Literature Terms

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Alliteration

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is the repetition of initial consonant sounds.

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Allusion

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

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Analogy

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makes a comparison between two or more things that are similar in some ways but otherwise unalike

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Anecdote

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is a brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event. writers tell anecdotes to entertain or to make a point.

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Antagonist

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is a character or a force in conflict with a main character, or protagonist

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Atmosphere

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atmosphere or mood, is the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage.

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Autobiography

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is the story of the writer's own life, they are told by the writer.

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Biography

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is a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person.

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Characterization

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is the act of creating and developing a character.

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Climax

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is also called the turning point, is the high point in the action of the plot.

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Concrete poem

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is one with a shape that suggests its subject.

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Conflict

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is a struggle between opposing forces.

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Connotations

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is the set of ideas associated with it in addition to the explicit meaning.

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Denotations

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is its dictionary meaning, independent of other associations that the word may have.

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Dialect

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is the form of a language spoken by people in a particular region or group.

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Dialogue

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is a conversation between characters.

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Diction

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is a writer's word choice and the way the writer puts those words together

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Drama

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is a story written to be preformed by actors

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Fable

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is a brief story or poem, usually with animals characters, that teaches a lesson, or moral

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Fantasy

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is highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found in real life

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Fiction

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is prose writting that tells about imaginary characters and events

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Figurative language

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is writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally

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Flashback

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is a scene within a story that interrupts the sequence of events to relate events that occurred in the past

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Folk tale

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is a story composed orally and then passed from person to person by word of mouth

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Foreshadowing

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is the author's use of clues to hint at what might happen later in the story

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Genre

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is a division or type of literature

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Haiku

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is a three-line Japanese verse form

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Historical context

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a literary work includes the actual political and social event and trends of the time

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Irony

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is a contradiction between what happens and what is expected

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Legend

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is a widely told story about the past one that may or may not have a foundation in fact

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Limerick

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is a humorous, rhyming, five line poem with a meter and rhyme scheme

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Metaphor

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is a figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else

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Meter

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of a poem is its rhythmical pattern

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Moral

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is a lesson taught by a literary work

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Motive

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is a reasion that explains or partially explains a character's thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech

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Myth

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is a fictional tale that explains the actions of gods ro heroes or the origins of elements of nature

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Narrator

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is a speaker or a character who tells a story

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Nonfiction

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is prose writing that presents and explains ideas or that tells about real people, places, objects, or events

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Onomatopoeia

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is the use of words that imitate sounds

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Personification

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

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Plot

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is the sequence of events in which each event results from a previous one and causes the next

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Prose

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is the ordinary form of written language

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Protagonist

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is the main character in a literary work

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Resolution

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is the outcome of the conflict in a plot

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Science fiction

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combines elements or fiction and fantasy with scientific fact

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Setting

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is the time and place of the action

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Simile

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is a figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas

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Stanza

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is a group of lines of peotry that are usally similar in length and pattern and are separted by spaces

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Surprise ending

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is a conclusion that is unexpected

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Suspense

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is a feeling of anxious uncertainty about the outcome of events in a literary work

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Symbol

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is anything that stands for or represents something else

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Theme

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is a central message in a literary work

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Tragedy

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is a work of literature, especially a play, that results in a catastrophe for the main character