Literary Terms
For convenience (I hope) these are organized alphabetically. The list is NOT exhaustive.
A
Allegory: A story (or poem) that teaches a lesson by using symbols to represent actions or character traits. Pilgrim's Progress is an example of allegory, as is Dante's Inferno. Alliteration: Repeating sounds in, usually in poetry such as: "The moan of doves in immemorial elms, And murmuring of innumerable bees." Allusion: This is when an author mentions (either directly or indirectly) a character, place, event, idea or work from another author. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner, for example takes its title from the Bible, alluding to the tragedy of King Solomon. Analogy: An analogy is a comparison of two pairs that have the same relationship. A boy is to a man as a puppy is to a dog. Both the boy and the puppy are younger versions of their adult counterparts. Anaphora: The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines, paragraphs, verses or stanzas. Anastrophe: The deliberate inversion of normal word order. An example would be the way Yoda speaks in the popular Star Wars movies. Archetype: An object or event, much like a symbol, which captures or represents some universal aspect of human existence or which appears repeatedly in stories - the archetypical hero, the archetypical heroic journey etc. C Caesura: An intentional pause in the middle of a line of poetry. Beowulf is noted for its caesuras. Characterization: How the author develops or gives us details about a character. This can be done by showing action, giving us the reactions of other characters, by direct exposition, dialogue, telling us his or her thoughts, or a mixture of methods. Conflict: The conflict is the source of energy that moves a plot forward. It is the central struggle of a story. The conflict may be physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual or a mix of many types of struggle. Connotation: The implied meaning of a word, not found in a dictionary. | D Denotation: The meaning of a word as found in a dictionary. Deus ex machina: A method used in a story in order to save the plot in which highly improbably events occur during or just after the climax. Typically this leaves the audience feeling dissatisfied as if the events that happened were not plausible. Diction: The style of speaking or writing of an author. It depends on the word choice of the author. Diction includes accent, intonation, and can be used to mimic dialect. E Epilogue: A piece of writing at the end of a literary work which usually gives some events that happened after the story or which provides the author a chance to moralize or add their insight into the work. In drama the epilogue is often given as a soliloquy of one of the characters such as Prince at the end of Romeo and Juliet. Epithet: A descriptive word or short phrase used in place of or in conjunction with a name to add vivid detail. Many swear words and phrases are used as epithets in common speech. Euphemism: The use of a less offensive word or phrase in place of describing something that might otherwise be offensive or vulgar, such as "flop" in Of Mice and Men in place of "have sex." W Willing suspension of disbelief: The ability of the audience to believe events in a story which clearly are not possible, but which are acceptable in terms of the story. Hamlet seeing the ghost of his father, though not possible, is accepted by the audience. |