| A | B |
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| Allegory | A symbolic narrative in which the surface details imply a secondary meaning. Allegory often takes the form of a story in which the characters represent moral qualities. |
| Alliteration | the repetition of similar consonant sounds at the beginnings of words within a line of poetry. Ex: “I heard a horseman / Ride over the hill.” (de la Mare) |
| Allusion | a brief reference to a literary |
| Ambiguity | the use of language where the meaning is (usually intentionally) unclear or has two or more possible interpretations or meanings; often used by writers to create layers of meaning in the mind of the reader |
| Anecdote | a brief |
| Antagonist | character opposing the main character |
| Aphorism | a brief pointed statement that makes a wise or clever observation |
| Apostrophe | when the poet directly addresses a person (often dead) |
| Archetype | a character type |
| Aside | A comment made by a stage performer that is intended to be heard by the audience but supposedly not by other characters. |
| Assonance | the repetition of the same vowel sound (in stressed syllables) in a line of poetry. Ex: “‘Twas night |
| Audience | the people for whom a work is written |
| Blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| Caricature | a depiction of a person’s features or mannerisms exaggerated as to be comic or absurd; a form of characterizing |
| Characterization | the way a character is developed by the author. |
| Cliché | a trite or overused expression or idea. Ex: “strong as an ox,” “hit the nail on the head,” “a whole different ball game,” “a taste of his own medicine,” “American as apple pie,” “love is a battlefield” |
| Climax | the high point of the dramatic conflict; often the turning point in the action |
| Conceit | an elaborate and unusual simile or metaphor that compares very unlike things. Ex: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Shakespeare) |
| Concession to the opposition | a speaker or writer acknowledges the valid opinion or position of those with whom the speaker disagrees. It established the speaker as a fair and reasonable person (ethical appeal). |
| Conflict | the struggle between opposing forces. This can be internal conflict within a character, external between characters, or external between a character and an outside force such as the weather or the economy. |
| Connotation | the impression that a word gives beyond its defined meaning |
| Consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds within the words in a line of poetry. Ex: “With his cruel bow he laid full low / The harmless Albatross.” (Coleridge) |
| Contradiction | a logical incompatibility between two or more propositions |
| Couplet | two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme |
| Denotation | the definition of a word |
| Dialect | A way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular region or group of people. |
| Dialogue | conversation between two or more characters in a literary work |
| Diction | word choice; the deliberate selection of words used by an author in a literary work; influences the reader's reaction to and contributes to the author's style and tone |
| Emotional Appeal (Pathos) | appealing to listeners’ or readers’ hearts as well as their minds. |
| End rhyme | rhyme that occurs at the ends of lines |
| Epigraph | a motto or quotation at the beginning of a literary composition setting forth a theme |
| Ethical Appeal (Ethos) | suggests to the audience that the speaker is of good character and is fair, honest, knowledgeable and trustworthy |
| Euphemism | expressing an unpleasant or unsavory idea in a less blunt and more pleasant way |
| Exposition | the part of the plot that introduces characters and their situation |
| Fact | information that is true or demonstrable |
| Falling Action | events that follow the climax and deal with the results of the climax |
| Figurative Language | language that is symbolic or metaphorical and not meant to be taken literally; used in order to achieve a special effect or meaning; includes hyperbole, metaphor, simile, and personification. Ex: “lamp of experience” (Henry) |
| Figure of Speech | an expression that strives for literary effect rather than conveying a literal meaning |
| Flashback | a section of a literary work that interrupts the chronological presentation of events to relate an event from an earlier time |
| Foreshadowing | an author’s use of clues to suggest events that will occur later in the plot |
| Free verse | the absence of any regular meter |
| Genre | a category of writing; a term for a class of composition such as novel, poem, short story, and such sub-categories as sonnet, science fiction, or mystery |
| Hyperbole (Overstatement) | a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement. Ex: “And I will luve thee still, my dear, / Till a’ the seas gang dry.” (Burns) |
| Iambic Pentameter | A line of poetry made up of 10 syllables that follow the pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. (And for thy, Mother, she alas is poor) |
| Idiom | an expression, particular to a certain language, that means something different from the literal definition of the phrase |
| Imagery | the use of words that evoke pictures, sounds, smells, tastes, or touch in the reader’s or listener’s mind. Example would be “the orange glow of sunset” or “the frantic pounding on the door.” or “A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch / And a blue spurt of lighted match.” (Browning) |
| Internal rhyme | rhyme that occurs within the lines |
| Irony | the incongruity, or difference, between reality (what is) and appearance (what seems to be) |
| Literal Language | An author uses literal language when s/he writes without exaggerating or embellishing the subject matter and without any tools of figurative language |
