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Lit Terms Stack #1
Literary Terminology: Ways of Adding Deeper Meaning
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Allusion | a reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture |
| Analogy | a comparison of two different things which are similar in some way |
| Archetype | a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to appeal in a universal way to the unconscious in order to evoke strong responses |
| Connective tissue | those elements that help create coherence in a written piece |
| Connotation | the set of associations that occur to people when they hear or read a particular word |
| Denotation | a word’s dictionary meaning, independent of other associations that a word calls up |
| Diction | word choice (vocabulary used, appropriateness of the words, vividness of language, etc.) |
| Figure of speech | a device used to produce figurative language. Many compare dissimilar things |
| Figurative language | writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid |
| Apostrophe | a figure of speech in which someone, some abstract quality, or nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present |
| Conceit | a fanciful, particularly clever extended metaphor which creates a parallel between strikingly dissimilar things |
| Epithet | an adjective used to point out a characteristic of a person or thing such as “swift-footed Achilles” or “rosy-fingered dawn” |
| Extended metaphor | a metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work |
| Hyperbole | a deliberately exaggerated statement (“I could eat a horse!” “I could sleep all day!”) |
| Kenning | a figurative, usually compound expression used in place of a name or noun, especially in Old English and Old Norse poetry; for example, storm of swords as a kenning for battle or whale road as a kenning for ocean |
| Litotes | a form of understatement in which a thing is affirmed by stating the negative of its opposite. To express “good” by saying “not bad”. |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else; states a comparison directly |
| Metonymy | substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it (“The pen is mightier than the sword.”) |
| Onomatopoeia | the use of words that imitate sounds |
| Oxymoron | from the Greek for “pointedly foolish,” a figure of speech wherein the author groups apparently contradictory terms to suggest a paradox (“jumbo shrimp” and “cruel kindness”) |
| Pathetic fallacy | the attribution of human emotions or characteristics to inanimate objects or to nature; for example, angry clouds; a cruel wind. |
| Personification | a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics (also anthropomorphism) |
| Simile | a figure of speech in which “like” or “as” is used to make a comparison between two basically unlike subjects |
| Synecdoche | a device in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part. To say “threads” for “clothes” or “wheels” for “car” |
| Trope | A figure of speech using words in nonliteral ways, such as a metaphor |
| Understatement | a common figure of speech in which the literal sense of what is said falls detectably short of the magnitude of what is being talked about. |
| Image | a word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the five senses |
| Imagery | the sensory details or figurative language used to describe, arouse emotion, or represent abstractions (to create vivid images) |
| Irony | a literary technique that involves differences between appearance and reality, expectation and result, or meaning and intention |
| Verbal irony | words that are used to suggest the opposite of what is meant |
| Dramatic irony | a contradiction exists between what a character thinks and what the audience knows to be true |
| Situational irony | an event occurs that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience |
| Juxtaposition | placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast |
| Motif | the repetition or variations of an image or idea in a work used to develop theme or characters; a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in the same or various works |
| Setting | the time, place, and environment in which action takes place |
| Atmosphere | the prevailing tone or mood of a literary work, particularly—but not exclusively—when that mood is established in part by setting or landscape |
| Mood | also “atmosphere”; the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage; mood is often suggested by descriptive details |
| Suspense | a feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a story |
| Symbol | the use of one object, which is something in itself, to represent or stand for something else |
| Controlling image | an image or metaphor that runs throughout and determines the form or nature of a literary work |
| Conventional symbols | have been invested with meaning by a group (religious symbols, national symbols, or group symbols) |
| Literary symbols | the whale in Moby-Dick and the jungle in Heart of Darkness) |
| Natural symbols | use objects an occurrences from nature to represent ideas commonly associated with them (dawn as new beginning, tree as knowledge, rose as love) |
| Objective correlative | a set of objects, situations, a chain of events that serves as the formula for a specific emotion; in other words, the emotion originates in the combination of these phenomena when they appear together |
| Theme | a central message or insight into life revealed through a literary work which can be stated directly or implied |
Created by:
englishteach
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