Literary Termsabstract/concretead hominemallegoryalliterationallusionambiguityanachronismanalogyanecdoteantagonistanticlimaxantithesisantonymaphorismapostrophearchetypeasideassonanceatmosphereautobiographyballadbibliographybiographyblank verseburlesquecaesuracaricaturecatastrophecatharsischaracter

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short storysimileslangSocraticsoliloquysongsonnetspeakerspoonerismstanzastream of consciousnessstructurestylesubordinationsubplotsurrealismsyllogismsymbolsymbolismsynecdochesynonymsynopsissyntaxtaletall talethemethesistitletonetragedytragic flawtranscendentalismturning pointunderstatementunityuniversalityusageutilitarianverisimilitudeversevillainvoice (tone)whimsicalwit

Abstract(/Concrete): General and imprecise in meaning, as opposed to concrete, which has an exact meaning or example. Abstract words are typically connotative, while concrete words are typically denotative. Ex: “Learning” is an abstract word, while “college” is concrete.

Ad hominem: Not based on facts, but rather on emotion, in the sense of an attack. Also, ad hominem can pertain to an attack on character. Ex: Many Democrats claimed that the Monica Lewinski scandal was a Republican ad hominem attack on Bill Clinton.

Allegory: A story with a second meaning beneath the surface one. The Wizard of Oz is an American political allegory. Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan is a famous religious allegory.

Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds. Ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Allusion: A reference to something in previous literature or history. The Grapes of Wrath title is an allusion to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” song and to a passage in the Bible.

Ambiguity: The state of having more than one meaning, or it can be an ambiguous expression. Ex: Ace and Gary on Saturday Night Live, or the multiple meanings of the scarlet letter.

Anachronism: Something out of place in time. Ex: In History of the World: Part I, Mel Brooks uses multiple anachronisms, such as Da Vinci’s presence at the Last Supper.

Analogy: A form of comparison that uses something familiar to explain something unfamiliar; often concrete examples are used to explain abstract ideas.

Anecdote: A brief story about an interesting, amusing or strange event, often used as an example or support element in an essay

Antagonist: The protagonist’s enemy, or the villain of a work. Ex: In Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort is the antagonist.

Anticlimax: Following an eventful event with an uneventful one. Ex: One of the chief devices of The Sopranos is anticlimax. One moment, Tony is beating up a man who owes him money, and the next, he is at home feeding a family of ducks which are living in his swimming pool.

Antithesis: A contrast of two concepts by placing them parallel to each other in a sentence. In an argument, the antithesis is the opposite viewpoint of an essay’s thesis. Ex: Used often in politics. In George W. Bush’s acceptance speech for Republican nomination for the presidency in 2000, he bashed the Clinton administration by saying, “They have not led; we will!”

Antonym: A word opposite in meaning to another word. Ex: Beautiful is the opposite of ugly

Aphorism: A short, witty statement used to reveal a truth about human nature. “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” or “Fish and visitors smell in three days.” Fulfills the 18th century literary motto of “to delight and to instruct.”

Apostrophe: A figure of speech in which something abstract or someone absent or dead is addressed or something nonhuman is referred to as if it were living. Ex: “Death! Be not proud, or “Tiger, Tiger, burning

bright,/In the forest of the night/What immortal hand or eye/Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Archetype: An original model or type that serves as a pattern. For example, some say Huckleberry Finn is the archetype for Salinger’s Holden Caulfield.

Aside: A line a character says in a play that the other characters on stage are not supposed to hear. Ex: The stage manager in “Our Town” has a lot of asides. Shakespeare used the technique as a a way to convey a character’s thoughts, similar to interior monologue.

Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds. Ex: “the mountain at a given distance”, the “i” sound is repeated in the words “given” and “distance”

Atmosphere: The dominant tone or mood in a work. Ex: The atmosphere in most of Edgar Allen Poe’s works is dark and gloomy.

Autobiography: The biography of a person written by himself. Ex: Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography.

Ballad: A poem or song narrative.

