| Term | Definition |
|---|
| prose | Any material that is not written in a regular meter like poetry |
| verse | a line of poetry |
| diction | The choice of a particular word as opposed to others |
| genre | a type of literature |
| denotation | the literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning |
| connotation | an implied meaning of a word |
| blank verse | Unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| couplet | a pair of lines rhyming consecutively |
| aside | an actor's speech, directed to the audience, that is not supposed to be heard by other actors on stage |
| soliloquy | A monologue spoken by an actor at a point in the play when the character believes himself to be alone |
| monologue | a speech where only one character speaks |
| alliteration | a pattern of sound that includes the repetition of consonant sounds |
| x | x |
| short story | a prose narrative that is brief in nature |
| hero | characters that, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self-sacrifice |
| tone | The means of creating a relationship or conveying an attitude or mood |
| antagonist | a character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or works again the main character, or protagonist, in some way |
| anti-climax | A decline viewed in disappointing contrast with a previous rise |
| syntax | the standard word order and sentence structure of a language |
| voice | one who tells a story, the speaker |
| narrative | a collection of events that tells a story, which may be true or not, placed in a particular order and recounted through either telling or writing |
| coincidence | the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection |
| comedy | A work intended to interest, involve, and amuse the reader or audience, in which no terrible disaster occurs and that ends happily for the main characters. |
| tragic flaw | A flaw in the character of the protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow |
| audience | The person(s) reading a text, listening to a speaker, or observing a performance |
| third person omniscient | A method of storytelling in which the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story |
| falling action | follows the climax |
| stock character | A character type that appears repeatedly in a particular literary genre, one which has certain conventional attributes or attitudes |
| figurative language | a type of language that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say |
| metonymy | a figure of speech which substitutes one term with another that is being associated with the that term |
| dramatic irony | occurs when facts are not known to the characters in a work of literature but are known by the audience |
| major character | important character |
| situational irony | results from recognizing the oddness or unfairness of a given situation |
| psychological realism | The sense that characters in fictional narratives have realistic "interiority" or complex emotional and intellectual depth, including perhaps subconscious urges and fears they are not aware of |
| imagery | A common term of variable meaning, imagery includes the "mental pictures" that readers experience with a passage of literature |
| motif | a recurring object, concept, or structure in a work of literature |
| essay | to put to a test |
| hyperbole | an extravagant exaggeration |
| x | x |
| foreshadowing | Suggesting, hinting, indicating, or showing what will occur later in a narrative |
| assonance | resemblance of sound in words or syllables |
| understatement | to state or present with restraint especially for effect |
| iambic pentameter | a type of meter that is used in poetry and drama. It describes a particular rhythm that the words establish in each line. |
| epic | a poem that is (a) a long narrative about a serious subject, (b) told in an elevated style of language, (c) focused on the exploits of a hero or demi-god who represents the cultural values of a race, nation, or religious group (d) in which the hero's success or failure will determine the fate of that people or nation. Usually, the epic has (e) a vast setting, and covers a wide geographic area, (f) it contains superhuman feats of strength or military prowess, and gods or supernatural beings frequently take part in the action. The poem begins with (g) the invocation of a muse to inspire the poet and, (h) the narrative starts in medias res (see above). (i) The epic contains long catalogs of heroes or important characters, focusing on highborn kings and great warriors rather than peasants and commoners. |
| epic hero | a larger than life figure from a history or legend |
| setting | the place in which the story takes place |
| climax | the turning point in a story |
| figurative language | a type of language that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say |
| chronological narrative | An account of a sequence of events, usually in chronological order |
| narrator | one who tells a story |
| point of view | The way a story gets told and who tells it |
| allusions | a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature |
| comic relief | A humorous scene, incident, character, or bit of dialogue occurring after some serious or tragic moment |
| foil | A character that serves by contrast to highlight or emphasize opposing traits in another character |
| rite of passage | a ritual that marks a change in a person's social or sexual status |
| existentialism | A twentieth-century philosophy arguing that ethical human beings are in a sense cursed with absolute free will in a purposeless universe |
| atmosphere | the mood of a particular setting or location |
| first person | a literary technique in which the story is narrated by one character |
| euphemism | Using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one |
| dynamic character | one whose personality changes or evolves over the course of a narrative or appears to have the capacity for such change |
| x | x |
| synecdoche | A rhetorical trope involving a part of an object representing the whole, or the whole of an object representing a part |
| dramatic monologue | A poem in which a poetic speaker addresses either the reader or an internal listener at length |
| satire | An attack on or criticism of any stupidity or vice in the form of scathing humor, or a critique of what the author sees as dangerous religious, political, moral, or social standards |
| realism | An elastic and ambiguous term with two meanings. (1) First, it refers generally to any artistic or literary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false ideals, literary conventions, or misplaced aesthetic glorification and beautification of the world |
| symbol | A word, place, character, or object that means something beyond what it is on a literal level |
| theme | A central idea or statement that unifies and controls an entire literary work |
| apostrophe | the act of addressing some abstraction or personification that is not physically present |
| omens | A miraculous sign, a natural disaster, or a disturbance in nature that reveals the will of the gods in the arena of politics or social behavior or predicts a coming change in human history |
| personification | A trope in which abstractions, animals, ideas, and inanimate objects are given human character, traits, abilities, or reactions |
| consonance | A special type of alliteration in which the repeated pattern of consonants is marked by changes in the intervening vowels |
| paradox | Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense on a deeper level |
| novel | a novel is any extended fictional prose narrative focusing on a few primary characters but often involving scores of secondary characters |
| play | A specific piece of drama, usually enacted on a stage by diverse actors who often wear makeup or costumes to make them resemble the character they portray |
| anti-hero | a protagonist who is lacking the traditional heroic attributes and qualities, and instead possesses character traits that are antithetical to heroism |
| black humor | grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world |
| protagonist | The main character in a work |
| turning point | a point in the story in which it takes a twist, or turn |
| flashback | A method of narration in which present action is temporarily interrupted so that the reader can witness past events |
| cliffhanger | A melodramatic narrativein which each section "ends" at a suspenseful or dramatic moment |
| persona | An external representation of oneself |
| tragedy | A serious play in which the chief character, by some peculiarity of psychology, passes through a series of misfortunes leading to a final, devastating catastrophe. |
| archetype | An original model or pattern from which other later copies are made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life |
| mood | a feeling, emotional state, or disposition of mind |
| rising action | The action in a play before the climax |
| static character | a simplified character who does not change or alter his or her personality over the course of a narrative |
| blank verse | Unrhymed lines of ten syllables each with the even-numbered syllables bearing the accent |
Combine with other sets
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