| Loaded Language | refers to words that have an emotional connotation, such as democracy, freedom, patriotic, duty, justice, etc. |
| Logical Appeals (Logos) | appeals to reason, such as facts, evidence, and expert opinions |
| Logical error (Logical fallacy) | inaccurate reasoning, e.g., false cause, hasty generalization, ad hominem, etc. |
| Meter | a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables |
| MLA | the Modern Language Association whose publications are academic style manuals widely used in the humanities |
| Monologue | a speech delivered entirely by one person or character |
| Mood | The atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work, partly by a description of the objects or by the style of the descriptions. A work may contain a mood of horror, mystery, holiness, or childlike simplicity, to name a few, depending on the author's treatment of the work. The mood of a work is not always what might be expected based on its subject matter |
| Motif | an often-repeated idea, pattern, or theme in a piece of literature; functions as a unifying device and often relates directly to one of the major themes |
| Narrator | the teller of a story |
| Onomatopoeia | the use of words that imitate a sound or sound like their meaning, like “choo-choo” or “hiss.” Ex: “The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard…” (Frost) |
| Opinion | a personal view, attitude, or appraisal; a belief or judgment that falls short of absolute conviction, certainty, or positive knowledge |
| Oxymoron | the juxtaposition (putting together) of two contradictory terms: “cheerful pessimist,” “wise fool,” “sad joy,” “eloquent silence.” |
| Paradox | a statement or situation that seems impossible or self-contradictory Ex: “My life closed twice before its close.” (Dickinson) |
| Parody | a form of satire; an imitation of a serious literary work or the signature style of a particular author in a ridiculous manner. A typical parody adopts the style of the original and applies it to an inappropriate subject for humorous effect. |
| Parallel structure | repeats a grammatical structure several times for effect, which helps the listener remember the points made. A famous example is Caesar saying “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Note the series of three short subject/verb patterns. Another example is “He likes swimming, running, and playing football.” It would not be parallel to say “He likes swimming, to run, and plays football.” |
| Paraphrase | to use one’s own words to restate another author’s ideas; the original source must be cited appropriately |
| Parenthetical citation | in MLA, using the author and page number in parentheses after borrowed material to give credit to the original source of information; citations must connect with the Works Cited page |
| Personification | when human qualities are given to objects, animals, or ideas Ex: “Nor shall Death brag thou wander’est in his shade.” |
| Poetry | writing in verse that creates an emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm (forms include epic, ballad, sonnet, lyric, elegy, ode) |
| Point of view (POV) | The narrative perspective from which a literary work is presented to the reader |
| first person point of view | relates events as they are perceived by a single character, “I” |
| second person point of view | the narrator tells the story as if it is happening to the reader, “you” |
| third person omniscient point of view | gives the reader a "godlike" perspective, unrestricted by time or place, from which to see actions and look into the minds of characters, “he,” “she,” “they” |
| third person limited point of view | presents the events of the story from outside of any single character's perception, “he,” “she,” “they” |
| Prose | a form of writing that attempts to mirror the language of everyday speech. It is distinguished from poetry by its use of unmetered, unrhymed language consisting of logically related sentences |
| Protagonist | term for main character |
| Pun | A play on words that have similar sounds but different meanings. |
| Purpose | the specific reason or goal an author has for writing |
| Refrain | A repeated word, phrase, line, or groups of lines |
| Repetition | restates an idea using the same words over again. The listener hears the repeated word or phrase and tends to remember it. |
| Reliability (credibility) of source | the degree of accuracy of a source based on factors such as the time and means of publication, the qualifications of the author, and consistency of information |
| Resolution | the way that the central conflict ends or is resolved |
| Restatement | is the repetition of an idea using different words |
| Rhetoric | the art of effective communication in speaking and writing |
| Rhetorical question | a question the speaker does not expect the audience to answer out loud. They are used to get the listeners to think about the answer in their mind, thus getting them actively involved. Example: How many more people must die before we pass tougher drunk driving laws? |
| Rhyme scheme | the pattern of end rhyme in a poem (abab, aabb) |
| Rising Action / Complication | the part of the plot that leads up to the climax. It is here that conflict and complications develop. |
| Satire | A work that uses ridicule, humor, and wit to criticize and provoke change in human nature and institutions. |
| Setting | the time, place, and cultural or emotional atmosphere of the action |
| Simile | a figurative comparison introduced by like, as, than, or resembles. Ex: “…the youthful hue / Sits on thy skin like morning dew.” (Marvell) |
| Slant rhyme (partial rhyme) | words that almost rhyme (ruse/smooth) |
