Literary+Terms


 * 1) Allegory a work that functions on a symbolic level
 * 2) Alliteration use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse
 * 3) Allusion a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art
 * 4) Analogy drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity in some respect
 * 5) Anaphora the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences
 * 6) Anecdote short story of an amusing or interesting event
 * 7) Antecedent a preceding occurrence or cause or event
 * 8) Antithesis an opposition or contrast of ideas that is often expressed in balanced phrases or clauses
 * 9) Aphorism a brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life
 * 10) Apostrophe a technique by which a writer addresses an inanimate object, an idea, or a person who is either dead or absent
 * 11) Argument a fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is true
 * 12) Assonance the repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables of successive words
 * 13) Asyndeton Commas used (with no conjunction) to separate a series of words. The parts are emphasized equally when the conjunction is omitted; in addition, the use of commas with no intervening conjunction speeds up the flow of the sentence. Asyndeton takes the form of X, Y, Z as opposed to X, Y, and Z. Ex: "Be one of the few, the proud, the Marines." Marine Corps Ex: "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardships, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." John F. Kennedy
 * 14) Attitude the relationship an author has toward his or her subject, and/or his or her audience
 * 15) Character person or animal that takes part in the action of a literary work
 * 16) Chiasmus Arrangement of repeated thoughts in the pattern of X Y Y X. It is often short and summarizes a main idea.
 * 17) Cliche an overused saying or idea
 * 18) Colloquialism characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
 * 19) Connotation a meaning or association suggested by a word beyond its definition
 * 20) Consonance repetition of identical consonant sounds within two or more words in close proximity, as in boost/best; it can also be seen within several compound words, such as fulfill and ping-pong
 * 21) Deduction reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect)
 * 22) Denotation the literal meaning of a word
 * 23) Dependent Clause a clause in a complex sentence that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and that functions within the sentence as a noun or adjective or adverb
 * 24) Description the purpose of this rhetorical mode is to re-create, invent, or visually present a person, place, event, or action so that the reader can picture that being described; sometimes an author engages all five senses.
 * 25) Diction the author's choice of words
 * 26) Direct Object the object that receives the direct action of the verb
 * 27) Dramatic Irony occurs when another character(s) and/or the audience know more than one or more characters on stage about what is happening
 * 28) Ethos the appeal of a text to the credibility and character of the speaker, writer, or narrator
 * 29) Euphemism an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant
 * 30) Extended Metaphor the comparison between two things is continued beyond the first point of comparison; this extends and deepens a description.
 * 31) Genre type or category of literary work (e.g., poetry, essay, short story, novel, drama)
 * 32) Homily a sermon, or a moralistic lecture
 * 33) Cacophony harsh, jarring, discordant sound; dissonance
 * 34) Hyperbole a figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor
 * 35) Independent Clause a clause in a complex sentence that can stand alone as a complete sentence
 * 36) Indirect Object the object that is the recipient or beneficiary of the action of the verb
 * 37) Invective An intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack
 * 38) Logos an appeal based on logic or reason
 * 39) Metaphor a figure of speech in which an expression is used to refer to something that it does not literally denote in order to suggest a similarity
 * 40) Metonymy symbolism; one thing is used as a substitute for another with which it is closely identified (the White House)
 * 41) Mood a prevailing emotional tone or general attitude
 * 42) Narration the act of recounting the particulars of an event in the order of time or occurrence
 * 43) Narrative consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story
 * 44) Onomatopoeia the use of words that mimic sounds. they appeal to our sense of hearing and they help bring a description to life. a string of syllables the author has made up to represent the way a sound really sounds. example: caarackle!
 * 45) Oxymoron a figure of speech consisting of two apparently contradictory terms
 * 46) Paradox a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
 * 47) Parallelism refers to the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity.
 * 48) Parody a composition that imitates somebody's style in a humorous way
 * 49) Pathos quality in drama, speech, literature, music, or events that arouses a feeling of pity or sadness
 * 50) Personification a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes
 * 51) Point of View the perspective from which the writer tells the story (1st, 2nd, 3rd person; omniscient, limited omniscient)
 * 52) Predicate tells what the subject is or does
 * 53) Predicate Adjective follows a linking verb and describes the subject
 * 54) Predicate Noun follows a linking verb and defines or renames the subject
 * 55) Prounoun/Antecedent the antecedent is the word the pronoun replaces
 * 56) Prose ordinary speech or writing without rhyme or meter; referring to speech or writing other than verse
 * 57) Repetition sounds, words, phrases, lines or stanzaz are repeated for emphasis
 * 58) Rhetoric the art or study of effective use of language for communication and persuasion
 * 59) Sarcasm from the Greek meaning "to tear flesh," ___ involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something; it may use irony as a device
 * 60) Satire language or writing that exposes follies or abuses by holding them up to ridicule
 * 61) Situational Irony an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected, the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does
 * 62) Stream-of-consciousness a narrative technique that places the reader in the mind and thought process of the narrator, no matter how random or spontaneous that may be
 * 63) Subject tells whom or what the sentence is about
 * 64) Syllogism deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises
 * 65) Symbol anything that stands for or represents something else
 * 66) Synecdoche using a part of something to represent the whole thing
 * 67) Syntax the rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language.
 * 68) Theme central idea of a work of literature
 * 69) Thesis an unproved statement put forward as a premise in an argument
 * 70) Third Person Limited point of view which represents the feelings of only one character, presenting only the actions of all remaining characters
 * 71) Tone the author's attitude toward the subject or audience, either stated or implied
 * 72) Understatement the opposite of exaggeration; it is a technique for developing irony and/or humor where one writes or says less than intended
 * 73) Verbal Irony in this type of irony, the words literally state the opposite of the writer's true meaning
 * 74) Voice can refer to two different areas of writing; one refers to the relationship between a sentence's subject and verb (active and passive); the second refers to the total "sound" of the writer's style.

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