| Term | Definition |
|---|
| cliche | a trite, overused expression |
| vernacular | the everyday, common, spoken language as opposed to an official, formal language |
| colloquialism | an informal word or phrase that is more common in conversation than in formal speech or writing |
| dialogue | the lines spoken by the characters in a play or narrative |
| end-stopped line | when poetry contains a pause in meaning (thus in reading) at the end of a line or a couplet; often marked by punctuation but not always |
| enjambment | the continuation of meaning, without pause or break, from one line of poetry to the next |
| euphemism | an indirect figure of speech, usually in order to avoid offense (e.g., saying "passed on" instead of "died") |
| figurative language | writing that uses one or more figures of speech (irony, metaphor....) |
| generalization | a broad, all-encompassing statement |
| genre | type or category of literary work (e.g., poetry, essay, short story, novel, drama) |
| hyperbole | exaggeration for effect |
| interior monologue | when a character relates his/her internal, emotional experience (i.e., "getting inside his/her head") |
| juxtaposition | the placement of two or more things together, especially in order to suggest a link between them or emphasize the contrast between them |
| metonymy | a figure of speech where the name of something is substituted by something closely associated with it (the pen is mightier than the sword) |
| motivation | the reasons, justifications, explanations for a character's actions |
| narrative | an account of an actual or fictional event |
| nemesis | agent of retribution (the person who punishes) |
| paradox | a phrase or statement that seems contradictory but may be true (e.g., less is more) |
| parallelism | phrases or sentences of a similar construction/meaning placed side by side, balancing each other |
| poetic justice | the operation of justice in a play with fair distribution of rewards for good deeds and punishment for wrongdoing |
| protagonist | the most important character in a play or story |
| pathetic fallacy | the attribution of human feelings or responses to inanimate things or objects (especially the weather) |
| pathos | the quality which evokes from the reader feelings of pity, tenderness, and sympathy |
| satire | the use of ridicule, sarcasm, wit, or irony in order to expose, set right, destroy, or laugh at a vice, human folly, or social evil |
| sentiment | honest emotion |
| sentimentality | excessive or artificial emotion, emotion unjustified by events |
| stock character | caricatures having no real personality other than the emotions and actions that correspond to the type they represent |
| structure | the arrangement of the text--paragraphs, stanzas; linear or nonlinear |
| style | the arrangement of words in a way that best expresses the author's individuality, idea, intent |
| syntax | sentence construction |
| tragic flaw | the defect in the tragic hero or heroine that leads to a downfall |
| understatement | the opposite of hyperbole |
| synecdoche | a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa |
| deus ex machina | an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, esp. as a contrived plot device in a play, novel, or short story |
Combine with other sets
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