| Stage Directions | an instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stage actions, movements of performers, or production requirements. Stage directions are often written in italics. |
| Staging | the elements of dramatic production including lighting design and cues, costume design, set design, props, stage movement (blocking), voice (tone, pitch, inflection, emotion), facial expressions, make-up, curtain cues, music, and sound effects |
| Structure | a purposeful organizational pattern that writers use; the way a piece of writing has been put together; may be made obvious for ease of understanding, as in nonfiction works, or may obscured for artistic purposes |
| Style | A writer's unique way of arranging words to suit his or her ideas and purpose in writing; the author's writing personality. Style is the product of an author's way of arranging ideas and his or her use of diction, different sentence structures, rhythm, figures of speech, and other elements of composition. |
| Symbol | a person, a place, a thing, or an event that stands for itself and for something beyond its literal meaning as well. Ex: A red rose can symbolize passion; a blooming and fading rose can symbolize human mortality. |
| Syntax | the way in which words are put together to form phrases or clauses; harmonious arrangement of parts or elements |
| Tall tale | A humorous tale told in a straightforward, credible tone but relating absolutely impossible events or feats of the characters. Such tales were commonly told of frontier adventures during the settlement of the west in the United States. |
| Theme | a central message or insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work; a statement of theme includes a topic and the author’s point or message about that topic. Ex: A theme of Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” is: When a person’s dream is denied, life loses its flavor. |
| Thesis | a statement of the purpose, intent, argument, or main idea of an essay |
| Tone | the writer’s attitude toward the subject of the work, which could be serious, humorous, admiring, accusatory, sympathetic, etc. |
| Topic/subject | the person or event at the center of a work of literature |
| Understatement (Litotes) | Figure of speech in which a writer or speaker says less than what he or she means; the opposite of exaggeration. |
| Voice | the distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or of a character in a book |
| Works Cited | the page/section of a piece that lists all of the sources referenced in the text; Works Cited is a term specific to MLA format |
| Chronological | arranged in the order of time |
| Spatial | items are arranged according to their physical position or relationships |
| Cause/Effect –the cause (or reason) is usually discussed first | leading to a discussion of the effect (or result) |
| Topical/Thematic | arranged by topic (or theme) |
| Compare/Contrast | Items are related by the comparisons (similarities) that are made or by the contrasts (differences) that are presented. The author's purpose is to show similarities and differences. |
| Problem/Solution | the problem is presented first, followed by details about the problem (including its cause), then a suggested solution (including details that support the solution) |
| Illustrative (Deductive or General-to-Specific) | state a general idea (topic sentence) and follow with specific details of the situation to support the general idea. Usually ends by drawing a specific conclusion about the situation. |
| Climactic (Inductive or Specific-to-General) | present details followed by a general statement or conclusion based upon the specific information provided |
| Definition (Classification) | used when explaining a term or concept. Place the subject in the appropriate class, and then provide details that show how your term or concept is different from others in the same class. |
| Enumeration | the listing of items |
| Logical | to inform or to persuade often by classifying details into related groups |
| Journal | a periodical or magazine, especially one published for a special group, learned society, or profession |
| Encyclopedia | a book or set of books containing articles on various topics, usually in alphabetical arrangement, covering all branches of knowledge or all aspects of one subject |
| Editorial | An article presenting the opinion of the publisher or editor |
| Database | a comprehensive collection of related data organized for convenient access, generally in a computer |
| Anthology | A book or other collection of selected writings by various authors, usually in the same literary form, of the same period, or on the same subject. |
| Periodical | Something that is published periodically, or every so often. A periodical is something like a magazine, a newspaper, a journal, or a newsletter. |
| Autobiography | the account of a person's life written by the person |
| Biography | the account of a person's life written by another person |
| Caretaker | A character that consistently supports, protects and provides for other characters who are unable to look after themselves. |
| Dreamer | a character that is imaginative or idealistic but impractical. |
| Earth Mother | A character that is closely associated with both Nature and Fertility. Ex: Mother Nature, Mammy from Gone With the Wind. |
| Faithful Companion | A secondary character that offers constant friendship and support for a major character such as a Hero or Heroine. Ex: The donkey from Shrek, Sir Lyonel from Launcelot du Lake, Samwise from Lord of the Rings |
| Hero/Heroine | A character that exists to battle against a villain on the side of good and on the behalf of society. Ex: Luke Skywalker, Spiderman, King Arthur. |
| Innocent | A character that lacks experience and exemplifies virtue and purity. Ex: Piggy from Lord of the Flies |
