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Literary definitions
defintions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| allegory | a literary work with two or more levels of meaning- one literal level and one or more symbolic levels. |
| alliteration | The repetition of similar consonant sounds, usually close together in a group of words. |
| allusion | a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. |
| anecdote | a brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event. |
| antagonist | Opposes the main character. sometimes called a villain. |
| apostrophe | To address a dead or absent person as if he or she were present, or to address an inanimate object as of alive. |
| appropriate rhyme | Rhyme in which the final sounds of the words are similar but not identical. |
| Archetype | A description detail, plot pater, character type, or theme that recurs in many cultures. The epic and tragic here, the villain, the down-trodden individual (underdog), loss of innocence, coming of age, |
| Aside | words spoken by a character in a play that re not intended for other characters on the stage to hear. |
| Assonance | The repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables without the repetition of similar consonant sounds. |
| Autobiography | A person's written account of his or her own life. |
| Balled | A short, musical, narrative poem. |
| Biography | A written account of a person's life written by another person. |
| blank verse | poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. |
| Characterization | The personality A character displays. The means by which an author reveals personality, either directly or indirectly. |
| Characters | Persons, animals, or things in a literary work. |
| Climax | The point of greatest emotional interest, intensity, or suspense in a narrative. |
| Comedy | Drama in which all conflicts are resolved and the characters are happy. |
| Conceit | An unusual and surprising comparison between two very different things. |
| Concrete Poetry | Poem in which the words of the poem are arranged in the shape of the subject.` |
| Conflict | A struggle between opposing forces. |
| Connotation | The emotion or association that a word or phrase may arouse. |
| Consonance | The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the end of stressed syllables, but without the repetition of similar vowel sounds. |
| Couplet | Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme. |
| Denotation | The literal or dictionary meaning of a word. |
| Denouement | Anything that happens after the resolution of the plot. Tying up loose ends. |
| Descriptive writing | Writing That gives a picture of the subject through imagery that appeals to the senses. |
| Dialogue | Conversation between two or more characters in a literary work. |
| Diction | A writer's choice of words, particularly for clarity, effectiveness, and precision. |
| Direct Characterization | The author reveals directly the character and personality traits of a character by stating Directly what he wants the reader to know. |
| Drama | A story acted out, usually on stage, by actors and actresses who that the parts of specific characters. |
| Dramatic Dialogue | A poem which contains character talking to each other. |
| Dramatic Irony | When the audience knows information that the characters on stage in a play do not know. |
| Dramatic Monologue | A poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners. The listeners mat be implied. |
| Dynamic Characters | Characters who experience some changes in personality or attitude from the beginning to the end of the story. |
| Elegy | A solemn and formal lyric poem about death. |
| Epic | A long narrative poem about the adventures of gods or of a hero. |
| Epiphany | A moment of revelation or insight in which a character recognized some truth about himself, herself, another character, or life in general. |
| Epithet | A word combination that describes and characterizes a person or thing in order to help the reader or listener recognize and remember the person or thing. |
| Essay | A piece of prose writing that deals with its subject briefly and from a personal point of view. |
| Exposition | Basic information at the beginning of a story that includes character and background information essential to the story. |
| Expository Writing | Writing that exposes information or present facts. |
| Extended Metaphor | A metaphor that is extended throughout the poem. |
| External Conflict | Characters struggles against an outside force: Man vs. Man; Man vs. Nature; Man vs. Society; Man vs. Supernatural; Man vs. Fate. |
| Fable | A brief story, usually with animal characters, that teaches a lesson or moral. |
| Falling Action | All events leading to the resolution of the central conflict. |
| Fantasy | Highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found in real life. |
| Farce | An exaggeration comedy that relies of improbable situation, physical humor, and broad wit. |
| Fiction/ Narrative Fiction | Writing from the author's imagination rather than fact. |
| Figurative Language | Language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense. It allows the reader to use imagination in understanding. |
| First person point of view | The reader sees and knows only what the narrator sees and knows. The narrator is limited to his own involvement or experience. |
| Flashback | An interruption in the sequence of events to remember something of the past. |
| Flat character | Characters who have only one or two "sides" representing only one or two personality traits. |
| Foil | A character who is contrasted with another and is a direct opposite, thus intensifying the impact of that other character. |
| Folk tale | A story composed orally and then passed from person to person by word of mouth. |
| Foreshadowing | The use or hints or clues in a narrative to suggest what action is to come. |