Bibliography: A list of sources used to acquire inormation or used in writing a research paper.Biography: A written account of a person’s life. Ex: Abe Lincoln Grows Up by Carl Sandburg

Blank Verse: Unrhyming poem, usually in iambic pentameter. Ex: Shakespeare’s writing

Burlesque: a form of satire in which a genre or literary work is mocked or made to appear ridiculous, often foregoing criticism typical of satire for pure comic or entertainment value. For example: Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail burlesques the Arthurian legend.

Caesura: A break or pause in a line of a poem. Ex: “Once upon a midnight dreary (pause) while I wondered weak and weary...”

Caricature: A portrait of someone or somthing in which the subject’s features are grossly exaggerated or distorted with the intent to ridicule.

Catharsis: A release of emotions or tensions usually at the end of a tragedy

CharacterDynamic character: a character who undergoes a permanent changeFlat character: A character who can be summed up in one or two traitsRound character: A complex, multi-dimensional characterStatic character: A character who is the same at the end of a story Stock character: A character who is a stereotype and is easily recognizable by appearance, behavior or

dress

Classicism: A use of the culture, art, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome as a model for literature–characterized by form, simplicity, and restrained emotion.

Cliche: An overused expression. Ex: “Been there, done that” or “A picture is worth a thousand words”

Climax: The most exciting or highest point in a movie or story. Ex: When the girl finds out her cancer is

out of remission in A Walk to Remember.

Coherence: The tight relationship between all parts of an effective piece of writing.

Colloquial: Conversational or informal writing or speaking.

Comic relief: Humor in the midst of serious or tragic literature.

Conceit: An elaborate metaphor usually extended through a poem

Conflict: man vs. man: Ex: wrestlingman vs. himself: Ex: “The Shining” and “Castaway”man vs. nature: Ex: “Castaway’

Connotation: The abstract, emotional or suggested meaning of a word

Consonance: repetition of similar consonant sounds. Ex: Jake jumped over Judy’s jump rope.Controlling Image: In poetry, the image of description the author refers back to to keep in the reader’s mind; similar to dominant impression in writing.

Convention: A widely used or accepted technique in art, drama or literature

Couplet: Two lines in a poem that either rhyme or have the same meter. Ex. “he jests at scars, but never felt a wound.”

Crisis: The conflict or problem in a story. It is the turning point of the action flow.

Deductive reasoning: A method of reasoning that moves from a general premise to a specific conclusion; opposite of inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is what we call logic and what Sherlock Holmes uses to solve crimes. Ex: All your green apples have been sour. Without tasting it, you infer that the next green apple you choose will be sour. The basic form of a deductive argument is the syllogism.

Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word, its literal or concrete meaning

Denouement: The solution to the conflict in a story.

Description: a rhetorical mode that uses imagery and details that appeal to the senses (taste, touch, smell, sight, sound) to create a word picture of something, somebody, or some idea. An objective description is a neutral, factual description in precise, concrete language. A subjective description reflects the writer’s attitude or judgement about the subject being described.

Deus ex machina: An unexpected event, character or device that untangles a plot or “saves the day, ” a miracle.Dialect: A form of a language spoken by people in a particular group or region

Dialogue: Conversation between characters in a work of literature

Diary: Daily record of personal experiences

Diction: A writer’s or speaker’s choice of words.

Didactic: Intended to instruct or teach

Dirge: Funeral hymn

Drama: Theatrical presentation; events involving conflicting forces

Dramatic Monologue: Poem or speech in which an imaginary character speaks to a silent listener

Editorial: Article expressing the opinions of an editor or columnist

Elegy: Literature or speech in honor of someone who has died.

Epic: A work of literature on a national or international scale usually written in elevated or dignified language. Ex: The Odyssey or The Iliad

Epigram: An aphorism in verse, usually a couplet. O would the power, the gift to give us/To see ourselves as others see us.

Epilogue: A short addition at the end of a work of literature, sometimes dealing with the future of its characters.

Epithet: A term used to characterize a person or thing–often an abusive or contemptutous term

Essay: A short work of nonfiction writing

Eulogy: A speech or written tribute used to praise

Euphemism: A polite term for an unpleasant concept. Example: “passed away” for “dead.”Euphony: Pleasing to the ear

Exposition (Expository): Writing or speech that explains, informs, or presents information

Fable: A story, usually with a moral, that uses animals as characters

Fairy tale: A fanciful story of legendary characters and creatures, usually intended for children.

