| A | B |
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| characterization | The author's expression of a character's personality through the use of action, dialogue, thought, or commentary by the author or another character. |
| conflict | The struggle within the story. Character divided against self, character against character, character against society, character against nature, character against God. Without it, there is no story. |
| dialogue | Vocal exchange between two or more characters. One of the ways in which plot, character, action, etc. are developed. |
| imagery | The collection of images within a literary work. Used to evoke atmosphere, mood, tension. For example, images of crowded, steaming sidewalks flanking streets choked with lines of shimmering, smoking cars suggests oppressive heat and all the psychological tensions that go with it. |
| point of view | The vantage point from which the author presents action of the story. Who is telling the story? An all-knowing author? A voice limited to the views of one character? The voice and thoughts of one character? Does the author change point of view in the story? Why? Point of view is often considered the technical aspect of fiction which leads the critic most readily into the problems and meanings of the story. |
| symbol | Related to imagery. It is something which is itself yet stands for or means something else. It tends to be more singular, a bit more fixed than imagery. For example, in Lessing's "A Woman on a Roof," the brief red sun suit seems to symbolize the woman's freedom and independence from externally imposed standards of behavior. |
| tone | Suggests an attitude toward the subject which is communicated by the words the author chooses. Part of the range of tone includes playful, somber, serious, casual, formal, ironic. Important because it designates the mood and effect of a work. |
| allegory | a story where people, things, and actions represent an idea or generalization about life; strong moral lesson usually. |
| alliteration | the repetition of initial consonant sounds in words. |
| allusion | a reference in literature to a familiar person, place, thing, or event. |
| archetype | an image, a descriptive detail, a plot pattern, or a character type that occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore, and is believed to evoke profound emotions. |
| argumentation | a speech or writing intended to convince by establishing truth. |
| aside | a dramatic device where a character speaks his/her thoughts aloud; meant to be heard by the audience only. |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds without the repetition of consonants. Ex: lake and fake. |
| ballad | a poem in a verse form that tells a story. |
| character | person who takes part in the action of a story, a novel, or drama; can be animals, imaginary creatures, or aliens. |
| characterization | the method a writer uses to develop characters. |
| chorus | in ancient Greece, a group of singers and dancers who participated in religious festivals and dramatic performances. In poetry, the refrain. |
| cliche | a trite or stereotyped phrase or expression. |
| climax | the high or turning point in a story. |
| conflict | the struggle between opposing forces that moves the plot forward. |
| connotation | the attitudes and feelings associated with a word. |
| consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds at the end of words. Ex: lonely afternoon. ("n" in both words) |
| denotation | the literal or dictionary definition of a word |
| description | process a writer uses to create a picture of a scene. |
| dialect | a particular variety of language spoken in one place by a distinct group of people. |
| dialogue | conversation between two or more people |
| diction | an author's choice of words based on their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. |
| digraph | 2 successive letters that make a single sound. Ex: ea in bread or ng in sing. |
| dipthong | speech cound beginning with 1 vowel sound and moving to another vowel sound within the same syllable. Ex: oy in boy |
| discourse | formal, extended expression of thought on a subject, either spoken or written. |
| epic | long narrative that tells of the deeds and adventures of a hero/heroine. |
| epigraph | a quotation on the title page of a book, or a motto heading a section of work, suggesting what the theme or central idea will be. |
| epithet | an adjective or phrase used to express the characteristic of a person or thing in poetry. Ex: rosy-fingered dawn. |
| exposition | writing intended to make clear or explain something using 1 or more of the following methods: identification, definition, classification, illustration, comparison, and analysis. Ex: in a novel, this helps the reader to understand the background in which the work is set. |
| falling action | the action that ossurs after the climax. Sometimes called the resolution or denouement. |
| figurative language | language that communicates ideas beyond the ordinary or literal meaning of the words. |
| figure of speech | literary device used to create special effect or feeling by making some type of comparison. Ex: antithesis, hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, personification, simile, and understatement. |
| folktale | a short narrative handed down through oral tradition; usually has cumulative authorship. |
| foreshadowing | a writer's use of hints or clues to indicate events that will occur in a story. |
| genre | a category of literature. |
| euphony | Soothing pleasant sounds. |
| flashback | An action that interrupts to show an event that happened at an earlier time, which is necessary to better understanding. |
| hyperbole | An exaggeration or overstatement |
| image | Language that evokes one or all of the five senses: hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and touching. |
| internal rhyme | Rhyming within a line |
| inversion | Changing the usual order of words; found mostly in older classical poets. |
| irony | implied discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. Verbal: (author says one thing and means something else), dramatic: (audience perceives something the character does not know), ______ of situation (discrepancy between the expected result and actual results) |
| metaphor | Two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as. |
| metonymy | Substituting one word for another word closely associated with it. Ex: Great Britain or sceptered isle |
| motif | A recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work; a dominant theme or central idea. |
| oxymoron | Putting two contradictory words together. Ex: military intelligence, good grief, soft rock |
| onomatopoeia | A word imitating the sound it represents. |
| paradox | Reveals a kind of truth, which at first seems contradictory. Ex: Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. |
| personification | Giving human qualities to animals or objects. |
| portmanteau | The combination of two or more words to create a new word. |
| rhyme scheme | Rhymed words at the ends of lines. |
| rhyme | A pattern of words that contain similar sounds. |
| satire | A literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness. |
| setting | Determining TIME and PLACE in fiction. |
| simile | The comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as." |
| stanza | Unified group of lines in poetry. |
| synecdoche | Using a part to represent the whole. |
| theme | The general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express. |
| verse | A line of poetry |
| blank verse | Successive lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter. |
