| A | B |
|---|
| allegory | a text in which characters, objects, etc. have ststematic underlying political, religious, moral, or social meaning |
| alliteration | the repetiton of initial consonants for poetic effect |
| allusion | a reference in a text to a previous literary work, a historical event, mythology, the Bible, etc. |
| ambiguity | uncertainness in meaning; openness to two or more meanings |
| antagonist | a character who opposes, frustrates, or works against the protagonist |
| aside | a dramatic character's direct address to the audience, supposedly unheard by other characters |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close together |
| cacophony | an unpleasant combination of sounds |
| euphony | a pleasant combination of sounds |
| character | a "person" in a text |
| characterization | the means by which an author reveals the nature of a character in a text |
| connotation | a word's associations, emotional content, etc. beyond its dictionary meaning |
| denotation | the dictionary definition of a word |
| dialogue | conversation between characters |
| diction | word choice |
| didactic | designed primarily to instruct or to inform |
| euphemism | a mild word substituted for another, too-blunt or too-offensive term |
| figurative language | using language to convy a meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words |
| figure of speech | a use of figurative langauge stating something that is not literally true to convey some broader truth |
| flashback | an interruption in the chonological sequence by a recounting of an earlier event |
| foreshadowing | providing hints of what is to come, often to build suspense |
| genre | a literary type or form |
| hyperbole | exaggeration or overstatement for literary effect |
| imagery | words in texts that appeal to one or more of the senses |
| inference | a judgment based on reasoning, not explicit statement |
| irony | signifying something other than the apparent intended meaning |
| metaphor | a comparison of two unlike objects to convey essential similarities |
| metonymy | using an associated word to represent a broader concept (e.g. "bar" for "law") |
| mood | the atmosphere or feeing created in/by a text |
| motif | a recurring object, concept, theme, structure, etc. in a work or works of litertaure |
| myth | a traditional story explaining some natural or social phenomenon |
| novel | a fictional prose work of substantial length |
| narrative | a series of related events that tells a story |
| narrator | the one who "tells" the story in a text |
| onomatopoeia | the use of a word whose sound suggests its sense |
| oxymoron | the juxtaposition of contradictory words to present a new concept |
| paradox | something that seems to contradict itself but expresses a greater truth |
| parallel structure | a repetition of the same structure in (parts of) sentences, paragraphs, etc. |
| parody | an exaggerated imitation of another text, style, character, etc., often for humorous effect |
| pathetic fallacy | attributing human feelings to non-human phenomena |
| personification | giving nonhuman, often inanimate objects, human characteristics |
| plot | the structure of a story; the sequence of arranged events in a text |
| point of view | the perspective or vantage point from which a story is told |
| protagonist | the main or central character in a text |
| pun | a play on words, with one word conveying two meanings at the same time |
| satire | a text designed to ridicule the subject of the work |
| setting | the time, place, & circumstances in which a narrative occurs |
| simile | a comparison of two unlike items using like, as, or than |
| sterotype | a broadly held but overly simplified image of a person, thing, etc. |
| style | the distinctive features of a text's presentation: diction, syntax, figurative lanaguge, etc. |
| suspense | a state of excited or anxious uncertainty about what will happen |
| symbol | a word or object that stands for another word, object, idea, etc. |
| synechdoche | using a part of a thing to represent the whole (e.g. "all hands on deck") |
| theme | a common idea incorporated through a text that gives the work unity |
| tone | the author's attitude towards his/her subject |
| understatement | an expression lessening or minimizing what is meant for literary effect |
| accent | the empasis given one or more syllables in a word |
| act | a mojor division of a play, consisting of one or more scenes |
| anachronism | something in a text that is historically out of place |
| anecdote | a brief account of an interesting, often amusing, incident |
| annotation | a note that explains or comments on a (group of) word(s) in a text |
| anonymous | having an unknown author |
| anthology | a collection of writings in one book |
| anticlimax | an event much less important tahn the event that immediately precedes it; a thing that does not fulfill expectations |
| apostrophe | an address to the dead as if living, the inanimate as if animate, the absent as if present |
| argument | a formal summary of the chief points in a play, book, or sectionof a book |
| bowdlerize | to expurgate or censor (esp. prudishly) a piece of writing |