Farce: A type of dramatic comedy characterized by improbable situations and physical comedy

Figurative language: Imaginative anguage use characterized by figures of speech such as similes and metaphors; saying one thing but meaning another.

Figures of Speech: Distinct forms of figurative language. Ex: simile, metaphor, personification, imagery, conceit, paradox, apostrophe, etc.

Flashback: A section of a literary work that interrupts the chronological presentation of events to relate.

Foil: A character in literature or person who is the opposite in character or viewpoint. Dr. Evil is the foil of Austin Powers (similar to antagonist)

Folklore: Any aspect of a culture’s crafts, customs, rituals, dialect, and literature passed orally from generation to generation. Folk literature is called the oral tradition.

Foot: A unit of meter consisting of an accented and unaccented syllableExamples are: iamb: again

trochee: pity

anapest: intercept

dactyl: desperate

spondee: barroom

Foreshadowing: Indicate in advance

Free Verse: Verse without ryhme or regular meter or regular line length Walt Whitman, the Imagists, and the Beat Generation poets wrote in free verse as well as most 20th century poets.

Genre: A type of literature. Ex: short story, romance, detective story, mystery, novel, etc.

Haiku: Japanese unryhmed poem of three lines

Hamartia: Tragic flaw or error of judgement

Hero: The major figure in a story or drama. In traditional usage hero implies courage or valor, but in modern usage hero can describe a character who lacls these characteristics. Protagonist is a neutral term for the major figure in a literary work. Anti-hero is often used for a major figure who lacks “heroic” qualities.

Hubris: Excessive pride, arrogance

Hyperbole: exaggeration often to a comic effect

Iambic Pentameter: A line of poetry with five iambic feet, each containing one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. The most popular meter in English poetry.

Idiom: A regional speech or dialect or a specialized vocabulary used by a group of people (jargon); abbreviated language; everyday, colloquial language.

Imagery: descriptive and figurative language which creates word pictures for the reader

Inductive reasoning: A form of reasoning in which one moves from specific facts to a conclusion or generalization. For example: I taste 30 green apples, each are sour, and I conclude: green apples are sour based on the evidence. Inductive reasoning is scientific reasoning. You start with the specific and build to a general conclusion. Deductive starts with the general and uses it to explain the specific.

In media res: starts in the middle

Interior Monologue: A fictional presentation of unspoken thoughts

Inversion: A reversal of sequence or position. “Beauty is truth, truth beauty…”

Irony: A difference in what is said or written and what is intended. Its “verbal” form is saying one thing but meaning anotherVerbal Irony (sarcasm): Saying something contrary to what it means. Situational Irony: Events turning out to be the opposite of what is expectedDramatic irony: Where the reader or audience knows something a character doesn’t know

Jargon: A specific vocabulary of a job or profession or group. Sometimes the term has a negative connotation if jargon is used to confuse, trick or exclude people.

Juxtaposition: To put side by side; often when two images or ideas are put side by side which have no apparent or only an implied connection.

Lampoon: In a satire, the use of ridicule to attack persons, groups, institutions and ideas

Literal language: A precise and exact use of language, often with concrete diction

Local color: a form of writing that conveys the dress, landscape, customs, and dialects of a particular place

Lyric poetry: poetry of emotion

Melodrama: drama that employs a heavy use of suspense, sensational plot events, exaggerated emotion, and often a happy ending, e.g. The OC

Memoir: A form of autobiography based on the experiences of the author in the context of public or historical events in which he or she participated.

Metaphor: A direct comparison between two unlike things without using “as” or “like.” Ex: Life is a dream.

Meter: A regularly occuring sound pattern in poetry. The number of feet (if regular) characterizes a line as monometer (one foot), dimeter (two feet), trimeter (three feet), tetrameter (four feet), pentameter (five feet), etc.

Metonymy: A figure of speech, a form of metaphor, in which a word is used to apply to something associated with it. For example: Referring to construction workers as “hard hats” or “I’ve read all of Shakespeare” or “He drank the whole bottle” in which bottle substitutes for the liquid inside the bottle. “The White House said…”

Monologue: A long speech made by one person

Mood: The overall atmosphere or feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage.

