Literary Terms 1-79

Front 1

The repetition of initial consonant sounds (e.g. silence surged softly).

Back 1

alliteration

Front 2

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art.

Back 2

allusion

Front 3

Something out of its normal time period.

Back 3

anachronism

Front 4

A comparison that explains or describes one subject by pointing out its similarities to another subject.

Back 4

analogy

Front 5

A brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event. It is told to entertain of to make a point.

Back 5

anecdote

Front 6

A character or force in conflict with a main character, or protagonist.

Back 6

antagonist

Front 7

Involves a direct contrast or structurally parallel word groupings, generally for the purpose of contrast (e.g. sink or swim).

Back 7

antithesis

Front 8

A general truth or observation about life, usually stated concisely and pointedly (e.e. a penny saved is a penny earned).

Back 8

aphorism

Front 9

A figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person of a personified quality (e.g. “Oh Death, where is thy sting?”).

Back 9

apostrophe

Front 10

This term is applied to an image, a descriptive detail, a plot pattern or a character type that occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore and is, therefore, believed to evoke profound emotion because it touches the unconscious memory and thus calls into play illogical but strong responses.

Back 10

archetype

Front 11

Words spoken by a character in a play to the audience or to another character that are not suppose to be over heard by the others on stage in the scene.

Back 11

aside

Front 12

The repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two of more stressed syllables (e.g. purple curtain; young love).

Back 12

assonance

Front 13

A person, animal, or natural force presented as a person appearing in a literary work.
a. Dynamic character – one which undergoes change.
b. Static character – one which stays the same.
c. Flat character – one which has only one of two personality traits; is one dimensional and can be summed up in a single phrase.
Rounds character – one which has man y dimensions to his or her personality one which is multi-faceted and complex.

Back 13

character

Front 14

The point of greatest emotion or suspense in a plot; the high point.

Back 14

climax

Front 15

An expression used in informal conversation but not accepted universally in formal speech or writing. It lies between the upper level of dignified, formal, academic, or “literary” language and the lower level of slang.

Back 15

colloquialism

Front 16

A struggle between opposing forces or characters in a literary work.
a. external – conflict between persons, between a person anad nature, or between a person and society
b. internal – conflict within a person struggling for mastery within their own mind.

Back 16

conflict

Front 17

The repetition in two or more words of final consonants in stressed syllables (e.g. east and west).

Back 17

consonance

Front 18

An image or metaphor which runs throughout a work.

Back 18

controlling image

Front 19

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme.

Back 19

couplet

Front 20

When all of the problems or mysteries of the plot are unraveled; resolution.

Back 20

denouement

Front 21

A portrait in words of a person, place or object.

Back 21

description

Front 22

The facts given by the author or speaker as support for the attitude or tone.

Back 22

details

Front 23

The form of a language spoken by people in a particular region or members of a particular group.

Back 23

dialect

Front 24

A conversation between characters.

Back 24

dialog

Front 25

Word choice. To discuss a writer’s diction is to consider the vocabulary used, the appropriateness of the words, and the vividness of the language.

Back 25

diction

Front 26

A sudden understanding or realization which prior to the occurrence was not thought of or understood.

Back 26

epiphany

Front 27

An adjective or other descriptive phrase that is regularly used to characterize a person, place, or thing (e.g. Alexander the Great; Honest Abe)

Back 27

epithet

Front 28

A device where being indirect replaces directness to avoid unpleasantness (e.g. garbage man = sanitation engineer; died = pass away).

Back 28

euphemism

Front 29

The action that follows the climax; leading to the resolution.

Back 29

falling action

Front 30

Writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally (e.g. simile, metaphor, personification, etc.).

Back 30

figurative language

Front 31

A section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events that have yet to occur.

Back 31

foreshadowing

Front 32

A deliberate exaggeration or overstatement for special effect.

Back 32

hyperbole

Front 33

A special use of words, a grammatical construction peculiar to a given language or an expression that cannot be translated literally into a second language (e.g. “You’re pulling my leg.”).

Back 33

idiom

Front 34

A change in the normal word order.

Back 34

inversion

Front 35

The general name given to literary techniques that involce differences between appearance and reality, expectation and result, or meaning and intention.
a. dramatic irony – a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true.
b. Situational irony – a type of irony in which an event occurs that directly contrasts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience.
c. Verbal irony – a type of irony in which words are used to suggest the opposire of what is meant.

Back 35

irony

Front 36

A poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to each other.

Back 36

juxtaposition

Front 37

Words used in their ordinary sense; the opposite of figurative language.

