| A | B |
|---|
| alliteration | the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of syllables as in Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end in different consonant sounds as in lime light |
| central conflict | the main struggle or problem in the plot of a poem, story or play |
| character | a person or animal who takes part in the action of a literary work |
| characterization | the act of creating or describing a character, by showing what they say, do and think, showing what other characters say about them, and by showing what physical features, dress and personality they display |
| climax | the point of highest interest and suspense in a literary work. It sometimes signals the turning point of the action in a story or play |
| coming-of-age story | a tale in which a young person makes a discovery about himself or herself or about the world. It also allows different generations to learn about each other |
| concrete poem | a poem with a shape that suggests its subject |
| dialogue | conversation involving two or more people or characters |
| epic | a long story., often told in verse, that tells of a culture's heroes and gods |
| external conflict | a struggle that takes place between a character and something outside that character such as another character, society or nature |
| first person | narrator (person telling the story) takes part in the action and refers to himself or herself using words such as I and we |
| foreshadowing | the act of hinting at events that will happen later in a literary work |
| image | language that creates a concrete representation of an object or an experience |
| imagery | the images in a poem or passage considered all together |
| inciting incident | the event that introduces the central conflict or struggle, in a poem, story, or play |
| internal conflict | a struggle that takes place inside the mind of the character |
| irony | a difference between appearance and reality, an event that contradicts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience of a literary work |
| metaphor | a figure of speech that is spoken or written about as if it were another |
| mood | the feeling or emotion that the writer creates in a literary |
| motif | anything that appears repeatedly in one or more of literature, art, or music |
| motive | a reason for acting in a certain way |
| motivation | a force that moves a character to think, feel, or behave in a certain way |
| myth | a story that explains the beginning of things or events in the natural world. These objects are explained as being caused by some supernatural force or being, often a god. |
| narrative poem | a verse that tells a story |
| novella | a work of fiction shorter than a novel but longer that a short story |
| one-dimensional character | flat character who reveals only one quality or character trait |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words or phrases like meow or beep that sound like what they name |
| personification | a figure of speech in which something not human is described as if it were human |
| repetition | more than one use of a sound, word, or group of words |
| resolution | the point in a poem, story, or play at which the central conflict or struggle ends |
| rhythm | the pattern of beats in a line poetry or prose |
| sensory details | words or phrases that describe how things look, sound, smell, taste or feel |
| setting | the time and place in which a literary work happens |
| simile | a comparison using like or as |
| stress | the amount of emphasis given to a syllable |
| symbol | a thing that stands for or represents both itself and something else |
| tag lines | a phrase like she said used in a story to tell who is speaking |
| theme | a central idea in a literary work |
| third person point of view | in a story, when the narrator does not take part in the action and tells the story using words such as he and she and avoiding the use of I and we |
| three-dimensional character | a character who seems to have all the complexities of an actual human being |