Motif: A dominant or a repeated theme element in a literary work

Narrative: A story

Narrator: Someone who tells a story

Naturalism: a literary philosophy that emphasizes man’s insignificance and inability to affect his fate in an uncaring or unfriendly universe

Nom de Plume: a pseudonym adopted by a writer

Novel: a long work of fiction

Novella: a short novel

Objective: plain or direct treatment of a subject without showing emotion or judgement. Journalism and science writing strive for objectivity. Subjective: emotional or imaginative treatment of a subject with judgement. First person address is subjective writing.

Ode: A long, formal lyric poem with a serious theme rthat may have a traditional stanza structure

Onamatopoeia: use of words that imitate sounds. Ex: snap, crackle and pop

Parable: a story with a religious or moral message. Ex: “The Prodigal Son”

Oration: a formal address or speech, such as President Bush’s State of the Union Address

Overstatement: Exaggeration (hyperbole) to emphasize a point. Ex: You are a saint for frying that chicken for me.

Oxymoron: contradictory terms are combined (such as a deafening silence or darkness visible). Basically, a two word paradox.

Paradox: A seemingly illogical statement in a literal sense that is nevertheless true or logical in a figurative sense. Ex: Less is more.

Parallelism: the use of similar grammatical elements in a sentence or sentences. Parallel structure is an important feature of good syntax. For example: “My favorite activities are fishing, camping, hiking and the Boston Red Sox.” The previous sentence lacks parallel structure (correction would be “rooting for the Boston…”;parallel structure of -ing words is achieved.

Paraphrase: to restate a text in another form, to clarify the meaning, or to make shorter. Basically, to put in your own words.

Parody: a form of satire achieved by imitating a literary work or artistic creation.

Pastoral: A literary work that idealizes country and rural life

Pathos: an attitude or tone of sympathy, tenderness or sorrow; in rhetoric, pathos is an emotional appeal to the readers that supplements the ethos (appeal to the readers’ ethics) and logos (appeal to the readers’ logic).

Persona: the role, attitude, personality a writer assumes in order to achieve a literary purpose

Personification: The giving of human attributes to things not human. Ex: The face of the clock

Picaresque: A long narrative or novel involving clever rogues or rollicking adventures; often the plot structure is based on the journey motif. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an example.

Plagiarism: To steal and use ideas or writing as one’s own

Plot: The design and ordering of events in a literary work.

Poem: A composition in lines and stanzas usually employing a principle of meter designed to convey a vivid and imaginative sense of experience.

Poetry: a form of composition that employs a principle of meter, written in lines and stanzas; verse is another term for poetry.

Point of View: (sometimes referred to as narrator), point of view is the rhetorical perspective that a narrator or speaker takes in a narrative or essay. One could identify the point of view as objective, subjective, first person, second person, third person, omniscient, limited omniscient, unlimited, stream of consciousness, etc.

Post hoc reasoning: a logical fallacy that assumes if two events occur in sequence, the first event caused the second. For example, if a tree falls after a storm, the storm caused the tree to fall. The tree could have been damaged earlier, partially sawed by loggers, etc.

Preface: An introductory essay or paragraph from an author or critic that intoduces a literary work.

Prologue: An introduction to a literary work

Prose: The ordinary written form of language that is organized, usually, in paragraphs. Its forms are fiction and nonfiction.

Protagonist: the main figure (character) in a literary work.

Pseudonym: fake author name. The pseudonym of Mary Anne Lewes is George Eliot.

Pun: a play on words often using irony or ambiguity. Ex: A hair salon is named “Sheer Happiness” or “A Cut Above”

Quatrain: a stanza of four lines.

Realism: a literary philosophy that emphasizes ordinary people in ordinary circumstances, truth no matter where it leads and a scientific, objective portrayal of life. Life as most people live it and know it.

Redundant: unnecessary repetition

Refrain: a passage that is repeated at various points in a poem or song.

Regionalism: Another term for local color writing.

