Literary Terms

Protagonist

Protagonist

The central character of a narrative, the character through whom the lesson of a story is learned

Simile

A comparison of two items things using like or as

Point of View

The vantage point from which a story is told (First and third person are basic examples of p.o.v.)

Connotation

Another significant meaning of a word, often steeped in symbol or feeling

Characterization

The manner by which an author develops a character within a narrative

Dialogue

The spoken words of two or more characters within a narrative

imagery

The picture in your mind that the words from the page create; can be figurative, symbolic, or literal

Situational Irony

An event where the opposit of what's expected happens

Antagonist

The force, a character, or element, that works against the protagonist

Dramatic Irony

When the reader or audience knows something that a character does not know, and that knowledge is important to the flow of events

Ego

("the representative of the outer world to the id") In other words, the ego represents and enforces the reality principle. It is oriented towards perceptions in the real world and associated with reason and sanity. The ego, however, is never able fully to distinguish itself from the id, of which the ego is, in fact, a part, which is why Freud does not provide a hard separation between the ego and the id. (The ego could also be said to be a defense against the superego and its ability to drive the individual subject towards inaction or suicide as a result of crippling guilt. Freud sometimes represents the ego as continually struggling to defend itself from three dangers or master: "from the external world, from the libido of the id, and from the severity of the super-ego")

Historical Fiction

A narrative which tells the story of a real moment in history but embellishes it at least slightly

Theme

The main idea of a work of literature; the message the author is sending to the reader (learn to write themes in a full declarative sentence)

Paradigm

A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.

Dialect

A regional variety of language, often with distinct accents and usage, including but not limited to whole phrases

Oedipus Complex

A psychological aspect where a child, usually a male, has strong, even desirous feelings for the parent of the opposite sex

Denotation

The explicit meaning of a word or a particular meaning of a symbol

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature or to a part of another work of literature or to a moment in history

Conflict

The struggle between two opposing forces in a piece of literature, which the story is built around - The forces are the protagonist and antagonist

Setting

The time and place of the action of a story

Catharsis

The releasing of certain emotions in the audience; a feeling of pity and hatred for the actions of the tragic hero

Act

A division within the drama, usually seen as the "chapter" of a novel

autobiography

A truthful account of the life of a person, as told and written by that same person

Tone

The attitude the author has toward the work, displayed through the language being used

Colloquialism

A local variation of language, as in a word or phrase, found within particular dialects

Paradox

a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true

Dynamic Character

A character who undergoes growth and development during the literary work in which he or she resides

Static Character

A character of one dimension and personality trait who remains unchanged by the events of the literary work in which he or she resides

Biography

A truthful account of the life of a perseon, told and written by another person

Scene

A small division of a drama within an act, usually of the same setting as the act, but not by definition

stereotype

A conventional and oversimplified opinion or belief about a person or group of persons who may share similar characteristics; taking one characteristic of an individual and spreading that characteristic over the group that individual belongs to.

Virtue

The quality of moral excellence, righteousness, and responsibility, probity; goodness.

Vice

An evil, degrading or immoral practice or habit; a serious moral failing.

Complex Character

A character with different traits and aspects of personality but who neither grows nor changes during the literary work in which he resides.

Superego

The part of the personality which acts as a moral monitor (the morality principle) to the behaviors of the individual. It is the faculty that seeks to police what it deems unacceptable desires; it represents all moral restrictions and is the "advocate of a striving towards perfection"

Direct Quotation

Using the words of a source directly, in a word-for-word borrowing.

Plot

The events which make up the story line, in order of their happening.

Style

The language used by the writer, as well as the narrative techniques employed, working together to form the full aspect of the printed material in front of us.

Ominiscient Narrator

The third person narrator who sees all and knows all - even the thoughts - about the characters of the story.

Nemesis

That force which restores order within a tragedy, named for the goddess of retributive justice.

Metaphor

A comparison of unlike things without using "like" or "as."

Irony

A contrast between what is stated and what is meant; there are verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony.

