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english literaryterm
All the literary devices i need to know
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Allusion | An implied reference to a text, event, person or idea outside the text. |
| Antagonist | A character who presents an obstacle to a protagonist achieving their goals. |
| Characterization | Direct (tells the reader), Indirect (shows the reader). |
| Climax | The moment a protagonist achieves, or fails to achieve their goal. A high point of tension in a story. |
| Colloquialism | Common language that is not used formally (‘Yo dude’). |
| Dialect | a form of language that is found in a particular region (Southern American Dialect: Ya’ll!). |
| Dramatic irony | When the audience knows something that a character does not. |
| Internal conflict | A character’s battle within their own mind (i.e. between competing goals). |
| Point of view | The perspective with which the reader is allowed to view the world of the story. |
| Foreshadowing | An event, object, or statement that suggests a future event. Often, it refers to a tragedy. |
| Genre | A category of story defined by a pattern of style, characters, images and events. |
| Imagery | Sights, sounds, tastes, sensations, odors. |
| Omniscience | A narrator’s god-like ability to describe everything in the world of the story (i.e. the character’s thoughts). |
| Mood | The feeling invoked in the reader. |
| Narrator | The storyteller. |
| Pathos | Evocation of emotions (often used in reference to anguish or melancholy). |
| Protagonist | The main character. |
| Satire | A genre of writing that seeks to criticize a subject (Think: Animal Farm). |
| Sarcasm | Ironic comment that seeks to insult (“Life’s good, you should get one”). |
| Verbal Irony | A statement perceived as having a literal meaning and a different, implied meaning (In the midst of a hurricane: “What nice weather we’re having!!”). |
| Suspense | Tension developed through withholding information. |
| Symbol | An image that connotes an idea. A visual metaphor. |
| Theme | A psychological or philosophical thesis implied by the story (Good vs. Evil, Love, Redemption, Coming of Age, etc.). |
| Tone | The attitude of the speaker conveyed through the style of writing. |
| Tragedy | A play that moves from a state of happiness to unhappiness. |
| Asyndeton | One or several conjunctions (and, or, but, etc.) are omitted (“veni, vidi, vici” – “I came, I saw, I conquered”). |
| Polysyndeton | Extra conjunctions are used in a list or series of clauses (“ran and jumped and laughed for joy”). |
| Anaphora | Repetition of word(s) at beginning of phrases/lines/sentence for sonic effect. |
| Epistrophe | Repetition of the same word(s) at the ends of phrases/lines/sentence for sonic effect. |
| Oxymoron | Paired opposites (“living dead”; creates a new concept out of contradiction). |
| Juxtaposition | Placing two things close to each other to invite comparison. |
| Paradox | Seemingly self-contradictory phrase that in fact reveals truth (“What a pity that youth must be wasted on the young.”). |
| Synecdoche | A part is used to represent the whole (“cool wheels,” “all hands on deck”). |
| Extended metaphor | Comparison developed and emphasized over many lines. |
| Allegory | Extended metaphor in which everything carries figurative (often moral) meaning. |
| Simile | a comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’. |
| Metaphor | an implied comparison. ‘The sun sailed across the sky’ compares the sun with a boat and the sky with the sea. |
| Alliteration | Repetition of initial, stressed, consonant sounds (“We saw the sea sound sing”). |
| Assonance | Repetition of vowel sounds without repeating consonants (“With its leaping and deep cool murmur”). |
| Sibilance | Repetition of ‘s’ sound. |
| Consonance | Repetition of consonant sounds at the middle and ends of words (“pitter patter”, “all’s well that ends well”). |
| Synesthesia | Blending of different senses (“Tasting of Flora and the summer green” –Keats). |
| Onomatopoeia | Words sound like what they represent (“hiss”, “murmur”, “boom of the tingling strings” for piano). |
| Cacophony | Harsh or discordant sounds. |
| Euphony | Harmonious or pleasing sound. |
| Cadence | Rhythmic pacing of language (like rhyme scheme or meter, but for pace). |
| Caesura | A pause (“Dead! One of them shot by sea in the east” – has a pause after Dead!). |
| Connotation | The implied meaning of a text. |
| Denotation | Literal meanings of a text/word. |
| Pun | Play on double-meaning words (pessimist's blood type is always B-negative). |
| Euphemism | Indirect expression to replace words or phrases considered too harsh or impolite (“he passed away”). |
| Double entendre | Word or phrase with two interpretations, with one usually risqué (bawdy hand of the dial on the prick of noon). |
| Hyperbole | Striking exaggeration (“She scorched you with her radiance” “More wronged than Job”); superlatives. |
| End-stopped line | Verse line that ends with punctuation. |
| Enjambed line | Sentence or phrase runs from one poetic line to the next without punctuation. |
| Ellipsis | The omission of superfluous words or those inferred by context; punctuation to mark the omission (…). |
| Half rhyme | Only the ending consonant sounds (“tell and toll” or “sopped and leapt”). |
| Internal rhyme | Middle of the line rhymes with the end of the rhyme. |
| Zoomorphism | Animal qualities to human/god/object/other animals (e.g. "the camera purred", the dog meowed, Spiderman). |
| Anthropomorphism and personification | Human qualities ascribed to a non-human (Fantastic Mr. Fox, all fables, Aragog in Harry Potter). |
| Apostrophe | Addressing dead, inanimate, abstract, or otherwise absent person/thing (e.g. Death). |
| Archetype | Recurrent symbol or motif across literature (good/evil) or prototype or amalgam character (hero, villain, sage). |
| Farce | Comedy aimed at making the audience laugh: exaggerated situations, physical humour, absurdity, bawdy. |
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