Literary Terms
LITERARY TERMS
Level: Term and Definition:
20/30 Allegory - A literary mode or work in which figures, events, settings, etc. represent abstractions, or, in which the characters and events correspond closely to actual persons and happenings. Example: Animal Farm by George Orwell
10 Alliteration – The repetition of sound, usually the initial sound and most often a consonant, in words of one line or successive lines of verse. Example: “…Bend/ Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.”
10 Allusion – Indirect reference to an event, person, thing, place, or quality. An allusion may serve, by suggestion, to extend the significance of a poetic image or prose passage. Example: “He has the patience of Job.” Job is an Old Testament character who endured every form of loss and rejection and illness with infinite patience because he knew that God was testing him.
20/30 Ambiguity – The use of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage with two or more separate, often contradictory, meanings in such a way that the sense of the statement remains in doubt.
20/30 Anachronism – Something, as an occurrence, that is out of its time. In Julius Caesar the clock strikes, yet such a timepiece had not yet been invented at that time.
10 Analogy – Likeness; resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike. An analogy explains something unfamiliar by comparing it to something that is familiar.
10 Anecdote – A short account of entertaining historical or personal fact.
10 Antagonist – the character or force that opposes the protagonist in any story. The antagonist attempts to prevent the protagonist from achieving his or her goal.
10 Antecedent action – The significant action that takes place before a story begins.
10 Anticlimax – A sudden drop from the dignified or important to the trivial or banal, often employed for humorous effect, as in Alexander Pope’s “Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast, when husbands, or when lapdogs breath their last.”
10 Anti-hero – A literary figure whose every action is the inverse of what is considered to be heroic.
20/30 Antithesis – Opposition of thought or meaning or of passages, phrases, lines, and half-lines, as in “To err is human, to forgive divine.”
30 Apostrophe – Words addressed to one or more persons (absent or present) generally in an exclamatory tone, as in Wordsworth’s “Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour.”
30 Archaism – The use or imitation of archaic (old, ancient, no longer in use) words or techniques.
1 20/30 Archetype – Literary - the original pattern or model from which all similar things were made; things universal to all mankind.
10 Aside – Speech of a character (in a play) conventionally addressed to the audience and not heard by the other characters.
20/30 Assonance – A kind of partial rhyme characterized by a correspondence of vowel sounds, but not of consonants. Example: greener, dreamer
10 Atmosphere – The pervasive color or tone of a literary work. The atmosphere established at the opening of Hamlet is cold, apprehensive and fearful.
10 Autobiography – The story of a person’s life, written by himself or herself.
10 Ballad – A narrative (tells a story) poem or song, written in simple words and short stanzas, usually four lines with a rhyme scheme of abcb.
10 Blank Verse – Unrhymed iambic pentameter, as in Wordsworth’s lines: “There are // in our // exist //ence spots // of time That with //distinct // pre-em // inence // retain A renovating virtue….” Much of Romeo and Juliet is written in blank verse.
20/30 Cacophony – Harshness of sound; lack of euphony; discordant quality.
10 Characterization – The process through which the author reveals to the reader the qualities of a character.
10 Chronicle – A historic record in prose or verse, usually in order of events in time. (Chronological order = time order).
10 Cliché – A trite expression, a platitude. (Situations, actions, patterns which have been very often used or repeated whether in life, in literature, or in art, may also be termed cliches.) Worn out word or phrase.
10 Climax – The final, culminating event in a series of actions, the decisive moment in a literary work when the protagonist’s course is finally a fact and no longer simply a predictable action.
10 Colloquialism – A word, phrase or sentence which belongs to the language of common conversation.
10 Comedy – Any literary or dramatic composition whose ending is not tragic.
10 Comic Relief – A humorous scene or incident in a serious story. It occurs most often in drama and is consciously introduced by the writer with the purpose of providing relief from tension, and, by contrast, intensifying the seriousness of the rest of the play.
10 Complication – The event that initiates the conflict. Also known as initial incident.
10 Conflict – The struggle between opposing forces, that is the protagonist and someone or something else.
10 Connotation – Specific associations carried (with words) apart from the literal meaning. (See -Denotation)
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20/30 Consonance – The harmony, congruity, or rhyme which occurs when vowel sounds differ and final, consonantal sounds agree. Example: call, pull
10 Couplet – A pair of rhymed lines of verse. (See - Heroic Couplet)
10 Criticism – The art of discussion and evaluation of literary and artistic work.
10 Denotation – The literal (dictionary) meaning of a word.
10 Denouement – The tying up of loose ends or resolution (in a story).
20/30 Deus ex machina – Latin for “god from the machine” Earlier in history, a deity in Greek and Roman drama who was brought in by stage machinery to intervene in the action; therefore, any character, event, or device suddenly introduced to resolve the conflict.
