| 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 |
| allusion | a reference to something or someone, usually literary |
| anachronism | placing a person or object in an inappropriate historical situation |
| analogy | comparing something to something else |
| anecdote | a short narrative, story, or tale |
| antagonist | the major character opposing the protagonist |
| anthropomorphism | assigning human attributes such as emotions or physical characteristics to nonhuman things. used almost exclusively for attributing human characteristics to animals |
| diction | choice of words; can set the tone |
| fable | a story that has a moral, usually involving animals as the main characters |
| figurative language | language characterized by figures of speech such as metaphors and similes as well as elaborate expression through imagery |
| hyperbole | a deliberate exaggeration |
| irony | an expression of meaning that is the opposite of the literal meaning |
| metaphor | a comparison that doesn't use "like" or "as" |
| meter | the rhythm of a poem |
| narrative | a literary representation of an event or a 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 |
| parable | a story that has a moral |
| paradox | this is a phrase that appears to be contradictory but that actually contains some basic truth that resolves the apparent conclusion |
| parallelism | 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 shepherds, in the country or in nature |
| pathos | something that evokes a feeling of pity or sympathy |
| personification | assigning human attributes to something nonhuman |
| perspective | the place from which the narrator or character sees things |
| point of view | the perspective from which a story is presented to a reader |
| protagonist | main character, usually the hero |
| satire | ridicule of a subject; humorous and often intended to point out something about a serious subject |
| simile | comparison of two things using "like" or "as" |
| stanza | the divisions in a poem, like a paragraph in prose |
| style | the author's unique manner of expression: the author's voice |
| theme | the main idea of a piece of literature |
| tone | style of manner of expression |
Combine with other sets
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