Literary Terms Vocabulary

A collection of vocabulary flashcards defining literary devices, rhetorical techniques, and dramatic terms from the lecture.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in adjacent or closely connected words.

Allusion

An indirect or passing reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary, or political significance.

Ambiguity

The quality of being open to more than one interpretation or having an inexact meaning.

Anadiplosis

A rhetorical device where the last word of a preceding clause is repeated at the beginning of the following clause.

anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences.

Antagonist

A character, group of characters, or force that stands in opposition to the protagonist.

Antimetabole

A literary and rhetorical device in which a phrase or sentence is repeated, but in reverse order.

Antistrophe

The repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses or sentences.

Aside

A short remark or passage by a character in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but is unheard by other characters.

Assonance

The repetition of similar vowel sounds in non-rhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible.

Asyndeton

The intentional omission or absence of conjunctions between parts of a sentence.

Auditory imagery

Mentally represented imagery that appeals to the sense of hearing (sound).

Bildungsroman

A novel dealing with a character's formative years or spiritual and psychological education; a coming-of-age story.

Blocking

The precise staging and positioning of actors in order to facilitate a performance.

Character

A person, animal, or being represented in a literary work or story.

Characterization

The process and techniques an author uses to reveal and develop the personality of a character.

Climax

The most intense, exciting, or important point of a story; often the turning point of the plot.

Close reading

The careful, sustained, and purposeful interpretation of a brief passage of text.

Comedy

A genre of literature or drama that is humorous in tone and typically results in a happy or successful conclusion.

Conflict

The struggle between opposing forces in a narrative, such as a character against nature, society, another character, or themselves.

Connotation

The emotional, cultural, or secondary meaning that a word invokes in addition to its literal definition.

Consonance

The repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds within or at the end of words in a sequence.

Denotation

The literal or primary dictionary definition of a word, in contrast to its associated feelings or ideas.