| Term | Definition |
|---|
| alliteration | the repetition of a leading vowel or consonant sound in a phrase |
| aside | a literary device in that an actor speaks to the audience; he/she is not heard by the other characters. It is similar to a monologue and soliloquy. |
| comic relief | A humorous or farcical interlude in a serious literary work or drama, especially a tragedy, intended to relieve the dramatic tension or heighten the emotional impact by means of contrast. |
| conceit | A fanciful poetic image, especially an elaborate or exaggerated comparison or extended metaphor (similar to an epic simile) |
| dramatic irony | The dramatic effect achieved by leading an audience to understand an incongruity between a situation and the accompanying speeches, while the characters in the play remain unaware of the incongruity. |
| foreshadow | To present an indication or a suggestion of beforehand; presage. |
| hyperbole | A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect |
| irony | Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs |
| verbal irony | The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. |
| metaphor | A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison |
| oxymoron | A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in |
| paradox | A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true |
| personification | A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form |
| pun | a phrase that deliberately exploits confusion between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect. |
| simile | A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as |
| point of view | perspective from which the story is told |
| allusion | a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art |
| apostrophe | a figure or speech in which a person (usually not present), or an abstract quality or nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present |
| climax | the high point of interest or suspense in a story |
| comic relief | to interrupt a serious part of a literary work by introducing a humorous character or situation |
| conflict | a struggle between opposing forces |
| contemporary interpretation | present-day conceptions or understanding of older works |
| denouement | resolution |
| dialect | the form of language spoken by people in a particular region or group. It can affect the pronunciation, vocabulary and sentence structure, |
| dialogue | conversation between characters |
| direct characterization | the author directly states a character’s traits |
| dramatic irony | there is a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true |
| dynamic character | grows and develops in the course of the story |
| epic | long narrative poem about the deeds of gods or heroes |
| epic hero | larger-than-life figure from history or legend who undertakes a dangerous voyage, demonstrates traits valued by the society from which the story originates |
| epic simile | an elaborate comparison of unlike objects using like or as (similar to a conceit) |
| exposition, | the part of the work that introduces the characters, the setting, and the basic situation |
| external conflict | the main character struggles against an outside force |
| falling action | the events of the plot leading to the resolution |
| first person | the narrator is a participant in the story |
| flat character | shows only one characteristic |
| foil | a character who provides a contrast to another character |
| imagery | the descriptive or figurative language used in literature to create work pictures for the reader through details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell and movement |
| imply | to hint or indirectly give information without actually saying it |
| indirect characterization | the author tells what a character looks like, does, and says, as well as how other characters react to him or her, and the reader must draw conclusions |
| infer | to draw a conclusion |
| internal conflict | the main character is in conflict with himself or herself |
| irony | general term for techniques that portray differences between appearance and reality or expectation and result. |
| metonymy | the substitution of a term naming an object clearly associated with the word in mind for the word itself |
| monologue | a speech by one character in a play, story, or poem that is heard by other characters |
| mood | the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage |
| myth | a fictional tale with little historical truth and involving supernatural elements that explains the actions of gods or the causes of natural phenomena. |
| narrative poem | a poem that tells a story |
| nonfiction | prose writing that presents and explains ideas or that tells about real people, places, ideas or events. It must be true. |
| novella | very short novel |
| odyssey | long journey |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words that imitate the sounds |
| personification | a nonhuman subject is give human characteristics |
| plot | the sequence of events in a literary work |
| point of view | perspective from which the story is told |
| protagonist | the main character is a literary work (not necessarily the good guy) |
| rising action | the events leading to the climax of a story |
| round character | shows many different traits |
| sarcasm | verbal irony that is intended to cause emotional harm |
| setting | the time and place of the action in a story |
| soliloquy | a long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage |
| static character | does not change during the story |
| symbolism | anything that stands for or represents something else |
| theme, | the central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work |
| third person limited | the narrator is outside the story but reveals the thoughts and feelings of only one of the characters. |
| third person omniscient | the narrator is outside the story but reveals the thoughts and feelings of multiple characters |
| tone | the writer’s attitude toward his or her audience and subject |
| tragedy | a work of literature that results in a catastrophe for the main character, usually because of a tragic flaw in the character. |
| verbal irony | words are used to suggest the opposite of what is meant |
Combine with other sets
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