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English 12 Lit Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Active Voice | In sentences written in active voice, the subject performs the action expressed in the verb; the subject acts. In sentences written in passive voice, the subject receives the action expressed in the verb; the subject is acted upon. |
| Allegory | A tale in prose or poetry in which characters, actions or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. As an example, characters may be named Christian, Hope, or Despair. |
| Alliteration | The repetition of sounds in nearby words involving the first consonant. E.g. I went to the sweet silent sea. |
| Allusion | A reference to a literary or historical person, place, event, or to another literary work or passage. |
| Analogy | A comparison between things intended to show the similarities between them. |
| Antagonist | A force or person opposing the protagonist. An antagonist may also be a rival. |
| Anti-Climax | A disappointing conclusion. |
| Antithesis | The balance of two contrasting ideas, sentences, words or phrases. The most famous example is Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism: “To err is human, to forgive divine.” |
| Apostrophe | To directly address an abstract quality or a nonexistent person as though it were present. Often the word “O” precedes as in “O Canada”. |
| Argumentative Essay | An assertive, brief composition which attempts to prove a thesis. |
| Anecdotal Evidence | Evidence based on personal experience that has not been tested. |
| Archaic Language | A word or a style of language no longer in everyday use but sometimes used to impart an old-fashioned flavour. |
| Aside | A remark, usually in a play, that is intended to be heard by the audience but is supposed to be unheard by the other characters. |
| Assonance | The repetition of vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u) in a line or series of lines in poetry. E.g. Our echoes grow for ever and ever. |
| Atmosphere | The mood or feeling of a literary work. Atmosphere is often developed through setting. |
| Audience | The spectators, listeners or readers of an event, work of literature, or program. |
| Autobiography | A person’s account of his or her life (written by the person). |
| Ballad | A story told in verse, often meant to be sung. |
| Ballad Stanza | A quatrain, (a four line stanza). |
| Bias | An inclination or prejudice against a person, group or idea; a concentration on or interest in one particular area or subject. |
| Biography | A detailed account of a person’s life, written by another person. |
| Blank Verse | Unrhymed iambic pentameter (a light beat followed by a heavy beat, five times per line). - / - / - / - / - / |
| Cacophony | The use of harsh and unmusical sounds: e.g. trudge, sludge. |
| Caricature | The uses of exaggeration or distortion to make a person or public figure appear comic or ridiculous. |
| Case Study | A study of a single event or instance. |
| Catastrophe | The ending or denouement of a drama. Often a catastrophe is tragic and causes great suffering or damage. |
| Cause and Effect | An organizational pattern in writing in which the result (effect) is directly related to a cause (often an event). Causes always come first. |
| Character | The qualities distinctive to an individual; the distinctive nature of something. |
| Characterization | The means by which a writer reveals the qualities of a character. |
| Character Foil | A person or thing that contrasts strongly with another and therefore makes the other's qualities more obvious. |
| Chorus | A part of a poem which is repeated. |
| Chronological Order | The order of a literary work based on time, on what happened first, second etc. |
| Cliché | A phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought. |
| Climactic Order | An order in a story or essay in which a series of events, thoughts or statements is arranged in the order of increasing importance with the climax at the end. |
| Climax | The point of greatest intensity or suspense in a narrative. It is the point when the protagonist is about to win or lose all. |
| Colloquialism | A word or phrase that is not formal and that is used in ordinary or familiar conversation. |
| Colloquial Language | The use of familiar or conversational language. |
| Comedy | In general, a literary work that ends happily. It is distinct from tragedy, which is generally concerned with unhappy or disastrous endings. |
| Comic Relief | Humorous content in a dramatic or literary work intended to offset more serious episodes. |
| Compare and Contrast | To find similarities and differences. |
| Comparison | A consideration or estimate of the similarities or dissimilarities between two things or people. |
| Conflict | A struggle between two opposing forces or characters in a work of literature. |
| Connotation | The feelings suggested by a word or phrase. It is the opposite of denotation which is the literal meaning of a word or phrase. In connotation the maple leaf may be symbolic of Canada; in denotation it literally is a leaf from the maple tree. |
| Consonance | The repetition of similar consonant sounds in a group of words. Alliteration is a form of consonance; e.g. I sometimes was sent overseas to the sweet silent sea. |
| Contrast | Compare in such a way as to emphasize differences. e.g. She was tall and contrasted to her older sister who was short. |
| Couplet | consecutive lines of poetry which rhyme. |
| Denotation | The literal or dictionary meaning of a word. |
| Denouement | The outcome of a plot in which all the conflict and mystery is explained or concluded. |
| Descriptive Essay | An essay that portrays people, places, things, moments and theories with enough vivid detail to help the reader create a mental picture of what is being written about. |
| Dialect | A form of language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group. |
| Dialogue | The words in a conversation. |
| Diction | The writer’s choice of words, particularly for clarity and precision. |
| Didactic | A form of poetry which has as its primary intention the teaching of some lesson or moral or the making of some critical statement about society. |
