| A | B |
|---|
| Allegory | story with a deeper meaning |
| Allusion | familiar reference |
| Analogy | comparison |
| Anecdote | short, humorous story |
| Antagonist | hero |
| Autobiography | author’s account of his/her own life |
| Biography | account of one’s life |
| Caricature | exaggerated imitation of one’s features/ways |
| Character sketch | short writing that displays a character |
| Characterization | ways an author reveals a character |
| Climax | most intense/changing point |
| Comedy | ends on a happy note |
| Conflict | problem |
| Conflict types | man vs. man; man vs. society; man vs. self; man vs. nature; man vs. fate |
| Content | circumstances surrounding a situation |
| Denouement | final resolution |
| Dialogue | conversation |
| Diction | author’s choice of words |
| Diction types | archaic; colloquialism; jargon; profanity; slang; vulgarity |
| Didactic | religious/moral statement |
| Drama | literature meant to be seen, not read |
| Dramatic monologue | character speaks as if another person were present |
| Empathy | understanding a character |
| Epic | long, narrative poem |
| Epigram | short, witty poem |
| Epiphany | new perception that changes one’s thoughts |
| Epitaph | short poem written in memory of someone |
| epithet | phrase used in the place of one’s name (Ms. Know-it-all) |
| essay | expresses a point of view |
| exaggeration | stretching the truth |
| exposition | background information leading up to climax |
| fable | short, fictional story that teaches a lesson |
| falling action | works out decision arrived at climax |
| farce | humorous, improbable plot |
| figurative language | creates special effects/feelings |
| figure of speech | creates comparisons |
| antithesis | contrast of ideas |
| hyperbole | exaggeration |
| metaphor | comparison without like/as |
| metonymy | substituting one word for a related word |
| personification | gives non-human things human-like qualities |
| simile | comparison using like/as |
| understatement | emphasizing an idea by talking about it in a restrained matter |
| flashback | return to an earlier time |
| foil | contrast to a character |
| foreshadowing | hints to come |
| genre | type of literature |
| gothic novel | characterized by gloominess |
| hubris | pride |
| imagery | words used to create a picture |
| impressionism | recording of events as they have been impressed upon the mind |
| irony | phrases used to mean exact opposite |
| irony types | dramatic, verbal, situational |
| local color | language specific to a certain region of the country |
| malapropism | mix-up of words |
| melodrama | exaggerated drama |
| memoir | based on the author’s memory of a particular time |
| mood | reader’s feeling |
| moral | lesson |
| motif | repeated idea |
| myth | created to explain why things are the way they are |
| narration | a story |
| narrator | one who tells the story |
| naturalism | relation of a person to their environment |
| novel | long, fictional story |
| novella | longer than a short-story; shorter than a novel |
| oxymoron | two contradictory words; tough love |
| parable | short, descriptive story with a moral |
| paradox | contradictory statement |
| parody | mocks literature |
| pathetic fallacy | personification given to nature |
| pathos | elicited pity |
| picaresque novel | fiction work with a string of loosely connected events |
| plot | action of story |
| plot line | includes exposition; rising action; climax; falling action; resolution |
| poetic justice | occurs when a character gets what they deserve |
| point of view | way a story is told |
| 3rd omniscient | point of view in which the narrator knows all |
| 3rd limited | point of view in which the narrator knows all from one character |
| 1st | The narrator uses “I” |
| protagonist | hero |
| pseudonym | fake name |
| quest | ways to achieve a goal |
| realism | represents life as it actually is |
| renaissance | rebirth |
| resolution | problem is solved during this time |
| rising action | story events before climax |
| romanticism | emphasizes imagination |
| sarcasm | use of praise to mock |
| satire | criticism in hopes of it one day changing |
| setting | time & place |
| short story | brief, fictional work |
| slapstick | low comedy (pie in the face) |
| slice of life | show how life actually is |
| soliloquy | in drama, where a character thinks outloud |
| stereotype | character mold |
| stream of consciousness | thoughts recorded as they occur |
| style | ways in which an author uses sentences |
| symbol | representation |
| theme | lesson |
| tone | way the writer ‘sounds’ |
| total effect | impression left on a reader |
| tragic hero | character who struggles due to their own inner flaw |
| transcendalism | goes beyond reason to search for truth |
