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Literary Terms 1-100

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Literary Term
Definition
alliteration   repetition of initial consonants  
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allusion   reference to a well-known work  
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ambiguity   vagueness  
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antagonist   opposes the main character  
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archetype   literay sterotype  
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aside   character's thoughts out loud  
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assonance   repetition of vowel sounds  
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ballad   song-like poem; a type of lyric poem  
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blank verse   unrhymed iambic pentameter  
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characterization   the way an author reveals a character  
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direct characterization   the author tells you about the character  
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indirect characterization   you must infer the character traits  
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comedy   funny work  
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concrete poetry   poetry shaped like its theme  
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conflict   problems among characters  
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internal conflict   problems within a character  
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external cinflict   problems between characters  
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connotation   perceived meaning of a word  
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consonance   repetition of consonants at end  
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couplet   two rhymed lines of poetry  
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heroic couplet   two rhymed lines in Iambic Pentameter  
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denotation   literal meaning of a word  
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denouement   "order restored"  
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dialect   the sound of speech  
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diction   choice of words  
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drama   serious/staged work  
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epic   long narrative poem about a hero  
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epithet   nickname  
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essay   short work of non-fiction  
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euphemism   renaming something (more pleasant)  
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exposition   the beginning/introduction  
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fable   tale with a moral  
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fantasy   tale based on unrealistic elements  
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farce   comedy (belly laughs)  
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figurative language   language not to be taken literally  
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flashback   thinking back about an earlier event  
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foil   opposite characters  
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folk tale   tale particular to a culture  
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foreshadowing   a hint about something to come  
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free verse   no rhyme, no meter  
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genre   category of literature  
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haiku   3 line Japanese poem (5,7,5)  
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hyperbole   exaggeration, oversatement  
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iambic pentameter   ten syllables per line (every other stressed)  
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image/imagery   mental picture  
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irony   real differs from supposed  
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dramatic irony   audience knows more than characters  
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situational irony   situation is different from supposed  
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verbal irony   not saying what you really mean  
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jargon   specialized language  
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metaphor   comparison with no like or as  
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meter   mesurable rhythm of a poem  
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monologue   speech by one character  
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mood   feeling a work creates in the reader  
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motif   element repeated throughout the work  
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myth   story created to explain a phenomenon  
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narrator/point of view   eyes through which a story is told  
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1st   "I" point of view  
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3rd   objective "fly on the wall" narrator  
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3rd limited   limited to one persons thoughts  
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omniscient   all-seeing, all-knowing narrator  
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onomatopoeia   sound word, like "buzz"  
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oxymoron   opposite words put together for emphasis  
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paradox   contradiction  
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parallelism   same word order, same form  
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paraphrase   to put into your own words  
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parody   a funny version of something serious  
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personification   animating something inanimate  
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plot   chain of events in a story  
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poetry   literature written in verse  
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narrative poem   poem that tells a story  
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dramatic poem   poem in which the author is not the speaker  
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lyric poem   poem that has elements of a song  
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prose   not poetry; written in paragraphs  
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protagonist   the main character  
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pun   play on words  
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refrain   repeated stanze of poetry  
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repetition   repeated for emphasis  
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rhyme   words with same vowel sound  
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rhythm   beat (audible) of a work  
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satire   making fun for political change  
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Science Fiction   a story based on technology (future)  
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setting   time and place of a story  
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short story   brief work of fiction  
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simile   comparison using like or as  
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soliloquy   speech said alone on stage  
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sonnet   14 line poem  
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stanza   the paragraph of poetry  
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stereotype   generalization about person/group  
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stream of consciousness   follows thoughts as they happen  
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structure   the form of a poem/story  
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symbol   something concrete that represents soemthing abstract  
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synesthesia   stimulating more than one sense  
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syntax   word order  
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theme   the meaning of a work  
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tone   author's attitude/choice of words  
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tragedy   ends unhappily/often in death  
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understatement   not giving emphasis to a subject  
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malapropism   using the wrong big word  
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