Renaissance: a rebirth, often used to characterize a literary or artistic movement (i.e. Harlem Renaissance)

Repetition: A technique in poetry and prose in which elements are purposely repeated, usually for

emphasis of a theme or thesis or to create a dramatic effect. If done poorly, the repeated element might be redundant.

Resolution: The outcome of the plot or a conflict in a literary work.

Rhetorical question: A interrogative sentence that needs no answer because the answer is either obvious or not needed or ambiguous. The author uses it for rhetorical effect as emphasis or as a call to action. Ex: How many students must suffer before the unfair tardy policy is changed?

Rhyme: duplication of sounds usually at the end (end rhyme)of a line of verse.Masculine: rhyme falls on the last syllable in the words (include/intrude)Feminine: rhyme falls on the penultimate (next to last) syllable (baby/maybe)Internal: rhyming of words within one line of poetry

Rhyme Scheme: The arrangement of rhymes in a poem or stanza indicated by alphabet letters

Rhythm: the modulation of weak and strong (or stressed and unstressed) elements in the flow of speech, poetry or prose.

Rising Action: the second of five parts of plot structure, in which events complicate the situation that existed at the beginning of a work, intensifying the conflict or introducing new conflict.

Romance: A medieval narrative in prose or verse telling of adventures of chivalric heroes (knights and castles and such)

Romantic: Of, pertaining to, or characteristics of romance or chivalry behavior. Modern usage of the word associates it with love and courtship.

Romanticism: a literary philosophy that emphasizes love of nature; focus on self, the individual; use of the supernatural, the mysterious or the gothic; use of the past; and idealism.

Saga: A prose narrative of the 12th and 13th centuries recounting historical and legendary events and exploits in Iceland or Norway. Modern meaning: a long narrative of a family’s fortunes over a number of generations. Ex: the African-American TV miniseries Roots.

Sarcasm: A mocking or an ironic remark

Satire: a genre of literature that criticizes with humor or ridicule.

Scenario: An outline of the plot of a dramatic or literary work

Scene: The place where action occurs or the subdivision of an act in drama

Science fiction: a type of fictional writing based on future possibilities derived from scientific discoveries.

Sentimentality: excessive emotion in a literary work

Sentence types: Simple sentence: a sentence having no coordinate or subordinate clauses, a subject and a verb.

Compound sentence: A sentence of two or more coordinate independent clauses, often joined by a conjunctionComplex sentence: A sentence with an independent clause and a dependent clauseCompound-complex sentence: A sentence with two coordinate independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses

Sentence Moods:Declarative sentence: sentence that states an ideaInterrogative sentence: sentence that asks a questionImperative sentence: sentence expressing a commandExclamatory sentence: sentence expressing an emotion

Sentence (Rhetorical types):A loose sentence makes complete sense if brought to a close beforethe actual ending, e.g., We reached Edmonton/ that morning/after a turbuent flight/ and some exciting experiences. In a balanced sentence, the phrases or clauses balance each other byvirtueof their likeness or structure, meaning, and/or length, e.g., He maketh me lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.An antithetical sentence is a sentence that contains a contrast. Ex: “Give me liberty or give me death.” and, “You can sink or swim”A periodic sentence makes sense only when the end of the sentence is reached, e.g., That morning, after a turbulent flight and some exciting experiences, we reached Edmonton.Inverted order of a sentence involves constructing a sentence so the predicate comes before the subject, e.g., In California grow oranges.Sentence inversion is a device in which normal sentence patterns are reversed to creat an emphatic or rhythmic effect. “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.…”Split order of a sentence divides the predicate into two parts with the subject coming in the middle, e.g., In California oranges grow.Natural order of a sentence involves constructing a sentence so the subject comes before the predicate, e.g., Oranges grow in California.

Sentences (voice):

Active voice sentence indicates that the subject is doing something. Ex: “I shall always remember my first trip to Boston.”Passive voice sentence indicates that the subject is acted upon. Ex: My first trip to Boston will always be remembered by me.”

Setting: The time and place of a literary work which also implies the social, political and historical context of the work.

Short story: a fictional narrative.

