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Literary Notecards
Literary Terms for Language Arts
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Not attached to anything specific or concrete |
| Active Voice | Verb that is an action |
| Ad Hominiem | Argument attacking one's character |
| Aesthetic | Relating to beauty or to a branch of philosophy concerning beauty |
| Allegory | A story that has a symbolic meaning |
| Alliteration | Repetition of similar sounds in the beginning of words |
| Allusion | A reference to something else |
| Anachronism | Something in a story that doesn't fit in the setting |
| Anadiplosis | A word that ends a sentence and begins the next |
| Analogy | A comparison between unlike objects |
| Anaphora | Repetition of a word of phrase at the beginning of sentences |
| Antagonist | The opposing person or force to the protagonist |
| Anecdote | A story within a story |
| Antecedent | Noun replaced by a pronoun |
| Antihero | A protagonist that isn't good |
| Antimetabole | Reversing words in repeated phrases |
| Antithesis | Parallelism with contradictory ideas |
| aporia | An expression of doubt by a speaker |
| Aposiopesis | A sudden break off of speech |
| Apostrophe | Adressing a nonliving thing |
| Appeals | Methods people use to gain favor-They can be Emotional, Logical, or Ethical |
| Archetype | Something that shows up in literature many times |
| Assonance | Repetition of vowel sounds in words |
| Asyndeton | Lacking a conjunction |
| Bathos | A sudden change of tone from lighthearted to sentiment |
| Bildungsroman | A book about the growth of a protagonist |
| Caricature | Exaggeration of trait |
| Cacophony | A bunch of harsh sounding words |
| Catharsis | A change of one's emotions through art |
| Chiasmus | A change in order of words, but not syntax |
| Climax | The most intense moment in a story |
| Cliche | Expressions that are used so much they lose meaning |
| Colloquialism | A slang expression |
| Comic Relief | Humor that breaks up tension |
| Conceit | A big metaphor |
| Conflict | The problem in the story-Can be internal or external |
| Connotation | The emotional meaning of a word |
| Consonance | The repetition of consonant sounds |
| Denotation | The definition of a loan |
| Dues Ex Machina | When an improbable event saves a character |
| Diction | Word choice |
| Didactic | Used for educating |
| Ellipses | When a word or phrase is omitted, but the meaning is still understood |
| Epanalepsis | Repetition of a word at the beginning and the end of a sentence |
| Epigraph | Something that gives the reader an idea about the context |
| Epithet | Something that describes a distinguishing trait of a person or thing |
| Epiphany | A powerful realization |
| Epistolary | Story telling through messages |
| Epistrophe | Repetition of words at the end of a sentence |
| Epizeuxis | A word used twice in a row |
| Euphemism | A nice way of saying something |
| Euphony | Pleasent word strung together |
| Eulogy | Statement of praise |
| Foil | A character that contrasts another |
| Foreshadow | Hints that tell what will happen |
| Hamartia | The biggest flaw of a hero |
| Hyperbole | An overstatement |
| Idioms | An oddly worded thing that is understood |
| Imagery | Appeals to senses |
| In Media Res | When a book doesn't start at the beginning of the story |
| Irony | A contrast between what is expected and what happens-can be dramatic, cosmic, situational, or verbal |
| Juxtaposition | Unexpected combinations of words strung together |
| Legend | A story that might not be true |
| Lilotes | An understatement using the negation of the opposite |
| Metaphor | Comparing two things without the use of "like" or "as" |
| Metonymy | Using a part to represent the whole |
| Mood | The feeling a reader has |
| Motif | A central idea of a story |
| Myth | A story about how something originated |
| Onomatopoeia | Words that are used to create sounds |
| Oxymoron | Something that is contradictory |
| Paradox | A contradiction that has truth |
| Paralilpsis | Claiming not to mention something but actually saying it |
| Parallelism | Use of words to suggest a comparison |
| Passive Voice | Verbs that don't show action |
| Personification | Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things |
| Point of View | The perspective a story is told from |
| Polysyndeton | Use of conjunctions instead of commas |
| Propaganda | Things used to support a cause |
| Protagonist | The main character |
| Pun | A play on words that is very punny |
| Rhetoric | Persuasion |
| Rhetorical Question | A quesiton that isn't supposed to be answered |
| Satire | A story that ridicules society |
| Simile | Comparison with the words "like" or "as" |
| Syllepsis | When one word modifies words in different ways |
| Syllogism | A logical argument that is used to prove a point |
| Synaesthesia | One type of sensory to describe an experience |
| Synecdoche | When a part is used to represent a whole |
| Syntax | The choice of words in a sentence |
| Tautology | Repetitive repetition |
| Tone | The author's attitude |
| Understatement | Putting less emphasis on something than deserved |
Created by:
frostymatt1
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