Definitions for basic literature terms and poetic devices

1. LITERATURE
TERMS

2. Allegory
•A story or visual image with a
second distinct meaning partially
hidden behind its literal meaning
•Narrative in which characters,
action, and sometimes setting have
an underlying meaning

3. Alliteration
•Repetition of the same or similar
consonant sounds in words that are
close together

4. Allusion
•Reference to a statement, person,
place, event, or thing that is known
from literature, history, religion, myth,
politics, sports, or the arts.

5. Anaphora
•The repetition of the first part of a
sentence
•Used for artisitic or dramatic effect
•Helps to emphasize a point

6. Antagonist (see protagonist)
•The character or force that blocks the
protagonist
•The antagonist doesn’t have to be a
person

7. Aside
•Stage whisper; a remark spoken in an
undertone by a character in a play
•The remark is heard by the audience
•The remark is heard by some
characters or none at all

8. Assonance
•Repetition of similar vowel sounds
followed by different consonant sounds
in words that are close together
•EX: And so all the night tide, I lie down
by the side, Of my darling, my darling,
my life and my bride
--Poe, “Annabel Lee”

9. Ballad: Song or song-like poem that tells
a story
•Often has a tragic ending
•Simple language, with rhythm, rhyme,
and repetition
•Use of refrains
•Folk ballads = oral tradition; unknown
singers

10. Blank Verse
•Poetry written in unrhymed iambic
pentameter
•Blank verse means poetry is
unrhymed
•See iambic pentameter

11. Characterization: The act of creating
and developing a character
•Direct/Indirect
•Dynamic/Static
•Flat/Round
•Character Motivation

12. Characterization: Direct vs. Indirect
•Direct: The author states the character’s
traits or special qualities.
•Indirect: The author uses clues to reveal
character traits in the following ways:
Appearance Actions
Speech Private thoughts
Other characters’ responses

13. Characterization: Dynamic vs. Static
•A static character does not change
much during the course of the story
•A dynamic character changes in some
important way as a result of the
story’s action and the conflicts he
encounters

14. Characterization: Flat vs. Round
•Flat characters are one-dimensional
and have only one or two personality
traits. They can be summed up in one
or two sentences. Flat characters
aren’t main characters
•Round characters are complex and
have many different traits.

15. Character Motivation
•What moves a character to act as he
or she (or it) does?
•Often, motives are not stated, but
implied.
•Use clues in a story to infer the
reasons characters behave the way
they do.

16. Climax
•The turning point in a story
•The height of action
•Everything is “downhill” from this
point (falling action).

17. Conflict: The struggle or clash between
opposing characters, forces, or emotions
•External: Character struggles with an
outside force (another character,
nature, society, technology)
•Internal: Struggle between opposing
needs, desires, or emotions within a
character

18. Connotation
■ All the meanings, associations, or
emotions that a word suggests
■ Denotation is the literal meaning of a
word (definition).
■ Ex: slender, thin, skinny all have a
similar denotation but different
connotations.

19. Denotation
See Connotation

20. Dialect
•Way of speaking that is characteristic of
a particular region or group of people
•May have a distinct vocabulary,
pronunciation system, and/or grammar
(syntax)
•U.S. dialects include Maine, Brooklyn,
Cajun, Appalachia, and standard English

21. •Diction: Writer’s choice of words.
Essential element of a writer’s style.
•Diction adds to meaning. Choice of
language with strong connotations
•Formal vs. informal diction
•Slang vs. standard English

22. Elizabethan English: The language of
Shakespeare’s era

23. Exposition
•The beginning of a literary work
where the characters, the setting, and
the basic situation are introduced

24. Fable
•Brief story in prose or poetry that
teaches a moral or practical lesson
about life.
•Characters in fables are usually
animals that behave as humans.

25. Figurative Language
Language that conveys meaning beyond
the literal meaning (denotation).
Figurative means that the words are used
in some thought-provoking or symbolic
way.

26. •Flashback: Scene that interrupts the
present action of a plot to show
events that happened at an earlier
time.

27. Foil
•Character who serves as a contrast to
another character
•Used to emphasize differences
between two characters or to
highlight the traits of one character

28. Foreshadowing
•The use of clues that hint at events
that occur later in the plot

29. Iambic Pentameter
•A line of poetry with five feet (syllable
groups), each consisting of an
unstressed syllable followed by a
stressed syllable
•Blank verse is unrhymed iambic
pentameter
•This meter sounds the most like
natural speech

30. •Idiom: Expression peculiar to a
particular language that means
something different from the literal
meaning of the words.
•Chicken = coward
•Under the weather = sick
•Get on one’s nerves = irritate someone

31. Imagery
•Language that appeals to the senses:
sight, sound, smell, touch, taste

32. •Irony: Contrast or discrepancy
between expectation and reality.
•Verbal: A speaker says one thing but
means the opposite.
•Situational: What actually happens is
the opposite of what is expected or
appropriate.
•Dramatic: The reader or audience
knows something important that a
character does not know.

33. Lyric Poetry
•Poetry that expresses a speaker’s
emotions or thoughts and does not
tell a story.
•Ode, elegy, haiku, tanka, sonnet,…

34. Metaphor
•Figure of speech that makes a
comparison between two unlike
things without using a connective
word such as like, as, or than
•Direct metaphor
•Implied metaphor
•Extended metaphor

35. Metaphor cont...
•Direct: The comparison is clearly stated
•Implied: The reader must infer the
comparison by using clues in the
selection
•Extended: A metaphor that is developed
over several lines or throughout an
entire poem
•Mixed: The inconsistent combination of
two or more metaphors. Often
humorous

36. Meter
•Generally regular pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables in poetry (see
rhythm)
•The number of feet in a line of poetry

37. Monologue
•A long, uninterrupted speech by one
character, to which the other characters
listen
•A public speech

38. Mood
•The atmosphere and feeling that a writer
creates in a work through the choice of
setting, imagery, descriptions, and other
vivid, descriptive language
•Mood is the feeling you get when you read
a selection--creepy, cheerful, sinister, etc.

39. •Motif: A frequently-repeated
incident, idea, or symbol in a work of
literature which highlights an
important theme.

40. Onomatopoeia
•A word whose sound imitates or suggests
its meaning:
•Bang, slurp, hiss

41. Oxymoron
•A combination of words that contradict
each other
•EX: deafening silence; wise fool

42. Paradox
•A statement that seems contradictory but
that actually may express a deeper truth.
•Because a paradox is surprising, it catches
the reader’s attention
•Ex: All animals are equal, but some are
more equal than others

43. Personification
•Type of metaphor in which a
nonhuman thing or quality is given
human characteristics

44. Plot
•The sequence of actions and events in
a drama or work of fiction

45. Point of View
•The perspective from which a story is told;
author’s choice of narrator
•First Person: A character in the story
narrates; the character is part of the story
(pronouns—I, me, our, us,…)
•Third Person: Narrator is not in the story
(pronouns—he, they, she, them,…)
•Omniscient: All-knowing narrator
•Limited: Narrator knows thoughts of one
character or a small group

46. Protagonist
•Main character in fiction or drama
•Focus of attention
•The character that sets the plot in motion

47. Pun
•Play on the multiple meaning of a
word or on two words that sound
alike but have different meanings
•Lowest form of comedy

48. Resolution
•The final part of the plot of a drama or
work of fiction. Explains how the conflict
is resolved. Often ties up loose ends.

49. Rhyme/Rhythm
•Rhyme is the repetition of accented vowels
sounds and all sounds following them in words
that are close together in a poem
•Rhythm is the musical quality in language
produced by repetition. Occurs naturally in
language. Poems written in meter create
rhythm through patterns of stressed and
unstressed syllables

50. Satire
•Type of persuasion that ridicules the
foolishness and faults of individuals, an
institution, society, or even humanity in
general
•The purpose of satire is to bring about social
reform
•Caricature, exaggeration, incongruity, parody,
reversal, understatement, sarcasm, and wit
are all satirical techniques

51. Setting
•In a drama or work of fiction, setting is the
time and place in which the action occurs

52. Simile
•Figure of speech that makes a
comparison between two seemingly
unlike things by using a connective
word such as like, as, or than

53. Soliloquy
•A long speech in which a character
expresses private remarks or feelings
•A technique in drama to allow a
character’s inner thoughts clarified for the
audience
•Character is either alone on stage or
ignored by other characters who are also
on stage

54. Sonnet: Fourteen-line lyric poem
usually written in iambic pentameter
•Italian or Petrarchan sonnet
•Shakespearean or English sonnet
•Three quatrains
•Couplet (sums up message)

55. Speaker in Poetry: The voice that
is talking to us in a poem
•Sometimes the poet is the speaker
•Poet may create a different voice (child,
man, woman, object, animal,…)

56. Style
• The particular way in which writers
express their ideas. It refers not to
what is said, but rather how it is said.
• Elements that make up a writer’s style
include syntax, descriptive language,
tone, point of view, use of dialogue, use
of irony, and methods of
characterization.

57. Suspense
•The uncertainty or anxiety we feel
about what is going to happen next in
a story.

58. Symbol
•Person, place, thing, or event that stands
for itself and something beyond itself—
often an abstract idea.

59. Syntax: The way words and phrases are
arranged to form phrases and sentences;
the grammar of writing
•Sentence length/number of sentences
•Sentence types (simple, compound,…)
•Phrasing patterns
•Specific kinds of punctuation
•Repetition

60. Tanka: A Japanese poetic form
•Evokes a strong feeling with a single
image
•Five unrhymed lines; 31 syllables
total
•Lines 1, 3 = 5 syllables each
•Lines 2, 4, 5, = 7 syllables each

61. Theme
•The central idea or insight revealed
by a work of literature
•Must use at least one complete
sentence to state a theme, often more
•Not the same as the subject (love, war,
family background,…)
•Often, what the protagonist learns
about life is also what the author wants
the reader to discover.

62. Tone: The author’s feelings or attitude
about his or her subject
•Intonation of voice that expresses
meaning
•Described using adjectives (sarcastic,
apprehensive, confident,…)
•May change throughout the piece

63. Tragedy
•Drama that begins peacefully and
ends in violence
•One or more characters comes to an
unhappy end
•Fate, weaknesses or flaws in
characters contribute to ending

64. Tragic Hero
•Not an ordinary man, but a man with
outstanding quality and greatness about him.
•Usually of noble birth
•Possesses a TRAGIC FLAW: a personality trait
that eventually leads to his downfall
•His actions result in self-awareness and self-
knowledge
•His downfall is not entirely his fault

65. Voice: Voice is the distinct personality,
style, and point of view of a piece of
writing or any other creative work.
•What is writer attempting to
communicate about him/herself?
•What is the purpose of the writing?
•Who is the audience?