Lit Terms

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Tone

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Tone is the attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character: serious, humorous, sarcastic, ironic, satirical, tongue-in-cheek, solemn, objective.

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Imagery

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Image is language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.

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Theme

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Theme is the general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express.

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Plot

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Conflict/Plot is the struggle found in fiction.

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Point of view

Back 5

The perspective of the narrator.

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Symbolism

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Symbol is using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning.

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Metaphor

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Metaphor comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as as in a simile

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Diction

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style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words: good diction.

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Simile

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Simile is the comparison of two unlike things using like or as.

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Figurative language

Back 10

Going beyond the normal meaning of words used.

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Allegory

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Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself.

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Onomatopoeia

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Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents.

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Analogy

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Analogy is the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship.

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Personification

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Personification is giving human qualities to animals or objects.

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Protagonist

Back 15

Main character.

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Antagonist

Back 16

A character whose goals conflict those of teh protagonist.

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Slang

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Informal words or phrases.

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Anecdote

Back 18

A story.

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Reliable narrator

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1. Shares values with implied author.
2. Shares values with the reader.
3. Accurately observes and records his or her "reality"
4. Encourages reader rapport and trust

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Unreliable narrator.

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1. Lies deliberately out of self-interest.
2. Denies role in events from a lack of self-awareness.
3. Expresses ideas or values reader may find reprehensible.

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Motif

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*A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work.
*A dominant theme or central idea.

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Mood

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Mood is the emotional attitude the author takes towards hir subject.

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Foreshadowing

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Foreshadowing is the use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in literature.

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Setting

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Setting is determining Time and Place in fiction.

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Vernacular

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Use of language.

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Dialect

Back 26

Emphasis on spoken manner of language.

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Local color

Back 27

Using details common in a certain place.

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Parody

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Using similar elements to represent something else in a usually satirical fashion.

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Archetype

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Archetype is the usage of any object or situation as it was originally made - think of it as the biggest cliché ever, but one that never dies

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Connotation

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Connotation is an implied meaning of a word.

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Allusion

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Allusion is a brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or ficticious, or to a work of art.

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Denotation

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Denotation is the literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning.

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Foil

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Foil is a character that contrasts another character, often the protagonist, that therefore highlights certain qualities of the protagonist.

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Paradox

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Paradox reveals a kind of truth which at first seems contradictory. Two opposing ideas.

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Antithesis

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Antithesis: opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction.

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Colloquialism

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A common term suitable for ordinary conversation but not formal writing.

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Malapropism

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Malapropism is an act or habit of misusing words ridiculously, esp. by the confusion of words that are similar in sound.

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Naturalism

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Naturalism is a literary movement that seeks to replicate a believable everyday reality, as opposed to such movements as Romanticism or Surrealism, in which subjects may receive highly symbolic, idealistic, or even supernatural treatment.

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Stream of consciousness

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unbroken flow of thought and
awareness of the waking mind

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Euphemism

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Euphemism is the substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener;[

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Idiom

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A phrase that means something different than what the words actually say.

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Irony

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Irony is an implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant.

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Trope

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A play on words.

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Prologue

Back 44

prefatory piece of writing.

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Hamartia

Back 45

The term can simply be seen as a character’s flaw or error.

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Epithet

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An epithet is a word which makes the reader see the object described in a clearer or sharper light.

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Epigraph

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an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component.

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Didactic

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The term "didactic" also refers to texts (and by extension, media, such as film or television) that are overburdened with instructive, factual, and/or otherwise "educational" information.

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Anachronism

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is an error in chronology, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other.