| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Alliteration | repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words |
| Hyperbole | exaggeration or overstatement. |
| Onomatopoeia | a word that imitates the sound it represents |
| Imagery | language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching. |
| Internal Rhyme | rhyming within a line |
| Flashback | action that interrupts to show an event that happened at an earlier time |
| Analogy | comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship |
| Foreshadowing | use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in literature |
| Motif | dominant theme or central idea |
| Personification | giving human qualities to animals or objects |
| Oxymoron | putting two contradictory words together |
| Verse | line of poetry |
| Simile | comparison of two unlike things using like or as |
| Rhyme Scheme | rhymed words at the ends of lines |
| Setting | determining Time and Place |
| Stanza | unified group of lines in poetry |
| Symbol | using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning |
| Theme | general idea writer wishes to express |
| Tone | attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character |
| Blank Verse | poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| Characterization | a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character in a literary work |
| Climax | turning point to which the rising action leads |
| Dialogue | conversation between characters in a drama or narrative |
| Figurative Language | language which words mean exactly what they say |
| Genre | type of literature |
| Lyric | short poem with one speaker who expresses thoughst and feelings |
| Narrator | one who tells a story |
| Protagonist | "hero" of a story |
| Ballad | relatively short narrative poem consisting four lines |
| Antagonist | opponent of a story |
| Sonnet | lyric poem consisting of fourteen lines |
| Structure | framework of a work of literature |
| 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 |
| Conflict | struggle within the plot between opposing forces |
| Couplet | Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme |
| Crisis | turning point in the action of a story that has a powerful effect on the protagonist |
| Anagram | word or phrase made by transposing the letters |
| Caesura | a natural pause or break |
| Closet Drama | drama written to be read rather than acted on a stage |
| Concrete Poetry | Poetry with lines arranged to resemble a familiar object |
| Denouement | The outcome or resolution of the plot, occurring after the climax |
| Drama | Literary work with dialogue written in verse and/or prose and spoken by actors playing characters experiencing conflict and tension |
| Epic | Long poem in a lofty style about the exploits of heroic figures |
| Eulogy | Speech or written work paying tribute to a person who has recently died; speech or written work praising a person |
| Exposition | part of the plot that introduces the setting and characters and presents the events and situations that the story will focus on |
| Fable | Story that teaches a lesson or rule of living |
| Irony | Saying the opposite of what is meant |
| Quatrain | Stanza or poem of four lines |
| Realism | In literature, a movement that stressed the presentation of life as it is |
| Scene | Part of an act of a play;centers on one aspect of plot development |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace