| A | B |
|---|
| Motive | Reasons either revelaed or hinden, for a character acting as he/she does |
| Comparison | An examination designed to expose similarities between two objects or ideas |
| Ethos | Establishing the ability, confidence, character, and goodwill with the audience |
| Diction | The word choosen and usually in a work of literature |
| Ononatopoeia | Use of words the imatate the sounds they describe |
| Hyperbole | The deliberate exageration used to persued, heighten dramatic effects or ironic effects |
| Theme | The understanding of a idea(s) of a literary work |
| Setting | A place and time of a story, peom, novel, or play |
| Oxymoron | A figure of speech that influences two contradictory or opposing ideas, to make perfect sense |
| Apostrophe | The speaker is addressing an adsent or dead person, or a inanimate object |
| Plot | The structure of what occurs in the story (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution) |
| Conflict | A clash of opposing purposes, viewpoints, or forces in a story |
| Contrast | éA device where two objects or ideas are placed into opposition to one another to show differences between them |
| Humor | A situation that evokes amusement or laughter; "pure humor" come mainly from surprise |
| Mood | The emotional atmosphere experienced by the reader of a literary work |
| Persausion | Type of writing whose main purpose is convince the audience to think, act, or feel a certain way, usually appealing to their reasoning (Logos), emotion (Pathos), and/or sense of ethics (Ethos) |
| Flashback | A dramatic device where the author interrupts the main action of a story to present an incident that occured at an earlier time |
| Symbolism | Something specific that represents or stands for a specific thing |
| Allegory | A story in which a character and their actions represent general truths about human conduct |
| Analogy | Exploring a topic by explaining it in terms of another seemingly unlike but more commonplace and less complicated idea or thing (it can explains a metaphor) |
| Simile | A comparison betweeen two things - in which words of comparison such as "like" and "as" are used |
| Climax | The crisis or "turning point" in a play or story |
| Alllusion | A reference to a well-known fictional, mylthological (Greek or Roman god) character - or a historical person, place, or event outside of the story |
| Flat Character | An undeveloped and simple character in a writing - usually shows only one personality trait |
| Inference | An arrived understanding or conclusion made in a writing - that is not explained directly in the story but is deducted from the facts and evidence found in the story |
| Thesis | The "main idea" or focus of a writing (usually found in one sentence in the story) |
| Understatement | The representation of something as less than it really is in life - usually done for dramatic effect |
| Irony | The author states it one way but really means something else - for either dramatic or humorous effect |
| Pathos | A feeling or sympathetic pity |
| Point of View | The perspective from which a story or novel is told - in a fictional work it can be in the "1st person" or 3rd person" |
| Flashback | A dramatic device where the author interrupts the main action of a story to present an incident that occured at an earlier time |
| Characterization | The manner in which an author presents the personalities of his characters |
| Juxtaposition | An author placing certain sentences together to obtain a desired effect on his audience |
| Assonance | The use of similar stressed vowel sounds by an author to achieve a certain effect on his audience |
| Protagonist | Usually the main or leading character in a story |
| Denotation | The literal and straight forward definition of a word that comes closest to what the actual means |
| Foreshadowing | A hint by an author to what will come up later in the story |
| Motif | A recurring idea that keeps appearing in a story |
| Tragedy | A form of literature whose main idea is the downfall or failure of a character |
| Representation | What a person or object actually stand for in a story or poem |
| Style | It is the unique and special way an author writes his stories or poems - it is his own way of writing it |
| Antagonist | The character who is aganist the protagonist (the main character) in a story or poem |
| Cliché | A word or phrases that is used over and over again in a story or poem |
| Situational Irony | A situation in a story or poem where there are difference between what the "reader expects" to happenj and what "really happens" |
| Sarcasm | A cutting remark written or spoken meant to make fun of or hurt another character in a story or poem |
| Abstraction | A term used by an author that is not concrete - it can have more than one meaning to the reader - the author leaves its meaning in the story or poem up to the reader to figure out |
| Figure of Speech | An author's use of "words" somewhat differently than they would normally be used or in a nonliteral way - the author wants the reader to use their imagination to figure out what the author is actually wanting the reader to understand what the words really mean in the story or poem (ways that author's can do this are through the use of similes, hyperboles, and metaphores) |
| Metaphor | A figure of speech that shows the similarity between to different things -" without" using the words "like" or "as" |
| Rhythm | The pattern of sounds and pauses that are found mainly in poetry |
| Alliteration | The repetition of the "same constant sound" at the beginning of words in a sentence or lines of poetry |
| Ambiguity | An unclear expression that is not easily understood - usually used by poets in their poetry when it comes to "attitudes" and "feelings" |
| Static Character | A character in a story that remains the same throughour - in their beliefs, attitudes, prejudices, and personal reactions |
