| Term | Definition |
|---|
| allegory | a story with underlying symbols that really represent something else |
| alliteration | the use of a repeated consonant sound, usually at the beginning of a series of words |
| allusion | a reference to something or someone, usually literary |
| anachronism | placing a person or object in an inappropriate historical situation |
| analogy | comparing something to something else |
| anecdote | a short narrative, story, or tale |
| antagonist | the major character opposing the protagonist, usually the villain |
| anthropomorphism | assigning human attributes to nonhuman things |
| diction | word choice |
| fable | a story that has a moral, usually involving animals as the main characters |
| figurative language | language characterized by figures of speech and elaborate expression |
| hyperbole | a deliberate exaggeration |
| irony | an expression of meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning, three categories: verbal, situational, dramatic |
| metaphor | comparison without using the words like or as |
| meter | the rhythm of a poem |
| narrative | a literary representation of an event or a story--the text itself |
| onomatopoeia | a word intended to simulate the actual sound of the thing or action it describes |
| oxymoron | a phrase in which the words are contradictory |
| parable | a story that has a moral, used in the Bible |
| paradox | a seeming contradiction with a greater truth |
| parallelism | two or more items share a similar construction of treatment in a literary work, two categories: grammatical and thematic |
| parody | a literary work in which the style of an author is imitated for comic effect or ridicule |
| pastoral | a work that deals with the lives of the people, especially shepherds, in a the country or in nature |
| pathos | something that evokes a feeling of pity or sympathy |
| personification | assigning human attributes to something nonhuman |
| perspective | the place from which the narrator or character sees things |
| point of view | the perceptive from which a story is presented to a reader |
| protagonist | the main character, usually the hero |
| satire | ridicule of a subject, humorous and intended to point out something about a serious object |
| simile | comparison using the words like or as |
| stanza | the divisions on a poem |
| style | the author's unique manner of expression, the author's voice |
| theme | the main idea of a piece of literature |
| tone | style or manner of expression, displays the attitude of its narrator |
| exposition | known as the introduction, this part of the story gives basic background on characters, plot, and setting |
| rising action | known as the complication, this part of the story develops conflict |
| climax | the high point of the story, things occur to alter forever the story's main progression |
| falling action | known as the reversal, speeds the story to its end |
| denouement | known as the conclusion, gives the story closure |
| plot | the action of the story, the sequence of events that creates a cause/effect pattern |
| characterization | describes the characters' personalities and how personality develops throughout the narrative |
| static | character remains unchanged throughout the story |
| dynamic | character undergoes some kind of personality alteration |
| round | character is fully developed with a complex personality |
| flat | character has little development at all |
| foil | character whose function is to emphasize the personality traits of some other character |
| tragic hero | the protagonist of a tragedy |
| anti-hero | a protagonist with villainous qualities |
| setting | time and place in which the literary work occurs |
| theme | an idea of observation set forth by the story as a universal truth |
| mood | the emotional atmosphere of a story |
| imagery | description that appeals to the senses |
| indirect metaphor | a comparison made, but the object is not mentioned by name |
| extended metaphor | known as a conceit, whose initial comparison is developed more fully in the text |
| apostrophe | a speaker's direct address to either a nonhuman entity or an absent human |
| metonymy | a larger whole--usually an abstract--is represented by one of its parts |
| synecdoche | related to metonymy, usually occurs when a part represents a specific, tangible whole rather than an abstract |
| symbolism | one thing in a literary work stands for another |
| syntax | the phrasing, the way words are put together in a sentence |
| balance | indicates harmony and implies the unity of smaller ideas into a larger, demonstrates duality or points out opposites |
| repetition | repeats a word, phrase, sentence, stanza, symbol, image or idea to place emphasis on that item |
| thematic parallel | what is paralleled in a work is a pair of similar situations or ideas |
| antithesis | pairing of opposites to make a point |
| rhetorical question | a question used to emphasize a point, requires no response |
| rhyme | when two or more words sound the same except for their initial letter |
| assonance | repetition of vowel sounds |
| consonance | repetition of consonant sounds |
| rhyme scheme | the pattern of a poem's rhyme |
| iambic pentameter | a poetic meter that is made up of five stressed syllables each followed by an unstressed syllable |
| couplet | two consecutive rhyming lines in a poem |
| heroic couplets | a couplet that follows an iambic pentameter rhythm |
| sonnet | has fourteen lines of iambic pentameter and features a specific rhyme scheme |
| blank verse | poetry features unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| sprung rhythm | poetry features a variety of set meters and complex rhyme scheme |
| free verse | poetry has no rhyme scheme or meter |
| ode | praises someone or something still in existence |
| elegy | honors someone dead |
| ballad | narrative poem, usually with a tragicomic tone |
| concrete poetry | forms its words into pictures on the page |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace
!