Term | Definition |
Allusion | A figure of speech that makes brief reference to a person, event, statement, or theme found in literature, history, myths, religions, the arts. or popular culture. |
Atmosphere | The general feeling created in the reader by the work at a given point. Synonymous with Mood. |
Characters | Figures in a literary work. |
Flashback | A scene that interupts the present action of a narrative work to depict an earlier event--often an event that occurred before the opening scene or the work--via reverie, remembrance, dreaming, or some other mechanism. |
Foreshadow | The technique of introducing into a native material that prepares the reader or audience for future event, actions, or revelations. |
Imagery | Refers to 1) the actual language that a writer uses to convey a visual picture; and 2) the use of figures of speech, often to express ideas in a vivid and innovative way. |
Irony | A contradiction or incongruity between appearance or expectation and reality. The literal meaning differs from the intended meaning. |
Narration | The act of process of recounting a story or events. |
Personification | Applying human qualities to animals, abstractions, or inanimate objects. |
Plot | The sequence of events in a story chosen to engage reader's interest that include the mood, characters, setting, and conflicts occurring in a story. |
Point of View | The vantage point from which a narrative is told. |
Omniscient | An all knowing narrator. The capacity to know everything infinitely. |
A narrator not involved in the story | is telling the story in third person. |
A character in the story, telling the story | is narrating in first person. |
When the narrator speaks directly to the reader, | the story is in second person. |
Setting | The combination of place, historical time, and social environment that provides the general background for the characters and plot. |
Structure | The planned framework of a piece of literature. Examples: Poem, Sonnet, Narration, Short Story, Epic, Novel, etc. |
Style | The way a literary work is written, the way an author expresses his/her thoughts and conveys the subject matter. |
What produces the author's individual style? | The message or material that the author communicates to the reader, along with how the author chooses to present it. |
Symbol | Something that stands for or suggests something larger and more complex -- like an idea or a range of interrelated ideas, attitudes, and practices. |
Examples of a symbol: | A flag of any country or the intertwined Olympic rings. More subtle ones can be a river, colors, or a bird. |
Syntax | The arrangement -- the ordering, grouping, and placement -- of words within a sentence. |
Theme | The central idea. The statement the text makes about a subject. It can be obvious, as in a moral or lesson, or more subtle. |
Tone | The attitude of the author toward the reader or the subject matter of a literary work. It may be serious, playful, mocking, angry, commanding, apologetic, etc. |