| Misfit | A character that does not feel any connection with a group or any affinity for its members and personally rejects them. Ex: Huck Finn. |
| Orphan | A character that has been abandoned by his or her family. Ex: Pip, Oliver Twist |
| Outsider/Outcast | A character that is not accepted by a group or society because of physical or personal differences. |
| Rebel | A character that radically rejects the values of a society and the restrictions placed on him or her. Ex: Antigone and Martin Luther King Jr. |
| Rugged Individualist | A character that relies solely on his or her personal strengths and merits to survive. Ex: Thoreau, Deerslayer. |
| Shrew | A female character that will not conform to the demands of society and scolds or quarrels constantly. Ex: Kate from Taming of the Shrew and the stepmother from Sundiata. |
| Trickster | A character that cons, deceives, swindles or cheats other characters. Ex: Bart Simpson, Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. |
| Villain | An evil character who exists to cause disorder, confusion and mayhem on society and to battle against a hero. Ex: Darth Vader |
| Puritan Period / Colonial / The New Land (to 1750) | Literature is dominated by religion. The writing style is simple and adheres to a strict moral code with the purpose of providing religious insight and instruction. Drama and fiction are considered sinful, but poetry is a means of spiritual enlightenment. |
| The Age of Reason / Revolutionary Period (1750-1800) | Literature values reason, logic, and science over faith. Writing is mostly public writing: speeches, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines with a focus on politics. |
| Romanticism (1800-1840) | As a reaction against the emphasis upon logic and reasoning found in the writing of the 18th century, this literature explores man’s inner feelings and emotions with a focus on imagination, intuition, mystery, the supernatural, and a reverence for nature . |
| New England Renaissance /Transcendentalism (1840-1855) | Literature of this time period is closely associated with Romanticism. These writings displayed a belief that man can know scientifically unanswerable truths about his existence by going beyond the experiences of the senses or by “transcending” physical reality. They value human intuition and nature instead of science and physical proof as a pathway to truth, a spiritual connection to all of nature, individualism, and the uniqueness and interconnectedness of each person in the universe. |
| Realism (1865-1915) | After the experiences of the Civil War, writers no longer romanticize life, but instead look to find meaning in the real experiences of people living both on the western frontier and in the industrialized cities. |
| Modernism (1915-1946) | After World War I, people feel more cynical and disillusioned about human civilizations, and themes of this writing often deal with isolation, loneliness, difficulties in communicating, and the search for connection and identity in an ambiguous and fragmented world. Writers experiment with new approaches and techniques, breaking from traditional forms and punctuation. Poetry, favors free verse over traditional forms, and imagism arises, favoring short, free verse poems that used hard, clear expression and everyday language to create sharp, exact, concentrated pictures. |
| Postmodernism (1946-present) | This era finds dramatic changes in the pace and diversity of American life including suburbs (thanks to the car) and information-based industry (thanks to technological advances). Literature of this time cannot be easily classified and generally there are a wide variety of literary movements that explore creative forms, blend fact and fiction, or mix realism with fantasy as in the magical realism works of several Latin American writers. Themes include people in a highly technical, complex, and impersonal world; concern for the earth’s environment; ambiguity about where technology will take the human race; and fear/fascination about the future existence of mankind. |
| Direct characterization | occurs when the author simply states the character’s traits. |
| Indirect characterization | occurs when the traits are inferred through the character’s actions, character’s words, or the words and reactions of other characters. |
| Round Character | a complex and multi-faceted character, like a real person. |
| Flat Character | a one dimensional character, with only one side of the person shown. |
| dynamic character | one who changes during the story or play. |
| static character | one who does not change during the course of the work |
| Dramatic Irony | a contradiction in which the audience knows more about a character’s situation than the character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to the character’s expectations |
| Verbal Irony | a contradiction between what is said and what is actually meant; it is sometimes sarcastic |
| Situational Irony | a contradiction between what is intended or expected and what actually occurs |
| Metaphor | a figure of speech that compares one thing directly with another. Ex: “It is the east and Juliet is the sun.” (Shakespeare); “The world is a vampire.” (The Smashing Pumpkins) |
| Naturalism (1865-1915) | the belief that man’s destiny was controlled by the environment, is a specific type of realism shown in the literature of this period |
| Regionalism (1865-1915) | the depiction of the local color, setting, and dialect of different regions of the United States, is also popular. |
| Harlem Renaissance | a cultural movement centered in New York in the 1920s, focuses on the unique creative contributions of African Americans to America. |
| Contemporary | Literature written by writers in the present time. |
