Cset Literary Terminology

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Alliteration

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The repetition of initial consonant sounds in words

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Analogy

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A comparison of two things that are alike in some ways

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Anecdote

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A short narrative about an interesting event, often used to make a point

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Antagonist

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A person or force working against the protagonist in a literary work

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Anthromorphism

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The assignment of human characteristics to animals, inanimate objects, or gods

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Aphorism

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A wise saying, usually short and to the point. Also known as an epigram or maxim

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Archetype

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A symbol, image, plot pattern, or character type that occurs often in literature, such as the hero on a dangerous quest

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Assonance

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The repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end with different consonant sounds

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Atmosphere

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The dominant mood or feeling in a literary work

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Blank verse

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Poetry or lines of dramatic verse written in unrhymed iambic pentatmeter

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Cadence

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The rhythmic rise and fall of oral language

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Caesura

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A pause or break in the meter or rhythm of a line of verse, marked in prosody by a double vertical line

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Character

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A person portrayed in a literary work

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Characterization

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The methods used by a writer to reveal a character's personality

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Cliche

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A word or phrase that is so overused that it has lost its expressive power

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Conflict

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The struggle, internal or external, between opposing forces in a work of literature

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Consonance

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The repetition of final consonant sounds in words containing different vowels, like fresh cash

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Couplet

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A stanza made up of two rhyming lines that follow the same rhythmic pattern

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Denouement

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The outcome, or resolution of the plot

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Dialogue

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Conversation between characters in a literary work

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Archaic diction

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Old-fashioned words no longer in common use

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Colloquialisms

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Expressions usually accepted in informal situations

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Dialect

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A variety of language used by people in a particular geographic area

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Jargon

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Specialized language used in a particular profession or content area

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Drama

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A story intended to be performed before an audience by actors on a stage

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Dramatic monologue

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A form of dramatic poetry in which a speaker addresses a silent listener

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Dramatic poetry

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Poetry in which characters are revealed through dialogue, monologue, and description

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End rhyme

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Rhyming of words at the ends of lines

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Enjambment

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The continuation of a sentence from one line of a poem to another to complete meaning and grammatical structure

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Epic hero

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The larger-than-life central character in an epic - a long narrative poem about events of crucial importance to the history of a culture or nation

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Epigraph

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A quotation from another work that suggests the main idea, or theme, of the work at hand

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Epilogue

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A concluding statement or section added to a work of literature

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Epiphany

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A sudden intuitive recognition of the essence or meaning of something

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Epitaph

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A brief statement commemorating a dead person, often inscribed on a gravestone

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Existentialism

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A philosophy that values human freedom and personal responsibility (Sartre, Nietzsche, Kafka)

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Farce

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A type of comedy with ridiculous characters, events, or situations

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Fiction

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A narrative in which situations and characters are invented by the author

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Figure of speech

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A specific kind of figurative language, such as simile, personification, metaphor, and hyperbole

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Flashback

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A literary device in which the author interrupts the chronological order of a narrative to show something that happened in the past

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Flash-forward

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An interruption in the chronological sequence of a narrative to leap forward in time

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Foot

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The basic unit in the measurement of a line of metrical poetry. A foot usually has one stressed syllable and one or more unstressed syllables

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Iambic

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^/ (unstressed, stressed)

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Trochaic

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/^ (stressed, unstressed)

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Anapestic

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^^/ (unstressed, unstressed, stressed)

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Dactylic

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/^^ (stressed, unstressed, unstressed)

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Sponadic

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// (stressed, stressed)

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Foreshadowing

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A literary technique in which the author uses cluse to prepare readers for events that will occur later

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Hero

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The chief character of a literary work, usually one with admirable qualities

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Heroic couplet

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A pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter that work together to make a point or express an idea

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Hubris

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The flaw that leads to the fall of a tragic hero

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Imagism

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A movement in early twentieth-century poetry, which regarded the image as the essence of poetry

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Interior monologue

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A literary technique that records a character's memories, opinions, and emotion

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Internal rhyme

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Rhyme that occurs within a line of verse

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Inversion

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Reversal of the usual word order for variety or emphasis (In a vision once I saw)

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Dramatic irony

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The reader or the playgoer has information unknown to characters in the play

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Verbal irony

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The writer says one thing but means something else

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Situational irony

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An occurrence is the opposite of what was expected

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Magic realism

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A literary style in which the writer combines realistic characters, events, situations, and dialogue with elements that are magical, supernatural, or fantastic

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Malapropism

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A type of pun, or play on words, that results when the speaker gets two words mixed up

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Maxim

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A short saying that expresses a general truth or gives practical advice

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Memoir

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A type of narrative nonfiction recounting a period in the writer's life

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Meter

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A rhythmical pattern in verse that is made up of stressed and unstressed syllables

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Metonymy

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A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is substituted for another that is related (the king of a country might be called the crown)

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Mood

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The feeling a literary work evokes in a reader

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Moral

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A lesson about right and wrong conduct taught in a fable or parable

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Motif

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A significant word, phrase, idea, description, or other element repeated throughout a literary work and related to the theme

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Narrative

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Writing or speech that tells a story

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Narrator

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The person who tells a story

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Onomatopoeia

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The use of word or phrase that imitates or suggests the sound it describes (plop, hiss)

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First person

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The story is told from the point of view of one character who uses pronouns I and me

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Third person

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The story is told by someone who stands outside the story

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Omniscient

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The narrator knows everything about the characters and events and reveals details that even the characters themselves could not reveal

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Limited omniscient

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The narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of one character

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Prologue

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An introductory section of a play, speech, or other literary work

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Protagonist

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The central character in a literary work, around whom the action revolves

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Refrain

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The repetition of a line or phrase in a poem at regular intervals, usually at the end of each stanza

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Regionalism

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An emphasis on themes, characters, settings, and customs of a particular geographical region

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Repetition

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The recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, lines or stanzas in a literary work or speech

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Rhetoric

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Persuasive writing

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Rhyme

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The repetition of the same stressed vowel sounds and any succeeding sounds in two or more rhymes

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End rhyme

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Occurs at the ends of lines of poetry

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Internal rhyme

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Occurs within a single line

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Slant rhyme

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Occurs when words include sounds that are similar but no identical (tone and gone)

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Rhyme scheme

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The pattern formed by end rhyme in a stanza or poem. Indicated by the assignment of a different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme

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Rhythm

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The pattern of sound created by stressed and unstressed syllables, particularly in poetry

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Stream of consciousness

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The literary representation of a character's free-flowing thought processes, memories, and emotions. This type of writing often does not use conventional sentence structure or rules of grammar

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Suspense

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A feeling of curiosity or dread about what will happen next in a story

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Synecdoche

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A figure of speech in which a part is used for a whole or a whole is used for a part

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Transcendentalism

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A literary movement and philosophical attitude that became important during the mid-nineteenth century in New England. Emphasized a reliance on intuition and conscience and focused on protesting the Puritan ethic and materialism (Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Holmes)

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Unreliable narrator

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A narrator who gives faulty or distorted account of the events in a story, such as a child