10 Dialogue – Any conversation between two or more characters in a story.
10 Diction – A writer’s vocabulary; his choice of particular words or phrases over others.
20/30 Didactic - Having the nature of writing intended or used for teaching. Instructive.
10 Dilemma – A situation in which a character must make a choice between two disagreeable, undesirable or unfavourable alternatives. Posing a dilemma is one method an author can use to generate conflict and suspense in a story.
20 Doggeral - Rough, clumsy, awkward verse. (Hecate in Macbeth)
10 Dramatic Monologue – A vivid, often emotionally intense composition in prose or poetry in which the speaker creates the drama by anticipating replies and remarks from an assumed listener. (Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess)
20/30 Eclectic – Composed of material gathered from various sources and traditions.
30 Elegy – A poem of lament and praise for the dead.
10 Ellipsis - In Grammar – words omitted. In Writing – the three dots (…) indicating an omission of letters or words.
10 Empathy – The identification of one’s own feelings with those of a fictional or poetic character in order to understand him better.
10 English Sonnet - (See also Shakespearean Sonnet) A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter divided into three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg
10 Epic – A long, dignified, formal narrative poem celebrating the exploits of a folk of national hero, frequently including warfare, supernatural events, and a setting involving heaven, hell and earth. Example: John Milton’s Paradise Lost.
10 Epilogue – A closing section appended to a novel or play when that novel or play is completed.
10 Epiphany – Refers to a moment of significant realization and insight experienced by the protagonist, often at the end of a story.
3 10 Episode – An incident or event within the main plot of the story.
10 Euphemism – The use of a word or expression considered less offensive, blunt and harsh than another. Example: “sanitary landfill” instead of “garbage dump”.
20/30 Euphony – a pleasant, agreeable combination of sounds. Example: Keats’ “Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian.”
20 Explication – A detailed analysis; a literary “explanation” of a passage.
10 Exposition – Background information provided by the author to further the development of plot, conflict, setting, and characterization.
30 Expressionism - Concerned with the inner life that lies beyond the obvious details.
10 Fable – A short narrative with a moral lesson, usually with animal characters, as in Aesop’s Fables.
10 Falling action – The action immediately following the climax and lasting until the end of the story.
10 Fantasy – Fantasy is a picture of life as it could never be. In literature, fantasy is a work in which the imagination is given full play.
10 Farce – Generally, a play abounding in ludicrous situations, clowning, practical jokes, coincidences, improbabilities and exaggerations.
10 Flashback – A sudden switch in the plot from the present to the past.May be used to illustrate an important point or to aid in characterization.
10 Foil – A character whose behaviour and qualities set off, or enhance by contrast, those of another figure. Fortinbras, Laertes, and to an extent Horatio, are foils for Hamlet.
10 Foreshadowing – An anticipation, by indication of suggestion, of what will eventually happen. A remark, an image, etc., can later be associated with the later event. Foreshadowing can create suspense, or it can be used to comment ironically or indirectly upon an event before it occurs.
10 Free Verse – Poetry based on an irregular rhythm, the flow of the verse rising and falling irregularly with the thought or emotion over a group of lines or indeed, over the whole poem.
10 Goal – (See Motivation)
10 Gothic Novel – Novels characterized by gloom, terror, mystery, violence and an interest in the supernatural. Example: Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.
20/30 Hamartia – (See Tragic flaw)
10 Hero (or heroine) – A protagonist of a story who possesses heroic qualities such as courage, or virtues such as honesty. The terms hero and heroine are not interchangeable with the more general term protagonist.
10 Heroic Couplet – A pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter.
4 20/30 Hubris – Greek term used in drama meaning overweaning pride. (See Tragic flaw)
10 Hyperbole - Exaggeration for effect or emphasis.
10 Imagery – Images collectively; figures of speech – similes, metaphors and many others – as they appear in literary work. Mental pictures made by words of vision, sound, smell touch or taste. Whether simple or complex, however, the finest imagery, in either prose or verse, will so light up and enrich the subject that the comparison made will seem an inevitable one and the deep, hidden meaning of an idea will be revealed. It should never be decoration.
30 Impressionism – The careful selection of a few details to convey the immediate sense impressions left by a scene or incident.
10 Indeterminate Ending – A story ending in which there is no clear outcome or result.
20 Interior Monologue – The literary device of reporting a character’s thoughts as the substance of a narrative or part.
10 Irony - In its narrow sense, the idea intended to be conveyed is different or opposite from the literal meaning of the words used. There are several types:
• Verbal Irony - is a figure of speech in which a person says one thing and means another. It is thus related to sarcasm and sarcasm is personal… verbal irony need not be personal.
