Literary Terms and Definitions
Unit 1: “The Scarlet Ibis”
By James Hurst
alliteration
• Repetition of similar sounds, usually
consonants or consonant cluster, in the initial
letters of a group of words.
– Lovely Lady Gaga grew gaggles of gorgeous
greens.
allusion
• A reference, in a piece of literature, to a well
known person, place or thing.
– Yesterday, we heard a choir perform the Spiritual
“Wade in the Water.”
climax
• The third stage of the plot. The highest pint of
interest or most suspenseful moment in a
story.
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20chart%20denouement/Alixtii/plot.jpg
dénouement
• The stage of the plot when all the “loose ends
are tied up.”
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%20chart%20denouement/Alixtii/plot.jpg
exposition
• The first stage of a plot. The setting and
characters are introduced.
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ot.jpg
External conflict
• A struggle between a character and something
outside of himself or herself.
– Man vs. Man
– Man vs. Nature
– Man vs. The supernatural
– Man vs. Technology
– Man vs. Society
Falling action
• The fourth stage of the plot. Short section
following the climax of a story in which
suspense falls.
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First person point-of-view
• One of the characters in the story is actually
telling the story using the pronoun “I.” The
reader knows the thoughts and feelings of
ONE character.
Imagery
• Language that appeals to one or more of the
five senses: touch, taste, smell, sight and
hearing.
• The flower garden was stained with rotting
brown magnolia petals and ironweeds grew
rank amid the purple phlox.
Internal conflict
• A struggle between a character and himself or
herself.
– Man vs. Himself
Metaphor
• A comparison between two unlike things that
does not use the words “like” or “as.”
– “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful,
terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and
death” (Hurst).
• Compares “pride” to a two vines without using “like” or
“as.”
Mood
• The emotions a piece of literature create in
the reader.
– How does the story make the reader feel?
Personification
• Giving human qualities to nonhuman things.
– “Summer was dead but autumn had not yet been
born” (Hurst).
• Can summer literally lose its life and die?
• Can autumn literally be born?
Plot
• A series of related events that make up a
story.
– Plot Chart:
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om/image/plot%20chart%20
denouement/Alixtii/plot.jpg
Resolution
• The stage of the plot when all the problems in
the story are resolved.
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/image/plot%20chart%20deno
uement/Alixtii/plot.jpg
Rising Action
• The second stage of a plot. The suspense is
created by increasing conflict.
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e/plot%20chart%20denouement/Alix
tii/plot.jpg
Simile
• A comparison between two things using the
words “like” or “as.”
– “The oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and
rocked back and forth like an empty cradle”
(Hurst).
Symbol
• A concrete (physical object) that stands for an
idea.
– Eagle = Freedom
– Red octagon = Stop
Symbolism
• An author’s use of a person, place, thing, or
event that stands for itself and for something
else.
Theme
• The central message of a story.
– What is the message of the story?
– What lesson does the author want us to learn?
Third person limited point-of-view
• The narrator is not in the story, but rather “on
the outside looking in.” The narrator knows
the thoughts and feelings of only ONE of the
characters.
Third person omniscient point-of-view
• The narrator is not in the story, but rather “on
the outside looking in.” The narrator knows
the thoughts, feelings and actions of all the
characters within the story.