This document provides definitions for key terms used in understanding literature and art. For art vocabulary, it defines concepts like color, line, shade, space, brushstroke, perspective, background, and focal point. For literary vocabulary, it outlines themes in fiction and non-fiction works, figurative language, denotation vs connotation, setting, mood vs tone, types of irony, style, humor, and perspective vs point of view. The purpose is to introduce 8th grade students to important concepts and vocabulary used for analyzing and discussing both visual art and literature.

1. TERMS FOR
UNDERSTANDING
LITERATURE AND
ART
8th grade English
CJHS

2. Let’s get artsy!
ART VOCABULARY

3. COLOR
 Result of the reflection or absorption of light by a surface
 Pigment that causes visual sensation
 Not black or white
 3 characteristics of color:
 Hue (attribute of a color that gives it a general classification—
yellow, green, etc.
 Intensity (brightness of a color)
 Value (lightness or darkness of a hue or neutral color)

4. LINE
 A break of space in color (or black and white)

5. SHADE AND SHADOWS
 Dark value of a color made by adding black

6. SPACE
 The area between, around, below, or contained within objects.

7. BRUSHSTROKE
 The movement of an artist’s brush full of paint or ink on a surface

8. PERSPECTIVE
 The system of viewing a 3D object that is viewed on a 2D surface.

9. BACKGROUND
 The part of the picture that seems to be farthest from the viewer.

10. FOCAL POINT
 The place in a work of art at which attention becomes focused because of an
element emphasized in some way.

11. SUBJECT
 The topic or idea represented in an artwork
HTTP://WWW.ETSY.COM /LISTING/664367
86/BLACK-BIRD-WIRE-VALENTINE-LOVE-
ART-PRINT

12. Let’s get literary!
LITERARY VOCABULARY

13. THEME
 A central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work
 Literary Works include
 Fiction
 An imaginative story
 Non-fiction
 A true story
 Biographies
 An account of someone’s life, written by an outside source
 Autobiographies
 An account of someone’s life, written by the same person
 Memoirs
 A brief portion of someone’s life, written by the same
person

14. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
 A way of speaking or writing in a non-literal way
 Metaphor
 Hyperbole
 Simile
 Personification
 Idiom

15. DENOTATION V.
CONNOTATION
 Denotation
 The literal meaning (dictionary definition) of a word
 Connotation
 The emotional feeling of a word that might differ from the denotation of a
word

16. SETTING
 Time, place, and environment of a story.

17. MOOD V. TONE
 Mood
 The READER’S feelings (emotions) created by a literary work
 Tone
 The AUTHOR’S attitude (feelings) toward the subject, a character, or the
audience.
 Both mood and tone are created with diction (word choice).

18. IRONY
 3 Types
 Situational
 When something happens in a story that is not just surprising, but is the exact
opposite of what you expected to happen.
 Verbal
 When something is said but what is meant is the opposite. (sarcasm)
 Dramatic
 The reader or audience knows something the character/characters do not know

19. STYLE
 The way in which a writer or speaker says what he/she says

20. HUMOR
 Dialogue, action, or an event that is designed to be comical, witty, funny, or
amusing.

21. PERSPECTIVE V. POINT OF
VIEW
Perspective Point of View
 The state of one’s ideas, the  The perspective from which
facts known to one, and the a story is told.
angle from which one views  1st person
a situation.  2nd person
 3rd person limited
 3rd person omniscient