Literary Terms

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anecdote

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a short narrative about an interesting biographical incident

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character sketch

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a narrative about a character

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fable

Back 3

a brief tale that illustrates a moral (lesson) and often has animals

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legend

Back 4

a story about the past, considered historical but not verifiable

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myth

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traditional story once widely believed; often has superhuman being

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tall tale

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humorously exaggerated story about impossible event

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allegory

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story that teaches a lesson through symbolism

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epic

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long narrative poem about a hero

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ballad

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narrative poem meant to be sung or recited

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sonnet

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lyric poem of 14 lines. often in iambic pentameter

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lyric

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short poem in which one speaker expresses personal thoughts

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elegy

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mourmful or melancholy poem, often for the dead

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ode

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lengthy lyric poem with complex stanzas ,often praising someone.

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personification

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human qualities are given to a non-human thing

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analogy

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a comparison of two similar things

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apostrophe

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someone absent/deadnonhuman is addressed as if present

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allusion

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something that the author expects you to know

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imagery

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scene

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paradox

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a statement that seems to contradict but is actually true

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oxymoron

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a term containing normally contradictory terms (ex. =Jumbo Shrimp)

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dialogue

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writted conversation between characters

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foreshadering

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The author foretelling the future of the story

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flashback

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Thinking about the past

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soliloquy

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In drama, a speech where character says thoughts aloud while alone

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verse

Back 25

metrical language; the opposite of prose

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couplet

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a pair of rhymed lines

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quatrain

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a four-line stanza, often marked by its rhyme scheme

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sestet

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a six-line stanza

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octet

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(octave) an eight-line stanza

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connotion

Back 30

a word's overtones of meaning

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denotation

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a word's literal meaning

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rhetorical question

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a question that doesnot require reply;used for persuasion

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cliche

Back 33

expression/idea that is so overrused that it has lost meaning or effect

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hyperbole

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truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous effect

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understatement

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creates emphasis by saying less than is true

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irony (there are three types)

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dramatic, situational, and
verbal

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dialect

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form of language as spoken in a particular region or by a particular people

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pun

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a joke created bya a play on words, often using a word's multiple meanings

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indirect characterization

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characters actions, character's thoughts, etc.

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stereotype

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a simplified character defined by a single trait

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caricature

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a description of a person that is over-exaggerated or over simplifies some characteristics

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monologue

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in drama, an extended uninterrupted speech by a character

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soliloquy

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in drama, a character expresses thoughts aloud that are not meant to be heard by some characters on stage

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aside

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in drama, a character expresses thoughts aloud that are not meant to be heard by some characters on stage

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dialogue

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what people say

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Zach

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Awesomenesss. This adjective decribes someone truly passionate and beastly cool. a true "sexy beast".