| 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 |
| alusion | a reference to something or someone, usually literary |
| anachronism | the placement of a person or object in an inappropriate historical situation |
| analogy | a comparison of something to something else |
| anecdote | a short narrative, story, or tale |
| antagonist | the major character opposing the protagonist |
| anthropomorphism | the assignment of human attributes, such as emotions or physical characteristics, to nonhuman things |
| aside | a device through which the character addresses the audience directly |
| blank verse | an unrhymed poem with a regular meter |
| character | a person in a drama or novel |
| comedy | a play that is primariy for amusement or meant to provide laughter |
| diction | the author's choice of words |
| elegy | a mournful and melancholy poem or song, usually to pay tribute to a deceased person |
| fable | a story that has a moral, usually involving animals as the main characters |
| farce | a satire that's bordering on the silly or ridiculous |
| figurative language | language characterized by figures of speech, such as metaphors and similes, as well as elaborate expression through imagery |
| form | the rhyme scheme of a poem |
| free verse | a poem without regualr meter or line length |
| genre | a type, or category, of fiction or nonfiction |
| hyperbole | a deliberate exaggeration |
| indirect dialogue | language which communicates what was expressed in the dialogue, without using a direct quotation |
| irony | an expression of meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning |
| metaphor | a comparison that does not use the words "like" or "as" |
| meter | the rhythm of a poem |
| monologue | a long passage during which only one person talks |
| narrative | a literary representation of an event or 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 |
| paean | an expression of joyful praise |
| parable | a story that has a moral |
| paradox | a phrase that appears to be conmtradictory but which actually contains some basic truth that resolved the apparent contradiction |
| parrallelism | the repetition of sounds, meanings, or structures to create a certain style |
| 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 people, especially shpeheards, in teh country or in nature (as opposed to people in the city) |
| pathos | something that evokes a feeling of pity or sympathy |
| personification | the assignment of human attributes to something nonhuman |
| perspective | the place from which the narrator or character sees things |
| plot | the events that happen in the story |
| point of view | the perspective from which a story is presented to a reader |
| protagonist | the main character, usually the hero |
| rhythm | the beat or meter of a poem |
| satire | the ridicule of a subject |
| simile | a comparison of two things using the words "like or "as" |
| soliloquy | a speech addressed to the audience where one character expounds upon his predicament |
| stage directions | authorial instructions inserted in parentheses to tell the actor or director how to act, move, or speak |
| stanza | a section of lines in a poem |
| style | the author's unique manner of expressino; the author's vice |
| surrealism/theather of the absurd | a style of play that doesn |
| tense | time perspective from which a piece is written (past, present, or future) |
| theme | the main idea of a piece of literature |
| tone | the style or manner of expression |
| tragedy | a play that is sad or addresses sorrowful or difficult themes |
| voice | the perspective from which a piece is written, most often first-person or third-person |
Combine with other sets
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