Literature Words

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Allegory

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A story in which the people, places, and things are symbolic

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Alliteration

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Repetition of initial consonant sound

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Analogy

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A comparison between two unlike things to show similarity

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Allusion

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A reference to some aspect possible of literature, history, or the Bible

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Antagonist

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Person or force that opposes the protagonist

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Antithesis

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Opposing view or ideal

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Aphorism

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A proverb; they belief, pointed statement

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Apostrophe

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When one speaks to an entity or nonliving thing as though it were alive and present when it is not

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Aside

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Internal reflection I heard by audience but not by other characters

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Assonance

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Repetition of similar vowel sounds

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Atmosphere

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prevailing mood or feeling in a work

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Autobiography

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A written by himself/ herself

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Ballad

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A story told in verse

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Biography

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Account of a person's life written by another

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Blank verse

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Verse written in iambic pentameter but is not rhymed

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Caricature

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A drawing for the sanitation to exaggerate the features of an individual

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Climax

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The highest point of intensity

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Comedy

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A literary work that ends happily and in which the characters are usually more common

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Conceit

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A kind of metaphor comparison between two very different things

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Conflict

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A struggle between two opposing forces or characters (as the turning point in a story)

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Connotation

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The associated meaning of a word; all the emotions and associations that a word or phrase may arouse

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Consonance

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Repetition of similar consonant sounds in a groups of words

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Denotation

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Literal or dictionary meaning of a word

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Dénouement

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Final outcome of a story

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Diction

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A writer's choice of words, particular mean for your Clarity, Effectiveness, and precision

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Dissonance

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Harsh disagreeable sound or combination of sounds

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Dramatic monologue

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Kind of stories, and poetry form, in which one character speaks

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Elegy

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Poem of mourning over the death of some one

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Epic

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Long, narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero and the values of his /her society

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Epigram

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Short, witty, pointed statement in poetic form

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Epigraph

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A quotation on model at the beginning of each chapter, in book, short story, or poem that makes a point regarding the work

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Epilogue

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A short Addition/conclusion at the end of a literary work

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Epiphany

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A moment of illumination

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Epitaph

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Inscription on a gravestone, or a short poem in memory of the Dead

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Epithet

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Descriptive name or phrase to characterize someone or something

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Essay

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A piece of prose writing is usually short that deals with a subject in a limited way to express a point of view

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Exposition

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The part of a narrative or drama in which important background information is revealed

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Exemplum

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A tale/story usually inserted into the text of a sermon that illustrates a moral

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Fable

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Brief story told to teach a moral its characters are often animals

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Farce

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Type of Comedy based on a ridiculous situation often with stereotyped character

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Figurative language

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Language that is not to be interpreted literally

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Figure of speech

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Similar to figurative language a word or expression not meant literally; simile, metaphor

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Flashback

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A scene in a work that interprets to show previous events

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Free verse

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Has no meter or pattern

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Gothic novel

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Type of Novel popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries characterized by a mysterious sightings in an atmosphere of Terror and groom; for example Frankenstein

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Hyperbole

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Figure of speech using exaggeration for effect

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Iambic pentameter

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Poetic line consisting of five verse feet with each foot being an iamb

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Imagery

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Words/phrases that creates pictures or images in the readers mind; language that appeals to all the senses

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In Medias Res

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Technique of plunging into the middle of a story and only later using flashback to tell what happened previously

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Interlude

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In the 15th century a play with a non religious plot and characters; secular play

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Invocation

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At the beginning of an epic, a call of muse, god, or spirit for inspiration

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Irony

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Contrast between what is stated and what is ment

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Lyric

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Poem that expresses a speaker's personal thoughts and feelings

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Maxim

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Mandate; concise statement expressing a principal or rule of conduct

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Melodrama

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A drama that has stereotyped characters exaggerated emotions, that pits an all-good hero against an evil villian

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Metaphor

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Implied comparison, not using comparative terms such as like or as

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Metonymy

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Figure of speech in which something closely associated with a thing is used to stand for the entire thing itself

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Mock Epic

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Comic literature firm that treats a trivial subject in the grand, heroic style of the epic

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Modernism

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A movement that broke with traditions and established rules that characterized the arts before ww1

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Motif

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Reoccurring featuring (name, image, phrase) in a work of literature

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Myth

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A story often about immortals and sometimes connected with religious rituals intending to give meaning to the world's problems

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Narrative poem

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A poem that tells a story

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Narrator

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Someone who tells a story

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Neoclassicism

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A Revival in the 17th and 18th century of classic standards of order balance and harmony

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Novel

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A Book-length, lengthy, fictional prose writing, narrative having many characters and often a complex plot

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Onomatopoeia

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The use of the words that sound similar to its meaning

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Paradox

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A statement that reveals a truth which at first seems self-contradictory

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Parallelism

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The use of phrases, clauses or sentences that are similar or complementary in structure or meaning

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Parody

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The humorous imitation of a work or a person

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Pastoral

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Poem that deals in an idealized way with shepherd and rustic life

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Pathos

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Feeling; the quality in a work that arouses one's feelings for a character

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Persona

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An assumed personality; the person who speaks in a literary work

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Personification

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A figure of speech in which a nonhuman thing is given human qualities

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Plot

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Sequence of events in a story: exposition, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, dénouement

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Cacophony

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Harsh, unpleasant sound

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Mellifluous

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Gentle sounding word

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Foreshadowing

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Use if hints or clues in Narrative to suggest later events

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Novella

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A long, short story

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Ode

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A complex, often lengthy, lyric poem; written in a dignified, formal style; some lofty, serious subject