| Formal essay | Essay that is serious in tone, tightly organized, and generally objective. |
| framework story | A story that contains a story within a story. |
| Free Verse | Poetry that has no fixed meter or pattern and depends on natural speech rhythms. |
| Genre | Any division or type of literature: poetry, prose, and drama. |
| Haiku | Three line poem, usually about nature, with 17 syllables. |
| Hero/ Heroine | Character whose actions are inspiring or noble. often heroes struggle to overcome foes or escape difficult situations. |
| Hyperbole | a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. |
| Imagery | language that appeals to any sense or any combination of the five senses. |
| Indirect Characterization | The character and personality traits of a character are revealed through what the character says, thinks, does, and what other characters say and think about him. |
| Informal essay | Essay that rages freely over the subject and allows the reader to see into the writers personality. |
| internal conflict | Character struggles against himself. |
| internal rhyme | rhyme that occurs within a line. |
| Irony | The general name given to literal techniques that involve surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions. |
| Limerick | A five line poem. The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme and have three beats. The third and fourth lines rhyme and have two beats. the poems are usually silly and humorous. |
| Lyric poetry | Poetry that expresses a speaker's personal thoughts of feelings. |
| Main character | Most important character in a literary work. |
| Metaphor | Implied comparison between two unalike things. |
| Meter | Arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern. |
| Metonymy | Figure of speech that substitutes something closely related for the thing actually meant. |
| Minor/ Secondary character | Character who is not as important as the major or main character. |
| Monologue | Talk or reading presented by one person; uninterrupted speech delivered by one character in a play to other characters who are at least present, if not listening. |
| Mood/ Atmosphere | The feeling that a literary gives its readers; details of the setting are especially effective in establishing this. |
| Moral | A lesson taught by a literary work. usually in a fable the moral is directly stated at the end. |
| Motif | A main element, idea, theme, Detail, or image that is repeated throughout a piece of literature; usually for emphasis. |
| Myth | A traditional story of unknown authorship, usually with a historical basis, but serving explain some phenomenon of nature, the origin of man, or the customs, institutions, religious, rights of people. They usually involve the exploits of gods and hero's. |
| Narrative hook | Introduces the central conflict. |
| Narrative poetry | Poetry that tells a story. |
| narrative writing | Writing that tells that tells a story or series of events. |
| Narrator | Anyone who recounts a narrative, either in writing or orally. the author or teller of a story. |
| Non-Fiction | Prose writing that is true or at least is based on what is considered to be true events. |
| Ode | Long, formal lyric poem with a serious theme. |
| Onomatopoeia | The use of words that imitate sounds. |
| Oral tradition | The passing down of stories and legends from generation to Generation in order to preserve their existence before the written language. |
| Oxymoron | Figure of speech that fuses two contradicting or opposing ideas. |
| Parable | A short narrative designed to convey a moral truth. |
| Paradox | A statement that seems to be contradictory but actually represents a truth. |
| Parody | A work done in imitation of another, usually in order to mock it, but sometimes just in fun. |
| Personification | A figure or speech in which an animal, object, natural force, or an idea is given personality or human characteristics. |
| Persuasive Writing | Writing that is meant to influence a person to change his or her ideas or actions. |
| Plot | The sequence of related events in a literary work. |
| Poetry | writing which combines language, imagery, and sound to create a special emotional effect. |
| Point of view | The vantage point from which a narrative is told. |
| Prose | All forms of written or spoken expression without regular rhythm. |
| Protagonist | Sometime called the main character of a piece of literature. |
| Pun | Play on words. Involves a word or phrase that has two different meanings, or it may involve using two different words or phrases with the same sound. |
| Refrain | A word, phrase, line or group of lines repeated regularly, usually at the end of a stanza. |
| Repetition | A sound, word, phrase, clause, or sentence that is repeated. |
| Resolution | The final outcome of the central conflict. |
| Rhyme | when words are used in poetry that have the same sound. |
| Rhyme Scheme | The pattern of end rhymes in a poem. |
| Rhythm | A generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. |
| Raising Action | All events leading up to the climax. |
| Round Characters | Characters who are complex and have many personality traits. |
| Satire | Style of writing that uses humor to criticize, ridicule, or hold up to contempt, people, ideas, or institutions in hopes of improving them. |
| Science Fiction | Writing that tells about imaginary events that involve science or technology. Usually set in the future. |
| Setting | the physical and sometimes historical background against which the action of a narrative takes place. |
| Short Story | A brief work of fiction written in prose. |
| Simile | Comparison between two unlike things using like or as. |
| Situational Irony | An event occurs that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience. |
| soliloquy | A speech, usually lengthy, which a character,,alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts aloud. |
| Sonnet | A fo |
Created by:
abrahamcruz
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