper
reporter who merely relates the facts
without presenting the thoughts or feelings
of the character
Example: “A Rose for Emily”
by William Faulkner.
Emily Grierson?
Here is a passage:
“They rose when she entered—a small, fat
woman in black...She did not ask them to sit.
She just stood there in the door and listened
quietly until the spokesman came to a
stumbling halt. Then they could hear the
invisible watch ticking at the end of the gold
chain. Her voice was dry and cold, ‘I have no
taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartoris explained
it to me. Perhaps one of you can gain access
to the city records and satisfy yourselvs.’”
Foreshadowing
 An author’s use of hints or clues about
events which will occur later.

Example: Shooting of rabid dog, Tim
Johnson foreshadows the shooting/death of
Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Flashback
 An interruption in the action of the story to
show an episode that happened at an
earlier time. It is a useful literary device
because it can provide background
information necessary to understand
characters or plot.
Example
 The story of “The Scarlet Ibis” is told from
the perspective of an adult having a series
of flashbacks about his childhood involving
brother, Doodle.
Video example
In the movie, The Sandlot, Michael (“Squints”)
is trying to explain to Scotty Smalls why the
dog next to their baseball field (“The Beast”)
is so dangerous. This flashback provides the
story of The Beast’s violent nature…
(video on next slide)
Symbols
Anything that suggests a meaning beyond
it’s obvious one
Examples:
 The mockingbird= innocent beings
 The ibis=Doodle
 =happy
 = love
Imagery
Concrete details (word choice/phrases)
which appeal to the 5 senses. Authors
use imagery for 2 purposes:
 To help the reader draw a mental picture
 Arouse emotions/establish mood so the
reader feels what the characters feel
Imagery Example:
 The music coursed through us, shaking
our bodies as if it came from within us.
(Physical appeal/sense of touch)
Simile
 Comparison between UNLIKE things using
words “like” or “as”
 Example: “John runs like the wind
and is as strong as an ox.”
Metaphor
 Comparison between two essentially UNLIKE
things-without using words “like” or “as”
 Examples:
 The tumbleweeds are the lost
children of the desert.
 Wolfing your lunch
Hyperbole
 Exaggerated statement used deliberately to
heighten effect on listener
 Examples:



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The coffee was so strong you could stand a
spoon on it
I am so hungry I could eat a horse!
The music was deafening.
I am starving!
Alliteration
 Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Example: “It tastes better baked in
butter.”
Onomatopoeia
 A word’s sound that imitates its meaning

The embers in the fire crackled and
snapped late into the night.

She was sloshing through the melted
snow.