| Term | Definition |
|---|
| alliteration | a series of similar sounds |
| allusion | a reference to another work of literature, person, or event |
| aside | in drama, lines spoken by a character in an undertone or aloud directly to the audience (assumed not to be heard by other actors) |
| Monologue | a form of dramatic entertainment, comedic solo, or the like by a single speaker: a comedian's monologue. |
| Analogy | a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: the analogy between the heart and a pump. |
| conflict | opposition between or among characters or forces in a literary work that spurs or motivates the action of a plot (internal, external; person vs. person, self, nature, society) |
| connotation | the additional (sometimes figurative) meanings that a word may carry (e.g., gold may connote greed) |
| Personification | when something nonhuman is given human characteristics (must be HUMAN, or it's a metaphor) |
| Comic Relief | an amusing scene, incident, or speech introduced into serious or tragic elements, as in a play, in order to provide temporary relief from tension, or to intensify the dramatic action. |
| Nonfiction | the branch of literature comprising works of narrative prose dealing with or offering opinions or conjectures upon facts and reality, including biography, history, and the essay (opposed to fiction and distinguished from poetry and drama). |
| foreshadowing | events or information presented to prepare for later events |
| imagery | escription that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) |
| Hyperbole | obvious and intentional exaggeration. |
| irony | when reality is different from appearance; the implied meaning of a statement is the opposite of its literal or obvious meaning |
| situational irony | occurs when the outcome of a work is unexpected, or events turn out to be the opposite from what one had expected |
| verbal irony | occurs when what is said contradicts what is meant or thought |
| dramatic irony | occurs when another character(s) and/or the audience know more than one or more characters on stage about what is happening |
| metaphor | an imaginative comparison used to enhance the meaning of what is being compared; may be direct (X is Y) or implied ("He wanted to win her heart" comparing love to a battle) |
| narration | tells the story in a prose piece |
| oxymoron | A figure of speech consisting of two apparently contradictory terms |
| plot | The pattern of events in a play, poem, or fictional work. |
| point of view | The perspective from which the writer tells the story (1st, 2nd, 3rd person; omniscient, limited omniscient) |
| pun | A play on words involving the use of words with similar sounds but different meanings (collar, color), words with 2+ meanings (plain), or words with the same sound but different meanings (sun/son) |
| setting | The time(s) and place(s) of a story |
| simile | A similarity between two objects or ideas, using like or as (and sometimes than) |
| symbol | Something that stands for itself at a literal level but which also suggests something (or several things) at the same time; frequently a concrete object or animal that represents a quality or abstract idea |
| theme | central idea |
| satire | The use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc. |
| genre | A class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like: the genre of epic poetry; the genre of symphonic music. |
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