| Dilemma | A difficult situation in which a choice has to be made between two or more undesirable alternatives. |
| Dissonance | A combination of discordant or harsh sounds. |
| Drama | A play for theatre, radio, or television. |
| Dramatic Irony | A situation where a reader or an audience becomes aware of something that a character in the story or play does not know. The words and actions of the characters therefore take on a different meaning for the audience or reader. |
| Dramatic Monologue | A form of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one listener or more whose reply is not given. |
| Dramatic Character | A character that undergoes a change during the course of the narrative be it from good to bad, bad to good, bad to worse etc. |
| Editorial | An article expressing the editor’s opinion. |
| Elegy | A poem of mourning, usually over the death of an individual. |
| Epic | A long narrative poem telling about the deeds of a great hero. |
| Epiphany | A moment of significant illumination or insight. |
| Epigram | A short, witty statement. E.g. "Little strokes/Fell great oaks." - Benjamin Franklin, or "Candy/Is dandy/But liquor/Is quicker." |
| Epitaph | An inscription on a gravestone or a short poem written in memory of someone who has died. |
| Euphemism | A mild expression or indirect word substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt. |
| Euphony | Sounds which are pleasing to the ear. |
| Extended Metaphor | A metaphor (a comparison of two things that are dissimilar) which is extended throughout a piece of literature. |
| External Conflict | The conflict a character undergoes between other characters, nature, or fate. |
| Fable | A brief story told to present a moral or practical lesson. |
| Falling Action | The action in a narrative which occurs after the climax. |
| Fantasy | Imaginative fiction that involves magic and adventure, especially in a setting other that the real world. |
| Farce | A type of comedy based on ridiculous situations, often with stereotyped characters. |
| Figurative Language | Language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense. Figurative language includes such figures of speech as hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, oxymoron, personification and simile. |
| First Person POV | In the first person point of view the story is told by one of the characters in his or her own words using “I.” |
| Flashback | A scene in a narrative that interrupts the action to show an event that happened earlier. |
| Flat Character | A flat character is presented only in outline without much individualizing detail, and so can readily be described in a single phrase or sentence. |
| Foil | A person or thing that contrasts strongly with another and therefore makes the other's qualities more obvious. |
| Foreshadowing | In a narrative, the use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later. |
| Formal Language | Language in writing or speaking characterized by conservative and/or technical words. |
| Free Verse | Verse that has either no metrical pattern or an irregular pattern. |
| Genre | A style or category such as poetry, drama, short story or essay. |
| Hero | A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. |
| Hyperbole | A figure of speech using exaggeration, or overstatement, for special effect. |
| Iambic Pentameter | A poetic line consisting of five verse feet with each foot an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. |
| Idiom | A form of expression or group of words natural to a language, person, or group of people; as in over the moon or see the light. |
| Imagery | Words or phrases that create pictures or images in the reader’s mind as in D.H. Lawrence’s poem Snake: “In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-tree” |
| Internal Conflict | The conflict a character has within him or herself. |
| Internal Rhyme | Rhyme which occurs within a line: “What is the reason for each season?” |
| Irony | A contrast between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected and what actually happens; an interesting twist in meaning. |
| Jargon | Special words or expressions used by a particular profession or group. |
| Juxtaposition | Purposely placing close together to contrast such as placing black and white photos beside colour photos, or a dark character beside a hero. |
| Legend | A traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but not authenticated. |
| Limited Omniscient | The third-person narrator tells the story from only one character’s point of view. In omniscient the narrator can comment on any or all of the characters. |
| Literal Language | Taking words in their most basic sense without metaphor or exaggeration. |
| Lyric | A poem, usually a short one, which expresses a speaker’s personal thoughts or feelings. Originally the lyric was a poem to be sung; many contemporary lyrics have retained this melodic quality. The elegy, ode, and sonnet are all forms of the lyric. |
| Melodrama | A drama that has stereotyped characters, exaggerated emotions, and a conflict that pits an all-good hero or heroine against an all-evil villain. |
| Metaphor | A figure of speech that makes a direct comparison between two things that are basically dissimilar. The simile “George is like a mad dog when angry” is a comparison using like; the same idea in a metaphor is “George is a mad dog when angry.” |
| Metre | A generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. |
| Metonymy | A figure of speech in which something very closely associated with a thing is used to stand for or suggest the thing itself. |
| Monologue | A speech by one actor in a play or film. |
| Mood | The atmosphere or pervading tone of a piece of literature, be it sullen, mysterious, or angry. |
| Mystery | A profound secret; something wholly unknown, or something kept cautiously concealed and therefore exciting curiosity or wonder; something which has not been or cannot be explain. |
| Myth | A story, often about immortals and sometimes connected with religious rituals, intended to give meaning to the mysteries of the world. |
