Essay about Speech

Term Definition

Allegory an extended symbol that lasts for the duration of the entire narrative

Alliteration

repetition of consonant sounds; (try to trick ten tiny teens) or Peter Piper picked a pack of

pickeled peppers.

Allusion a reference to something else

Archetypes symbolic elements that recur in different cultures

Assonance repetition of vowel sounds; (Owls owe our only ounce)

Author The person who wrote the text.

Diction Word Choice, determines tone

Dynamic character changes over time

First-person singular narrator

Internal; narrator uses the first person pronoun “I”

(first-person plural- “we”, less common)

Flat Character Behaves in an expected manner

Foil a character held up consistently as a contrast to another character.

Foreshadowing clues as to what is to come ahead

Illusion like a mirage or a ghost, a vision that is not real

In media res in the middle of things

Irony

when the intended meaning is the opposite to what is written or said.

(It says one thing but means the reverse)

Limited narrator external; access to thoughts and feelings of one character.

Metaphor More explicit comparison (she is the sun)

Narrative a story, whether true or fictional, that is told by a narrator

Narrator The person in the text who tells the story.

Omniscient narrator external; has access to thoughts and feelings of all characters.

Onomatopoeia words that sound like what they mean (splish splash)

Oxymoron a combination of contradictory ideas (wise fool)

Personification An inanimate object displays human behavior. (The rock talks)

Round Character Has a psychological complexity

Second person narrator

could be internal or external. Addresses “you”. Less common.

Turns reader into character in story.

Simile comparison using like or as; She is like the sun.

Static Character remains the same over time

Stock character represent a "type," often like a cliché

Symbol something that stands for something else

Syntax Sentence structure

Third-person narrator

External; refers to all characters through pronouns he, she, they.

Narrator is not a character in the action.

Tone writer's attitude toward

Unreliable narrator

often a 1 st person narrator is unreliable.

Unknowingly reveals character flaws.