Back 37

literal language

Front 38

The use of specific details describing the dialect, dress, customs, and scenery associated with a particular region or section of the country.

Back 38

local color

Front 39

A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else (e.g. Life is a broken-winged bird).

Back 39

metaphor

Front 40

A generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Back 40

meter

Front 41

A figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it (e.g. The White House issued a statement today.).

Back 41

metonymy

Front 42

An extended speech by one character in a play, story, or poem.

Back 42

monologue

Front 43

A simple device that serves as a basis for an expanded narrative (e.g. A rose is a motif that runs through many poems).

Back 43

motif

Front 44

A reason that explains or partially explains a character’s thoughts, feelings, actions, or behavior.

Back 44

motivation

Front 45

A speaker or character who tells a story; can be either a character or an outside observer.
a. First-person narrator – a character who tells the story from within the story and who gives the reader what he or she hears, sees, thinks, etc.
Omniscient narrator – an all-knowing third-person narrator.

Back 45

narrator

Front 46

The use of words that imitate sound.

Back 46

onomatopoeia

Front 47

A figure of speech that combines two opposing or contradictory ideas (e.g. jumbo shrimp; big baby).

Back 47

oxymoron

Front 48

A statement which seems contradictory or absurd but which expresses a truth.

Back 48

paradox

Front 49

The repetition of a grammatical structure.

Back 49

parallelism

Front 50

A type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.

Back 50

personification

Front 51

The sequence of events of actions in a literary work.

Back 51

plot

Front 52

The vantage point from which the story is told.
a. First-person – the story is told by one of the characters in his or her own words, and the reader is told only what this character knows, feels, and obverses.
b. Third-person limited – a narrator who tells the story giving only a limited amount of information or information about the inner-feelings of just one character; not all-knowing.
Third-person omniscient – an all-knowing observer who describes and comments on all of the characters and actions of the story.

Back 52

point of view

Front 53

The central character of a drama, novel, short story, or narrative poem.

Back 53

protagonist

Front 54

A play on words based on different meanings of words that sound alike.

Back 54

pun

Front 55

A stanza or poem made up of four lines, usually with a definite rhythm and rhyme scheme.

Back 55

quatrain

Front 56

A word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated regularly in a poem, usually at the end of each stanza.

Back 56

refrain

Front 57

The use, more than once, of any element of language; a sound, a word, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence.

Back 57

repetition

Front 58

The art of using word effectively in speech or writing.

Back 58

rhetoric

Front 59

A change in tone, attitude, etc.; may follow words like but, however, even though, although yet, etc.

Back 59

rhetorical shift

Front 60

The repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases that appear close to each other in a poem.
a. approximate/slant rhyme - two words alike in some sounds, but do not rhyme exactly (e.g. now and know).
b. end rhyme - occuring at the end of lines.
c. internal rhyme - occuring within a line.

Back 60

rhyme

Front 61

the pattern of end rhymes

Back 61

rhyme scheme

Front 62

the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a pattern.

Back 62

rhythm

Front 63

a type of irony in which a person appears to be praising something but is actually insulting it.

Back 63

sarcasm

Front 64

writing or speech that appeals to one or more of the senses; imagery.

Back 64

sensory language

Front 65

the time and place of the action of a literary work.

Back 65

setting

Front 66

a figure of speech in which like or as is used to make a comparison between two basically unlike subjects (e.g. She is as flighty as a sparrow.).

Back 66

simile

Front 67

an extended speech, usually in a drama, delivered by a character alone on stage,

Back 67

soliloquy

Front 68

a group of lines in a poem, considered as a unit

Back 68

stanza

Front 69

a second, less important plot within a story

Back 69

subplot

Front 70

a conclusion that violates the expectations of the reader but in a way that is both logical and believable.

Back 70

surprise ending

Front 71

anything that stands for or represents something else; an object that serves as a symbol has its own meaning, but also represents abstract ideas (e.g. rose = love; flag = country).

Back 71

symbol

Front 72

a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole (e.g. stars and stripes = U.S. flag).

Back 72

synecdoche

Front 73

the arrangement of words in a senetence; sentence structure.

Back 73

syntaz

Front 74

a statement of opinion that is the writer's focus or main idea.

Back 74

thesis

Front 75

saying less than is actually meant, generally in an ironic way; opposite of hyperbole.

Back 75

understatement/litotes

Front 76

everyday spoken language of people in a particular locality, and writing that imitates or suggests such language and word choice.

Back 76

vernacular

Front 77

similar to truth

Back 77

verisimilitude