| Narrative | A piece of literature that tells a story. |
| Objective Language | Language which does not attempt to influence by adding personal feelings or opinions. Objective language only considers the facts. |
| Objective POV | The author tells the story, in the third person, but avoids including any thoughts or feelings and focuses only on what the characters say or do. |
| Octave | An eight-line poem or stanza. The octave can also refer to the first eight lines of an Italian sonnet. |
| Ode | A complex and often lengthy lyric poem, written in a dignified formal style on some serious or lofty subject. Odes are often written for a special occasion or to honour a person or event. |
| Omniscient POV | The narrative is written in the third person point of view and the thoughts and feelings of more than one character are given. |
| Onomatopoeia | The use of words whose sounds seem to resemble the sounds they describe, such as “buzz,” “bang,” “hiss.” |
| Oxymoron | A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory ideas or terms, such as “sweet sorrow,” or “wise fool.” |
| Paradox | A situation or a statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, may not. |
| Parallelism | The use of phrases, clauses, or sentences that are similar or complementary in structure or in meaning. |
| Parody | A humorous imitation of a work of literature, art, or music – a spoof. |
| Passive Voice | In sentences written in passive voice, the subject receives the action expressed in the verb; the subject is acted upon. In sentences written in active voice, the subject performs the action expressed in the verb; the subject acts. |
| Pastoral | A type of poem that deals in an idealized way with shepherds and rustic life. |
| Personification | A figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human qualities. |
| Plot | The sequence of events in a narrative. |
| POV | The vantage point from which a narrative is told. There are two basic points of view: first person and third person (omniscient). |
| Protagonist | The central character of a drama, short story, or narrative poem. |
| Purpose | The reason for which something is done or created. The purpose is the writer’s intention. |
| Pun | The use of a word or phrase to suggest two or more meanings at the same time. Puns are generally humorous. |
| Quatrain | A stanza of four lines, usually with alternating rhymes. |
| Refrain | A word, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated regularly in a poem, usually at the end of each stanza. |
| Repetition | The action of repeating something that has already been said or written. |
| Rhetorical Question | A question which is asked in order to produce an effect or to make a statement rather than to elicit a response. |
| Rhyme | The repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases that appear close to each other in a poem. |
| Rhyme Scheme | A rhyme scheme is a pattern of rhymes in a poem. |
| Rhythm | The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern. Rhythm is most apparent in poetry, though it is a part of all good writing. |
| Rising Action | The events of a dramatic or narrative plot which go before the climax. |
| Round Character | A round character is a complex and fully realized individual, and therefore is difficult to describe in one or two sentences. |
| Sarcasm | The use of irony to mock or convey contempt. |
| Satire | The literary art of diminishing a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward it attitudes of amusement, contempt, or scorn. |
| Sestet | The last six lines of an Italian sonnet. The first eight lines in an Italian sonnet (the octave) often contain a problem, the last six (the sestet) contain a solution or resolution. |
| Setting | The time and place in which the events in a short story, novel, play or narrative poem occur. |
| Simile | A comparison of two things through the use of a specific word of comparison, such as like or as. |
| Soliloquy | In drama, an extended speech delivered by a character alone onstage. |
| Sonnet | A fourteen line lyric poem. |
| Stream of Consciousness | The style of writing that attempts to imitate the natural flow of a character’s thoughts, feelings, reflections, memories, and mental images. |
| Static Character | A static character does not change. A static character is the opposite of a dynamic character, who does change. |
| Stereotype | A commonplace type or character that appears so often in literature that his or her nature is immediately familiar to the reader. |
| Style | An author’s characteristic way of writing, determined by the choice of words, the arrangement of words in sentences, and the relationship of the sentences to one another. |
| Subjective | Language based on emotion, feeling or opinion; the opposite of objective language which is not influenced by emotion and feeling. |
| Suspense | The quality of a story or drama that makes the reader uncertain or tense about the outcome of event. Suspense makes the readers ask, “What will happen next?” |
| Symbolism | The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. |
| Synecdoche | A figure of speech that substitutes a part for a whole. Canada won by a goal means the Canadian hockey team won. |
| Theme | The general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express in a literary work. |
| Thesis | A thesis is a controlling idea or proposition in a literary work. |
| Third Person POV | In the third person (or omniscient) point of view the author can describe and comment on all the characters inner thoughts and feelings. |
| Tone | The attitude a writer takes toward his or her subject, characters, or audience. |
| Tragedy | In general, a literary work in which the protagonist meets an unhappy or disastrous end. |
| Understatement | The presentation of something as being smaller or less good or important than it really is. |
| Voice | The distinctive tone of style of a work or author. |
| Wit | The capacity for inventive thought and quick, keen understanding often with the intent of humour. Cleverness. |
Created by:
jmcgaw
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