• Understatement – is a form of irony in daily use. When we say that Gretzky has played a game or two of hockey, we are being ironical.
• Dramatic Irony or Tragic Irony – occur when the significance of words and actions on the stage is hidden from the characters concerned but revealed to the audience. There is an ironical contrast between what the characters believe is going to happen and what the spectator knows is going to happen.
• Situational – occurs when what finally takes place is different from what was expected or seemed appropriate.
10 Italian (Petrarchan) Sonnet – A fourteen line, iambic pentameter poem divided into two sections, the octave ( or octet), lines 1-8, rhyming abba, and the sestet, lines 9- 14, rhyming cde, cde. There are slight variations in the sestet rhyme scheme in the work of some poets.
10 Jargon – In the widest sense, jargon is either ugly, or difficult to understand. In its narrowest sense, it is the excessive use of technical terms understandable only to people of a particular trade or profession.
10 Juxtaposition – The placing of two things side by side for the purpose of comparison or contrast. Is used to clarify meaning, purpose or character, or to heighten certain moods, especially horror or suspense.
20 Lampoon - A violent satire or personal attack, usually written to satisfy the writer’s malice.
10 Legend - A story of some wonderful event, handed down through the generations of a tribe or nation.
5 10 Lyric - Name derived from the ancient musical instrument, the lyre. A poem expressing the poet’s personal emotion and revealing something of the speaker’s sentiment rather than emphasizing an external event for its own sake. Odes, hymns, sonnets, elegies, and pastorals are all lyric poems.
10 Melodrama - Sensational drama, often violent, physical action, extravagant emotions, etc., in which the conflicting forces are the obviously good and obviously evil.
10 Metaphor – A common figure of speech in which a direct comparison or identification is made between two unlike objects.
30 Metonymy – A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is substituted for some other term that is closely associated with it or that suggests it. Example: “The flower of chivalry left for the field of Mars.”…instead of “the aristocratic young man went to war.” Shakespeare’s Polonius in Hamlet uses metonymy in the word “purse” when he says, “Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy.”
10 See atmosphere
10 Morality Play - Medieval drama in which personifications of abstract qualities (Greed, envy, riches, pride) and class figures (Noble, King, Priest) – appear, and which deal with significant moments in the lives of all men (the arrival of death, or the debate of good and evil angels over a man’s soul.) The intention of the morality play was to teach how to live well.
10 Motivation – What causes a character to do what he or she does and the character’s aim or goal in taking that action. The character’s temperament and circumstances determine motivation. The pursuit by the protagonist of his or her goal results in the story’s conflict. Characters must have sufficient and plausible motivation in order for a reader to find the story effective.
10 Mystery (or Miracle) Play - Medieval plays based on events in the lives of the Holy Family (Jesus, Mary and Joseph), on the lives of Old Testament characters, or on the lives of saints.
10 Narrative – Story; events; a literary work relating a series of actions.
10 Narrative Poem – A poem telling a story. See also ballad and epic.
10 Ode – A long, formal, elevated poem with an elaborate stanza pattern; a poem of praise on the arts, a friend or a patron.
30 Oedipus Theme – A Freudian term for the tendency of a child to be attached to the parent of the opposite sex and to reject the other.
10 Omniscient – All-knowing; an author knows and sees everything as the God of the universe sees and knows everything.
10 Onomatopoeia – A poetic device in which the sense is suggested by the sounds of the words used. Example: groan, hush, chatter, rustle.
10 Oxymoron – A figure of speech in which an idea is expressed by means of two words usually considered contradictory: ‘harmonious discord’, ‘fiery ice’, ‘pleasant pain’, ‘cruel kindness’.
6 10 Paradox – A statement that seems contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd, like Richard Lovelace’s “Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron bars a cage.”
10 Paraphrase – A rewording of the thought or meaning expressed in a literary work; paraphrase follows the work very closely, point by point.
10 Parody – A literary composition which is an intentionally exaggerated imitation of another literary work.
20/30 Pathos – That element or quality in a literary work which arouses our sympathy and compassion and causes us to commit our own feelings of sorrow and pity. The fate of Romeo and Juliet is an occasion for pathos.
10 Personification – A figure of speech, and species of metaphor, that attributes to inanimate or abstract things the qualities of a person.
