Unit 3: Part 1 Literary Terms

Point of view is the perspective, or vantage point, from which a story is told.

In stories told from an omniscient point of view, the narrator is an observer who can relate everything that happens, as well as the private thoughts and feelings of all the characters.

In stories told from a limited third-person point of view, readers' information is limited to what a single character feels, thinks, and observes: "A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention..."

He uses stream of consciousness, a technique in which a character's thoughts are presented as the mind experiences them—in short bursts without obvious logic.

Naturalism is a literary movement that developed in reaction to Romanticism.

Spirituals are folk songs that were often sung by enslaved African Americans

A refrain is a word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at regular intervals.

Biblical allusions and allegory: Spirituals are full of allusions, or references, to people, places, and events from the Bible.

An allegory is a story in which all the literal elements are also symbols.

Diction, the choice and arrangement of words, gives a piece of writing its unique quality and helps the writer express ideas clearly and precisely.

An author's general purpose for writing may be to inform, to persuade, to entertain, or to describe.

An author's purpose affects all elements of a literary work, including the tone, or attitude, the writer assumes toward the subject and audience.

Narrative nonfiction is prose writing that tells the stories of real people, places, objects, or events.

A biography is a life story written by another person, while an autobiography is an account of the writer's own life.

A biography is a life story written by another person, while an autobiography is an account of the writer's own life.

Memoir: an autobiographical work that focuses on a particular time period or aspect of the writer's life.

Diary and Journal: an informal account of the writer's daily experiences.

Diary and Journal: an informal account of the writer's daily experiences.

Syntax: sentence length and complexity. Syntax may involve any combination of long, short, complex, or simple sentences.

Rhetorical Devices: meaningful patterns of words and ideas.

Rhetorical Devices: meaningful patterns of words and ideas.

College applications often require a reflective essay about an experience that helped shape you as a person.

A periodical abstract is a summary of a long article from a magazine or scholarly journal.

A periodical abstract is a summary of a long article from a magazine or scholarly journal.

Analogies show the relationships between pairs of words.

In a persuasive essay, you build a well-reasoned and compelling argument for a position or claim.