Foreshadow

To use details and images to hint at events to come in the narrative.

Analysis

The separation of an intellectual whole into its component parts in order to better understand and to reach a truth.

Indirect Quotation

Using the words of the author, though not in a direct, word-for-word borrowing.

Paraphrase

To put the words of the author into your own words.

Novella

A prose fictional narrative containing all the elements of a novel but much shorter.

Tragic Hero

A person of noble birth whose personal destruction is in some way involved with the well-being of her/his world and who faces a battle of morals; her/his destruction comes from a flaw with her/his personality.

Insight

The act or outcome of grasping the inward or hidden nature of things which in turn tells the grasper a significant message about herself/himself; makes the learning personal, owned.

Stream-of-consciousness

The unbroken flow of thought and awareness of the waking mind; a special mode of narration that undertakes to capture the full spectrum and the continuous flow of a character's mental process; sense perceptions mingle with conscious and half-conscious thoughts and memories, experiences, feelings and random associations; in a literary context used to describe the narrative method where novelists describe the unspoken thoughts and feelings of their characters without resorting to objective description or conventional dialogue.

Rhetoric

The body of principles and theory having to do with the presentation of facts and ideas in clear, convincing, and attractive language.

Ad Hominem

Appealing to personal considerations rather than to logic or reason.

A priori

involving deductive reasoning from a general principle to a necessary effect; not supported by fact.

Purple Patch

A selection of writing which contains an unusual piling up of devices in such a way as to evidence a self-conscious literary effort; a colorful passage standing out from the writing around it.

Euphemism

The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive.

Apostrophe

When an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important object is directly addressed.

Dichotomy

Division into two usually contradictory parts or opinions

Tragedy

A literary work, usually a drama, which deals with human themes; several elements are involved: hamartia, hubris, catharsis, nemesis; in a tragedy, a hero will fall due to elements within the personality.

Hubris

Excessive pride, especially found within the tragic hero.

Local color

The interests or flavor of a specific locality as expressed in a story through language.

Narrative

The story of a fictional or actual events as told by the teller.

Naturalism

A factual representation, conforming to nature, especially in art and literature.

Realism

A truthful representation, with an inclination toward pragmatism, that is accurate to life's expression.

Short Story

A fictional prose, dealing essentially with a single conflict, which can be read in a single session and had a single plot line

Pleasure Priniciple

The concept that pleasure is the only thing that matters and any manner of attaining it is fine; often this is the role of the Id, the earliest part of the developing personality.

Reality Principle

The function which monitors the Id; the concept that some things are more important than immediate pleasure, namely, the continuation of pleasure after the initial gaining of it.

Denouement

The final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved

Drama

A full-length work of fiction that is written in dialogue, meant to be performed upon a stage.

Flashback

Stopping the flow of the narrative to return to a setting or event earlier in the tale, even to events that predate the earliest part of the plot.

Hamartia

The tragic flaw of a tragic hero; that which will make the hero fall; this needs to be a trait that is generally consider a good thing.

Description

The words the author uses to fully detail a place or thing; these words will bring pictures to the mind.

Symbol

Something which stands for and represents itself but also stands for something much greater than itself.

Climax

A climax is a moment of great intensity in the plot of a literary work, generally bringing events to a head and leading to the conclusion.

Novel

A full-length prose fiction where narrative is the chief story-telling element and several conflicts, settings, and characters will dwell.

Parallelism

A structural arrangement of parts of a sentence, sentences, paragraphs, and larger units of composition by which one element of equal importance with another is similarly developed and phrased.

Pathetic Fallacy

False emotionalism in writing resulting in a too impassioned description of nature; it is the carrying over to inanimate objects the moods and passions of a human being.

Histrionics

A deliberate display of emotion for effect.

Hagiography

A biography that idealizes or idolizes the person (especially a person who is a saint).

Idiomatic

Of or pertaining to, or conforming to, the mode of expression peculiar to a language.

Metonymy

A figure of speech that substitutes the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant, for example suit for business executive, or the track for horseracing.