Literary Terms

The following is a list of commonly used literary terms and their definition.

ALLEGORY:

	an extended metaphor in which objects or persons represent meanings outside the story.
	in a work that has two levels of meaning: literal and symbolic; an allegory draws parallels between its literal (actual) subject or story and its implied or symbolized subject or story.

ALLITERATION:

use of the same sound or letter at the beginning of two consecutive words

ALLUSION:

a reference to a famous historical or literary event or figure

ANTAGONIST:

a character who stands opposed to the protagonist

ANTI-HERO

	- a misfit or rebel "loser"
	- in conflict with established institutions of society (e.g. family religion, school and government)
	- ironically, anti-hero's values are often more meaningful than those of more "acceptable" members of society.

ARCHETYPE:

	- a primordial/primitive symbol, usually an image or patter which recurs often enough in literature to reflect all of human experience. Archetypes evoke profound emotions in readers because they awaken a primordial image in the unconscious memory. Archetypes are shaped by the repeated experiences of our ancestors and are expressed in dreams, myths and literature.
	- a universal symbol which evokes similar responses in all humans.

ASSONANCE:

the similarity of vowel sounds e.g. "in silence deep the legions stream"

ATMOSPHERE:

the tone or mood of a work.

Blank Verse:

unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter rhythm, used in long poems and in Shakespeare's writing

CACOPHONY:

harsh, discordant sound, e.g. "coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge"

CHARACTERIZATION:

	techniques or methods author uses to describe a character. e.g.:
	what they say
	what they do
	how they look
	how they speak
	what other characters say about them
	how other characters reveal their nature through acting as "foils" (contrasts)

CLICHÉ:

a worn-out and overused expression.

CLIMAX:

highest point of action and emotion.

COLLOQUIAL:

informal language used in conversation.

CONFLICT:

	the opposition of two forces:
	man versus self (internal, psychological conflicts)
	man versus man (external conflict)
	man versus nature or divine

CONTRAST:

differences between two or more elements

DICTION

style and type of language

EUPHONY:

the sweetness of sound.

FIGURES OF SPEECH:

departure from the normal order to reveal similarities in otherwise dissimilar things through the use of similes, metaphors, personification... ect.

GENRE:

type of writing: science fiction, mystery, tragedy, autobiography, biography, allegory, fable, magic realism, myth, psychological fictions, political fictions, romance, satire and comedy.

IMAGE:

	a literal, concrete representation of a sensory experience or of and object that can be known by the physical senses; a word picture.
	a figurative representation of a sensory experience.

IMAGERY:

collection of images or figures of speech including symbols, similes and metaphors.

IMITATIVE HARMONY:

use of words whose sounds reflect their meaning

IRONY:

contrast between expectations and reality, or between appearance and reality

JUXTAPOSITION:

placing of two unlike elements side by side

METAPHOR:

a comparison of two unlike things, in which one thing is said to be another; literally false, but poetically true.

MOOD:

emotional environment of the work.

MOTIF:

a reference which recurs in literature.

OXYMORON:

two apparently different terms which express a deep truth.

PARADOX:

a statement that seems illogical but may be true.

PARALLELISM (PARALLEL STRUCTURE):

	similar/parallel ideas set in similar/parallel format:
	e.g.: He is kind, loving, bright, and ambitious. (all adjectives.)

PATHETIC FALLACY:

the reflection in nature of human or political events.

PERSONIFICATION:

the attribution of human qualities to objects, animals, or ideas.

POINT OF VIEW:

	vantage point from which the author presents the story.
	e.g. first or third person (omniscient) narration

PROSE:

language without the meter of poetry

PROTAGONIST:

main character/hero of the work; rival of antagonist

PUN:

a play on words. Two words with similar sounds but different meanings.

RHYTHM:

the flow of the work as created by alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.

SARCASM:

scornful, contemptuous criticism

SATIRE:

humorous criticism meant to improve an individual or society be exposing its weakness.

SIMILE:

a comparison in which one things is said to be "like" or "as" another thing.

SYMBOL:

something which represents something else.

SYNAESTHESIA:

evoking of two or more sense by stimulating one sense. The description of one kind of sensation in terms of another; the description of sound in terms of color.

THEME:

message, moral, view of human nature expressed in the story.

TONE:

attitude of author towards the subject and towards the audience.

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