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Literary Terms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| plot | the sequence of major events of a narrative or dramatic work |
| allegory | a literary work in which nearly all of the characters, events, settings, and other literal elements of the story have a second, symbolic meaning |
| theme | an underlying or emerging abstract idea or concept explored in a literary work. One work may explore multiple themes |
| thematic statement | a complete sentence that expresses a theme |
| symbol | anything that is meant to represent or evoke something else, especially a concrete object meant to represent an intangible idea |
| motif | the technique of using repetition of an idea, event, image, phrase, or symbol throughout a literary work to illuminate and expand the major themes |
| conflict | the central struggle that drives the plot of a story or, more generally, any struggle between opposing forces in a story |
| foreshadowing | a detail in a literary work that hints at events that will occur later, often to create suspense or expectation |
| tone | In literature, the attitude of a writer, narrator, or speaker toward the subject matter, as expressed by style, word choice, or demeanor |
| mood | the emotional atmosphere of a work of literature, as evoked by setting, imagery, word choice, style, and tone |
| direct characterization | describing a character through a straightforward description |
| indirect characterization | character description through a character's words, actions, thoughts, and interactions |
| static character | a character who remains the same emotionally/philosophically throughout the events of the story |
| dynamic character | a character who changes emotionally/ philosophically throughout the events of the story |
| round character | a main character who has a well-rounded description |
| flat character | a minor character who is not given much description |
| simile | a figure of speech in which two objects are directly compared, usually including either “like” or “as” in the comparison |
| metaphor | a figure of speech that features a comparison between two disparate things that are not literally the same |
| personification | a type of metaphor in which human attributes are assigned to inanimate objects or abstract ideas |
| imagery | descriptive or figurative language that attempts to evoke mental images by appealing to the reader’s senses of sight, sound, smell, texture, or taste |
| allusion | an indirect reference to something outside the text, usually a person, place, thing, or idea that is generally familiar to the intended |
| paradox | a provocative statement that contradicts itself yet is typically true in some sense |
| anaphora | the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of a series of sentences or clauses, usually creating a rhythmic effect |
| synecdoche | a specific type of metonymy in which a part of something is meant to signify the whole, or the whole is meant to stand for an individual part |
| metonymy | a figure of speech in which the name of one object or concept is substituted for the name of something else that is closely related to it |
| oxymoron | a figure of speech linking two opposite or contradictory words or ideas together to form a neat paradox |
| alliteration | the repetition of an initial consonant sound in words that are close together, such as within a single sentence or line of poetry |
| SOAPSTone | an acronym used to represent the parts of a rhetorical triangle; speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, subject, and tone |
| rhetoric | any form of discourse designed to persuade, typically by appealing to ethics, logic, or emotion |
| ethos | the ethical appeal, means to convince an audience of the author's credibility or character |
| pathos | the emotional appeal, means to persuade an audience by appealing to their emotions |
| logos | the appeal to logic, means to convince an audience by use of logic or reason |
Created by:
shmonge1
Popular English Vocabulary sets