Lit Terms

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Analogy

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An extended comparison showing the similarities between two things; analogies are often used to explain something unfamiliar by comparing it to something familiar.

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Characters

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Persons, animals, things or natural forces presented as persons in a literary work.
Dynamic – experiences some change in personality or attitude.
Static – remains the same throughout the narrative.

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Characterization

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The personality a character displays; also, the means by which an author reveals that personality.

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Climax

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The point of greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense in a narrative.

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Conflict

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A struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem.
External – man vs. man, man vs. nature, or man vs. society.
Internal – man vs. himself

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Connotation

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The emotion or association that a word or phrase may arouse.

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Denotation

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The literal or dictionary meaning of a word or phrase.

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Dialogue

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The conversations held by characters, which serve to advance the story’s action.

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Exposition

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The presentation of important background information.

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Falling Action

Back 10

All of the action in a play that follows the turning point or climax.

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Flashback

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A scene in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem that interrupts the action to show an event that happened at an earlier time.

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Foreshadowing

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The use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest what action is to come.

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Imagery

Back 13

Language that appeals to any sense or any combination of senses.

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Irony

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A contrast or an incongruity between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen.

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Metaphor

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A comparison between two unlike things with the intent of giving added meaning to one of them.

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Narration

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The kind of writing or speaking that tells a story (a narrative).

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Plot

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The sequence of events or happenings in a literary work.

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Point of View

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The vantage point from which the narration is told.
First person – the story is told by one of the characters in his or her words from the “I” vantage point.
Third person – told from the vantage point of “he” or “she”
Omniscient – all-knowing
Limited – everything is told from a character’s vantage point.

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Resolution

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The outcome of a conflict in a story or play.

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Rising Action

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Events that lead to a turning point or climax in the action.

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Setting

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The time and place of action in a narrative.

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Simile

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A comparison made between two dissimilar things through the use of a specific word of comparison, such as like, as, than, or resembles.

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Symbol

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An object, person, place, or action that has a meaning in itself and that also stands for something larger than itself, such as a quality, an attitude, a belief, or a value.

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Theme

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The main idea or the basic meaning of a literary work.

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Tone

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The attitude a writer takes toward his or her subject, characters, and readers.

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Hyperbole

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Deliberate and obvious exaggeration used for effect.

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Understatement

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It pictures something in less significance than it is.

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Wit

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Intellectual amusing language

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Parody

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A work that closely imitate the style and/or content of another, with the aim of comic effect or ridicule.

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Satire

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A work that target human vices or folly for reform or ridicule

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Conceit

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Image or metaphor likens one thing to something else that is seemingly very different

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Metaphor

Back 32

A comparison between two unlike thins with the intent of giving added meaning to one of them

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Analogy

Back 33

An extended comparison showing the similarities between two thing; analogies are often used to expand something unfamiliar by comparing it to something familiar

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Epigram

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A short poem or verse that6 seeks to ridicule a thought or event, usually with witticism or sarcasm.

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Dramatic Irony

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Occurs when facts are not known to the characters in a work of lit, but are known by the audience

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Irony

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a contrast or an incongruity between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen

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Sarcasm

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the use of praise to mock someone or something, the use of verbal irony

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Connotation

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The emotion or association that a word or a phrase may arouse

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Denotation

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The literal or dictionary meaning of a word or phrase

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Illusion

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A perception, as of visual stimuli, that represents what is perceived in a way different from the way it is in reality.

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Parallelism

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The use of similar grammatical constructions to express ideas that are related or equal in importance

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Repetition

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a technique in which a sound, word, phrase, or line is repeated for effect or emphasis

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Allusion

Back 43

a reference in a lit work to a person, place, or thing in history, or another work of lit

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Euphemism

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the use of indirect, mild, delicate, inoffensive, or vague word or expression for one thought to be course, sordid, or otherwise unpleasant.