| A | B |
|---|
| allegory | a story or tale with two or more levels of meaning |
| alliteration | the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words ro accented syllables |
| allusion | a reference to a well-know person, place, event, literary work, or work of art |
| anecdote | a brief story about an interesting amusing, or strange event |
| antagonist | a character or force in conflict with a main character, ro protagonist |
| assonance | repetition of a vowel sound |
| ballad | a song-like poem that tells a story |
| direct characterization | when the author directly states a character's traits |
| indirect characerization | when a character's traits are revealed by words, thoughts, or actions |
| climax | the highest point or interst or suspense in a literary work |
| conflict | a struggle between opposing forces |
| connotation | an association that a word calls to mind in addition to the dictionary meaning of the word |
| denotation | the dictionary meaning of a word |
| dialect | a form of language spoken by people in a particular region or group |
| exposition | writing or speech that explains, informs, or presents information |
| flashback | a section of literary work that interrupts the chronological presentation of events to relate an event from an earlier time |
| foreshadowing | the use of clues to suggest events that have yet to occur |
| hyperbole | a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement |
| imagery | the descriptinve or figurative language used in literature to create word pictures for the reader |
| irony | a contradiction between what is said and what is actually meant |
| metaphor | a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else |
| myth | a fictional tale that explains the actions of gods or heroes or the causes of natural phenomena |
| ode | a long formal lyric poem with a serious theme |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words that imitate sounds |
| paradox | a statement that seems to be contradictory by that actually presents a truth |
| personification | a figure of speech in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics |
| plot | the sequence of events in a literary work |
| point of view | the vantage point from which a story is told |
| protagonist | the main character in a literary work |
| resolution | when the conflicts in the plot are drawn to a conclusion |
| setting | the time and place in which the aciton occurs |
| sonnet | a 14 line poem focused on a single theme |
| symbol | anthing that stands for something else |
| theme | a central message or insight into life revealsed by a literary work |
| tone | the writer's attitude toward his or her subject, characters, or audience |
