Literary Terms Review: Language, Characters, Plot Devices, and Figurative Language

STYLE

the distinctive way in which a writer uses language: a writer's distinctive use of diction, tone, and syntax.

DICTION

a speaker or writer's choice of words.

TONE

the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or the audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization.

CLICHE

is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse.

VERNACULAR

the language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality.

CONNOTATION

the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition.

MOOD

An atmosphere created by a writer's diction and the details selected.

DIALECT

a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area.

POINT OF VIEW

the vantage point from which the writer tells the story.

FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW

one of the characters tells the story.

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

an unknown narrator, tells the story, but this narrator zooms in to focus on the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW

an omniscient or all knowing narrator tells the story, also using the third person pronouns. This narrator, instead of focusing on one character only, often tells us everything about many characters.

OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW

a narrator who is totally impersonal and objective tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events.

ANTAGONIST

Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story.

PROTAGONIST

the central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action.

FOIL

A character who acts as contrast to another character.

MOTIVATION

the reasons for a character's behavior.

CHARACTERIZATION

the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character.

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

the author reveals to the reader what the character is like by describing how the character looks and dresses, by letting the reader hear what the character says, by revealing the character's private thoughts and feelings, by revealing the characters' effect on other people (showing how other characters feel or behave toward the character), or by showing the character in action.

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION

the author tells us directly what the character is like.

STATIC CHARACTER

is one who does not change much in the course of a story.

DYNAMIC CHARACTER

is one who changes in some important way as a result of the story's action.

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate object (Personification).

HYPERBOLE

a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement, for effect. 'If I told you once, I've told you a million times....'

METAPHOR

a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles.

SIMILE

a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike things, using words such as like, as, than, or resembles.

SYMBOL

a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself.

FLASHBACK

a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.

FORESHADOWING

the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a plot.

PLOT

the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline.

EXPOSITION

introduces characters, situation, and setting.

RISING ACTION

complications in conflict and situations (may introduce new ones as well).

CLIMAX

that point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or interest. Also called 'turning point'.

RESOLUTION

the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have been settled; often called the denouement.

CONFLICT

the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story.

EXTERNAL CONFLICT

conflicts can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine or between a person and a whole society.

INTERNAL CONFLICT

a conflict can be internal, involving opposing forces within a person's mind.

THEME

the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.

IRONY

a discrepancy between appearances and reality.

VERBAL IRONY

occurs when someone says one thing but really means something else.

SITUATIONAL IRONY

takes place when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what really does happen.

DRAMATIC IRONY

a character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader knows better.

ALLUSION

reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to something (usually from literature, etc.).

JUXTAPOSITION

poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit.

EPIGRAPH

a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of the theme.

IMAGERY

the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience.

MOTIF

a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme.