Study Guide Literary Terms

The short story consists of both short sentences and long sentences. The sentences are short when something dramatic happens and the short sentences make it more dramatic and interesting to read

Alliteration – the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

“Antigone” by Sophocles, tells the story of two brothers, of one is given a proper burial and the other is not. Throughout the story two characters contrast. In literature, a foil is a character that has contrasting traits from another character. These distinctions often better develop characters and help the reader notice the specific traits of each character. Antigone who is outgoing, aggressive, and willing to fight for what she believes in, contrasts with her sister, who is more introverted, soft-spoken, and cautious. Ismene is a foil for Antigone.

Alliteration is defined as the repetition of initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables. It is a literary device that authors use to bring attention to certain important ideas or concepts in stories. Alliterations allow the reader to bring their senses together to hear and feel what they are reading by bring in sounds of the world around us into literate. This helps the reader visualize the story, therefore helping the reader to remember it. It is used in many stories as a way to hide metaphors and other subliminal messages. For example, alliterations with the 's' being the prominent sound could be visualized as a snake slithering, making a character have a slyness about him. Specifically in Anglo-Saxon literature, alliteration is significant because it is how authors organized their poems or stories, includes repetition which aids memorization, and emphasizes important parts of the text that the author wants the audience to know. Alliteration in important in both “The Wanderer” and “The Wife’s Lament” because it helps evoke certain emotions and feelings by using the different functions of alliterative language.

“If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: --Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Caesar, were living and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead to live all free men?”

Another wonderful example of a story that is worth telling is The Great Gatsby. This story is about how Nick Carroway, an average man with no problems of his own, is indirectly involved in many intertwined relationships. He is either neighbors with or related to the people in these complicated relationships, so he is put right in the center of all of the drama. For example, Nick’s neighbor is having an affair with Nick’s cousin whose husband is having an affair with another woman. Nick’s narration reveals the complexity of relationships and how they are not as simple as they appear.

This chapter talks about allegories, an allegory is using different elements to represent different things. All allegories are supposed to be interpreted the same way, where as symbolism can be different to every person.

An antagonist is a character or group of characters that oppose the protagonist or causes the drama in the literary work (Literary Devices). “The Piano Lesson” was written by August Wilson in 1990. “The Piano Lesson” is about Boy Willie trying to sell the piano that his sister, Berniece, kept that belonged to their mother. Berniece refuses to let Boy Willie sell the piano because of the message behind it. Boy Willie causes all this drama so that he can sell the piano and use the money to buy land. The antagonist in the play “The Piano Lesson” is Boy Willie, even though he is not an evil character.

An allegory is an extended metaphor used in literature and art. It helps in understanding the complex ideas and concepts which are hidden in the sentences. It is basically a lock opener for different situations in an art work.

Definition: The similar placement of two opposite ideas, words or phrases. Usually, the sentences in which antithesis is used in are similar in structure or

stories are those narratives that can be read in one sitting and its plot usually involves one main

The antagonist is the character or force that represents the opposition to the protagonist and is the source for conflict. Mr. Woodifield plays the roll of the antagonist in “The Fly”. He is a former employee of the boss who comes by the office to visit once a week. The two men usually talk, catch up, and enjoy each other’s company. Mr. Woodifield is not in great health because of a stroke. The boss is five years older than him and is illustrated as being in much better shape. “Poor old chap, he's on his last pins, thought the boss”

story.  "There was your humble narrator . . .  I knew what was happening, O

An antagonist is a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something.

A novel is long narrative written by a novelist that describes fictional characters and events, usually in the form of a sequential story. The later, an Italian word used to describe short stories, supplied the present generic English term in the 18th century. The first significant European novelist is Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, the first part of which, the first part of which was published in 1605. The term novel refers back to the production of short stories that remained part of a European oral culture of storytelling in to the 19th century. Fairy tales, jokes, little funny stories designed to make a point in a conversation, the exemplum a priest would insert in a sermon belong in to this tradition.