Simile: A comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as.” Ex: Life is like a box of chocolates or It’s as cold as a welldigger’s…

Slang: a nonstandard vocabulary of a culture or subculture often characterized by figures of speech

Socratic: The use of questions to generate discussion or research in order to learn about something.

Soliloquy: a dramatric monologue in which the character appears to be thinking out loud, communicating

inner thoughts and feelings to the audience. An aside is a brief remark to the audience directly; in fiction the interior monologue is the same thing.

Song: Poetry or verse; usually written for musical purposes.

Sonnet: A fourteen-line lyric focused on a single theme with a set rhyme scheme. They may have variations, but they are usually written in iambic pantameter.

Speaker: The speaker is the voice of a poem. The speaker is often the poet, but the speaker may also be a fictional character or even an inanimate obect or another type of nonhuman entity. Interpretation of the poem usually depends on the recognition of characteristics of the speaker.

Spoonerism: An unintentional transportation of sounds of two or more words, as in “ let me sew you to your seat,” for “let me show you to your seat.”

Stanza: A group of lines in a poem that are considered to be a unit. They often function just like paragraphs in prose. Each one states and develops a single main idea.

Stream of consciousness: a literary technique in which the author continuously records in first person narration a person’s thoughts and feelings

Structure: the way the parts of poetry, novels etc. are arramged or put together to form a whole

Style: the way in which something is said or written

Subordination: use of a dependant clause(s) in a sentence, paragraph, essay

Subplot: a subordinate literary plot, a motif

Surrealism: an artistic philosophy that emphasizes dreams, the subconscious, the absurb, and fantastic imagery

Syllogism: a form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion. All green apples are sour. This apple is green; therefore, this apple is sour.

Symbol: something that represents something else by association, resemblance or convention

Symbolism: Using one thing to represent another. Attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events or relationships. A dove symbolize peace.

Synecdoche: A more inclusive term is used for a less inclusive term or vice versa (a part represents the whole or vice versa) An example is “head” for cattle or “law” for policeman.

Synonym: A word that has a similar meaning to another word in the same language.

Synopsis: A brief statement or outline of a subject. A general view or summary.

Syntax: The way words are put together to form phrases and sentences.

Tale- a narrativive

Tall tale- Stories with events based around real situations but truth is streched often by the use of hyperbole, overstatement and understatement.

Theme: an underlying truth or pattern of meaning in a literary work

Thesis: the controlling idea in an essay, explicit or implied

Title: An identifying name given to a work of art.

Tone: A writer’s attitude towards their subject or audience. Point of view, narrative style, diction and even syntax help determine the tone or personality of the author.

Tragedy: A work describing a struggle between characters, ending in disaster.

Tragic Flaw: trait of the main character that leads to his or her downfall. (In The Great Gatsby, Gatsby’s tragic flaw was his love of Daisy.) Hamartia.

Transcendentalism: a form of romanticism that emphasizes intuition and nature as an agent of achieving a greater spiritual perception of the world. Originated by Ralph Waldo Emerson and demonstrated by Henry David ThoreauTurning Point: a decisive moment in a story; point where a very important change occurs.

Understatement: statement that is an intentional underestimate, makes an important subject seem unimportant, opposite of hyperbole.

Unity: the concept that a literary work is cohesive, complete, and revolves around a central theme.

Universality: when a theme or an idea in a story or poem applies to all generations. (The concept of love in Romeo and Juliet.)

Usage: The actual or expressed way in which people write or speeak. An example of this is the author’s word choice, diction.

Utilitarian: Stressing the value of practical over aesthetic values. The greatest good for the greatest number of people

Verse: Writing arranged according to a metrical pattern This is often light, whimsical poetry very distanr from serious poetry. An example is an actual piece of poetry written in blank or free verse.

Villain: A wicked or evil person, a scoundrel. An example of this term is Roger Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter.

Voice(tone): The atttitude portrayed to the reader by certain words or phrases the author writes. An example of this term is the suspenseful or scary tone found in a horror movie.

Whimsical: A playful, or fanciful form of poetry or diction. An example is the free-flowing, playful form in poetry.

Verisimilitude: the quality or appearance of being true or real, the quality of realism in a work.

Wit: A quality of cleverness in written or spoken expression.