10 Plot – The framework of a story, or the conscious arrangement of its events.
10 Point of view – The perspective from which a story is seen or told. Establishes the relationships among author, reader, and characters. The following are the three most common points of view: • First-person narrative features a character telling the story directly to the reader in the first person (that is, using “I”). This point of view tells us what the character thinks and feels from a vantage point “inside” the story, from one character’s perspective. • Third-person narrative occurs when a story is told from “outside” the characters, but from the perspective of one character. In this point of view, the characters are referred to in the third person (as “he” or “she”), and the narrator is limited to knowing the thoughts and feelings of only that one character. • Omniscient narrative or “all knowing” narrative tells the story from the knowledge of the thoughts and feelings of more than one, or all the characters.
10 Predicament – A difficult problem or unpleasant situation.
10 Problem Play - A drama which considers difficult and complex moral problems.
10 Protagonist - The leading or central character in a story or, the dominating character. The protagonist sets a goal for him or herself and attempts to achieve that goal. (See also Antagonist.)
10 Purpose – The main effect the author hopes to achieve, for example, entertainment, thought, enlightenment, action, demonstrating something about life or human nature. Purpose may include theme but should not simply be equated with the story’s main idea.
10 Quatrain – A stanza of four lines, variously rhymed, generally used as a unit of a longer verse form.
10 Quest – A long journey taken to test a character’s worthiness.
10 Quintain – A stanza of five lines, variously rhymed, generally used as a unit of a longer verse form.
30 Realism – Giving all the details with the objectivity of a camera. (See also Impressionism, Expressionism.)
7 10 Resolution (See denouement)
10 Rhetorical Questions – A device used to achieve grace, forcefulness, and persuasiveness.
10 Rhyme – Repetition of the same sound at the ends of, or at regular intervals in, two or more lines.
10 Rhythm – The musical flow of language, produced mainly by a recurrence of pauses and accents. There are various meters of poetic rhythm: • Iamb (short syllable/long syllable – ( x / ) or da DUM) • trochee (reverse of an iamb) • anapest (three syllables: short short long – sounds like a gallop) • dactyl (long syllable followed by two shorts – sounds like a waltz)
10 Rising Action – The incidents in a plot that precede the climax. During this stage of the plot, background information is given, characters and conflicts are introduced, and suspense is built up. There may even be moments of crisis. Rising action is typically longer than falling action in a story.
20/30 Romanticism – As a literary term, an attitude towards life which tends to produce literature marked by individualism and revolt against tradition. (1750-1850)
10 Saga – A prose narrative relating the history and deeds of an important family.
20/30 Satire – A literary work in which human frailty is held up to ridicule, its purpose is to improve human behavior through criticism.
10 Sentimental – Acting from feeling more than from rational motives.
10 Setting – The time and place of a narrative. Setting may affect the plot, conflict, characters, and theme, or it may be of great significance and the main fiction element.
10 Simile – A figure of speech in which one thing is likened to another, often dissimilar thing through the use of words such as “like”, “as” and “than”.
10 Shakespearean Sonnet – (See also English Sonnet) A fourteen line poem in iambic pentameter divided into three quatrains and a couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg.
10 Soliloquy – Lines in a literary work in which a character speaks to himself to debate a matter; the audience or reader is the only “outsider” who is aware of the speech.
10 Stock Character – A stereotyped figure, easily recognizable and accompanied by a group of expected and anticipated characteristics.
10 Stream of Consciousness – The technique in fiction in which the character’s thoughts and reactions are reported as they occur to him, often in fragmentary sentences with little or no punctuation.
10 Style – An author’s manner, his distinct and unique way of expression , design, execution, construction, etc.
8 20/30 Subplot – A minor storyline, secondary to the main plot. Subplots may be related or unrelated to the main action, but may also be a reflection of, or variation on, the main plot. More common in longer works (plays and novels) than in short stories.
10 Suspense – The feeling of anxiety and uncertainty experienced by the reader ( and possibly characters) about the outcome of events or the protagonist’s fate.
10 Symbolism - A symbol is any device used to represent something, especially the abstract.
30 Synecdoche - Part of a thing represents the whole. “the hired hand” represents the hired man.
10 Tone – The author’s manner of speaking and how it reveals his attitude toward the subject matter of the story.
10 Theme – The central idea of the story, usually implied rather than directly stated. It is a story’s observation about life or human nature, and should never be confused with the moral.
10 Thesis - A proposition to be maintained or defended in an argument.
20/30 Tragic Flaw – Internal conflict because of a tragic flaw in the hero. Macbeth’s flaw: ambition. Othello’s flaw: jealousy. Downfall of a hero occurs through his own weakness or flaw.
10 Verisimilitude – A life-like quality possessed by a story revealed through its plot, setting, conflict, and characterization.
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