Literary Terms


Allegory: a tale in prose or verse in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities; a story that uses symbols to make a point
Alliteration: the repetition of similar initial sounds, usually consonants, in a group of words
Allusion: a reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects a reader to recognize
Ambiguity: something uncertain as to interpretation
Anachronism: something that shows up in the wrong place or the wrong time
Analogy: a comparison made between two things to show the similarities between them
Analysis: a method in which a work or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts given rigorous and detailed scrutiny
Anaphora: a device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences
Anecdote: a very short story used to illustrate a point
Antagonist: a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative
Antithesis: a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness
Aphorism: a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life
Apologia: a defense or justification for some doctrine, piece of writing, cause, or action; also apology
Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly
Argument(ation): the process of convincing a reader by proving either the truth or the falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself
Assumption: the act of supposing, or taking for granted that a thing is true
Audience: the intended listener or listeners
Characterization: the means by which a writer reveals a character’s personality
Chiasmus: a reversal in the order off words so that the second half of a statement balances the first half in inverted word order
Circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have served
Classicism: art, literature, and music reflecting the principles of ancient Greece and Rome: tradition, reason, clarity, order, and balance
Cliché: a phrase or situation overused within society
Climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the pint of greatest intensity or interest at which plot question is answered or resolved
Colloquialism: folksy speech, slang words or phrases usually used in informal conversation
Comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending; now a term to describe a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter
Conflict: struggle or problem in a story causing tension
Connotation: implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition
Contrast: a rhetorical device by which one element (idea or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity
Denotation: plain dictionary definition
Denouement (pronounced day-new-mahn): loose ends tied up in a story after the climax, closure, and conclusion
Dialect: the language of a particular district, class or group of persons; the sounds, grammar, and diction employed by people distinguished from others
Dialectics: formal debates usually over the nature of truth
Dichotomy: split or break between two opposing things
Diction: the style of speaking or writing as reflected in the choice and use of words
Didactic: having to do with the transmission of information; education
Dogmatic: rigid in beliefs and principles
Elegy: a mournful, melancholy poem, especially a funeral song or lament for the dead, sometimes contains general reflections on death, often with a rural or pastoral setting
Epic: a long narrative poem unified by a hero who reflects the customs, mores, and aspirations of his nation of race as he makes his way through legendary and historic exploits, usually over a long period of time (definition bordering on circumlocution)
Epigram: witty aphorism
Epitaph: any brief inscription in prose or verse on a tombstone; a short formal poem of commemoration often a credo written by the person who wishes it to be on his tombstone
Epithet: a short, descriptive name or phrase that  may insult someone’s character, characteristics
Euphemism: the use of an indirect, mild or vague word or expression for one thought to be coarse, offensive, or blunt
Evocative (evocation): a calling forth of memories and sensations; the suggestion or production through artistry and imagination of a sense of reality
Exposition: beginning of a story that sets forth facts, ideas, and/or characters, in a detailed explanation
Expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music consisting of unrealistic   representation of an inner idea or feeling(s)
Fable: a short, simple story, usually with animals as characters, designed to teach a moral truth
Fallacy: from Latin word “to deceive”, a false or misleading notion, belief, or argument; any kind of erroneous reasoning that makes arguments unsound
Falling Action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax
Farce: a boisterous comedy involving ludicrous action and dialogue
Figurative Language: apt and imaginative language characterized by figures of speech (such as metaphor and simile)
Flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to prior events
Foil: a person or thing that, by contrast, makes another seem better or more prominent
Folk Tale: story passed on by word of mouth
Foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for the outcome of the action; “planning” to make the outcome convincing, though not to give it away
Free Verse: verse without conventional metrical pattern, with irregular pattern or no rhyme
Genre: a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content
Gothic Tale: a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, violent or grotesque action, and a mood of decay, degeneration, and decadence
Hyperbole: an exaggerated statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point
Imagery: figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses
Implication: a meaning or understanding that is to be arrive at by the reader but that is not fully and explicitly stated by the author
Incongruity: the deliberate joining of opposites or of elements that are not appropriate to each other
Inference: a judgment or conclusion based on evidence presented; the forming of an opinion which possesses some degree of probability according to facts already available
Irony: a contrast or incongruity between what is said and what is meant, or what is expected to happen and what actually happens, or what is thought to be happening and what is actually happening
Interior Monologue: a form of writing which represents the inner thoughts of a character; the recording of the internal, emotional experience(s) of an individual; generally the reader is given the impression of overhearing the interior monologue
Inversion: words out of order for emphasis
Juxtaposition: the intentional placement of a word, phrase, sentences of paragraph to contrast with another nearby
Lyric: a poem having musical form and quality; a short outburst of the author’s innermost thoughts and feelings
Magic(al) Realism: a genre developed in Latin America which juxtaposes the everyday  with the marvelous or magical
Metaphor(extended, controlling, and mixed): an analogy that compare two different things imaginatively
Extended: a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it
Controlling: a metaphor that runs throughout the piece of work
    Mixed: a metaphor that ineffectively blends two or more analogies
Metonymy: literally “name changing” a device of figurative language in which the name of an attribute or associated thing is substituted for the usual name of a thing
Mode of Discourse: argument (persuasion), narration, description, and exposition
Modernism: literary movement characterized by stylistic experimentation, rejection of tradition, interest in symbolism and psychology
Monologue: an extended speech by a character in a play, short story, novel, or narrative poem
Mood: the predominating atmosphere evoked by a literary piece
Motif: a recurring feature (name, image, or phrase) in a piece of literature
Myth: a story, often about immortals, and sometimes connected with religious rituals, that attempts to give meaning to the mysteries of the world
Narrative: a story or description of events
Narrator: one who narrates, or tells, a story
Naturalism: extreme form of realism
Novelette/Novella: short story; short prose narrative, often satirical
Omniscient Point of View: knowing all things, usually the third person
Onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates or suggests its meaning
Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect by means of a concise paradox
Pacing: rate of movement; tempo
Parable: a story designed to convey some religious principle, moral lesson, or general truth
Paradox: a statement apparently self-contradictory or absurd but really containing a possible truth; an opinion contrary to generally accepted ideas
Parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form
Parody: an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist
Pathos: the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness
Pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake
Personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or abstract ideas
Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose
Poignant: eliciting sorrow or sentiment
Point of View: the attitude unifying any oral or written argumentation; in description, the physical point from which the observer views what he is describing
Postmodernism: literature characterized by experimentation, irony, nontraditional forms, multiple meanings, playfulness and a blurred boundary between real and imaginary
Prose: the ordinary form of spoken and written language; language that does not have a regular rhyme pattern
Protagonist: the central character in a work of fiction; opposes antagonist
Pun: play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications
Purpose: the intended result wished by an author
Realism: writing about the ordinary aspects of life in a straightforward manner to reflect life as it actually is
Refrain: a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song; chorus
Requiem:  any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead
Resolution: point in a literary work at which the chief dramatic complication is worked out; denouement
Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis
Rhetoric: use of language, both written and verbal in order to persuade
Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion
Rising Action: plot build up, caused by conflict and complications, advancement towards climax
Romanticism: movement in western culture beginning in the eighteenth and peaking in the nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism; imagination was valued over reason and fact
Satire: ridicules or condemns the weakness and wrong doings of individuals, groups, institutions, or humanity in general
Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter
Setting: the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem occur
Simile: a figure of speech comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word of comparison
Soliloquy: an extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage
Spiritual: a folk song, usually on a religious theme
Speaker: a narrator, the one speaking
Stereotype: cliché; a simplified, standardized conception with a special meaning and appeal for members of a group; a formula story
Stream of Consciousness: the style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images, as the character experiences them
Structure: the planned framework of a literary selection; its apparent organization
Style:  the manner of putting thoughts into words; a characteristic way of writing or speaking
Subordination: the couching of less important ideas in less important  structures of language
Surrealism: a style in literature and painting that stresses the subconscious or the nonrational aspects of man’s existence characterized by the juxtaposition of the bizarre and the banal
Suspension of Disbelief: suspend not believing in order to enjoy it
Symbol: something which stands for something else, yet has a meaning of its own
Synesthesia: the use of one sense to convey the experience of another sense
Synecdoche: another form of name changing, in which a part stands for the whole
Syntax: the arrangement and grammatical relations of words in a sentence
Theme:  main idea of the story; its message(s)
Thesis: a proposition for consideration, especially one to be discussed and proved or disproved; the main idea
Tone: the devices used to create the mood and atmosphere of a literary work; the author’s perceived point of view
Tongue in Cheek: a type of humor in which the speaker feigns seriousness; a.k.a. “dry” or “dead pan”
Tragedy: in literature: any composition with a somber theme carried to a disastrous conclusion; a fatal event; protagonist usually is heroic but tragically (fatally) flawed
Understatement: opposite of hyperbole; saying less than you mean for emphasis
Vernacular: everyday speech
Voice: The textual features, such as diction and sentence structures, that convey a writer’s or speaker’s persona
Zeitgeist: the feeling of a particular era in history

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