| Term | Definition |
| Literature | a body of writings in prose or verse; imaginative/creatrive writing |
| Genre | a class or category of literary compostion |
| Culture | the totality of social behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, of a population |
| Diction | a writers word choice |
| Theme | central idea in a literary work |
| Imagery | descriptive language that appears to 1 of 5 senses |
| Point of View | the perspective from which a story is told |
| Figurative Language | writing or speech not meant literally |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as if something else |
| Simile | compares two unlike thuings using like or as |
| Synecdoche | a part is used to stand as a whole |
| Hyperbole | a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement |
| Personification | nonhuman subject is given human characteristics |
| Epic Simile | a simile developed over several lines of verse |
| Syntax | the way in which words are put together to form phrases and sentences |
| Rhetorical Strategies | way of writing to seduce a reader or persuade |
| Symbolism | used symbols to express emotional states |
| Plot | sequence of events in a literary work |
| Main Idea | the principle or most important part |
| Poetry | 1 of 3 major types, genres, of literature |
| Haiku | a Japanese lyric poem of a fixed 17 symbol form that points to a thing |
| Free Verse | poetry not written in a regular rhythmic pattern |
| Epic | long narrative poem about the adventures of a god/hero |
| Narrative Poem | poem that tells a story in verse |
| Alliteration | the repition of initial consonant sounds in accented syllables |
| End Rhyme | poem whose end words rhyme |
| Internal Rhyme | a rhyming syllabel occupies any position other than the beginning/ending |
| Terza Rhyme | verse form consisting of series of tripletts;have 10 syllables or 11 middle rhymes with first and third |
| Consonance | the reptition of final consonant sounds in stressed syllables containing dissmiliar vowel sounds |
| Assonance | the repititionof vowel sounds in stressed syllables containing dissimilar consonant sounds |
| Prose | ordinary form of written language and 1 of 3 major types of literature |
| Fiction | prose writing about fictional characters |
| Non-Fiction | prose writing about real characters |
| Short Story | a brief work of fiction |
| Novel | extended work of fiction that often has a complicated plot |
| Essay | shirt non-fiction about a particular subject |
| Editorial | an article in a publication expressing the opinion of its editores or publishers |
| Biography | life story written by one person about someone else |
| Autobiography | life story about self;written by self |
| Drama | story written ti be performed by actors |
| Character | a person who takes part in a literary work |
| Irony | literary techniques-surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions |
| Chronological | order of events |
| In Medias Res | in the middle |
| Flashback | used to look at past events/scenes |
| Epistolary Narrative | narrative in a letter |
| Frame Narrative | outside story on inside of a story |
| Myth | an unproved or false belief thats used to justify a social institution |
| Understatement | to state less strongly than the facts bear out |
| Paradox | a statement you think is false, but is possibly true |
| Tone | the feeling the author expresses through his work |
| Classical Tradegy | a lover dies or what you think always happens |
| Tragic Hero | a character who happens to use force and fate to save |
| Deus Ex Machina | something coming in fast at the last minute to save the day |
| Aside | away from one's thoughts and considerations |
| Dialogue | speech of characters |
| Idiom | a saying not meaning what it says |
| Cognate | descended drom same language |