Primary and Secondary Literary Terms for Analysis

Vocabulary flashcards covering primary and secondary literary devices and analysis terms directly from the lecture notes.

Metaphor

Comparison between unlike things in which one thing is described as or understood to be another.

Metonymy

Figure of speech in which something is referred to by a closely associated term.

Mood

Emotional atmosphere or feeling a text creates in the reader.

Motif

Recurring image, idea, symbol, word, or situation that contributes to a work's larger meaning.

Objective

Perspective presented as factual, observable, or detached rather than shaped by personal feelings.

Onomatopoeia

Word whose sound imitates or suggests the sound it describes.

Omniscient

Narrative perspective in which the narrator has access to the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of multiple characters.

Oxymoron

Combination of apparently contradictory words that creates a meaningful or striking effect.

Parallelism

Use of similar grammatical structures or patterns to emphasize related ideas.

Parody

Humorous or critical imitation of a particular work, genre, style, or author that exaggerates its recognizable characteristics.

Paradox

Seemingly contradictory statement or situation that reveals a deeper truth.

Personification

Giving human qualities, emotions, or abilities to nonhuman things.

Plot Elements

Major structural components of a narrative.

Protagonist

Central character whose goals, conflicts, and development drive the narrative.

Reliability

Degree to which a narrator's account can be trusted as accurate, complete, or unbiased.

Repetition

Deliberate recurrence of words, phrases, images, sounds, or ideas to create emphasis.

Sarcasm

Form of verbal irony in which a speaker expresses mock praise or contempt.

Satire

Use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize human flaws, institutions, or social problems.

Scansion

Analysis of a poem's meter, rhythm, and stressed and unstressed syllables.

Setting

Time, place, and social or cultural environment in which a work occurs.

Simile

Comparison between unlike things using like, as.

Stereotype

Oversimplified and generalized belief or representation of a particular group or type of person.

Subjective

Perspective shaped by personal feelings, opinions, experiences, or interpretations.

Symbol

Person, object, place, action, or image that represents a larger abstract idea or meaning.

Synesthesia

Literary device that describes one sense in terms of another.

Synecdoche

Figure of speech in which a part represents the whole or the whole represents a part.

Style

Author's distinctive use of language.

Turning Point

Moment when a significant change occurs.

Understatement

Deliberate presentation of something as less significant, serious, or powerful than it actually is.

Verse Forms

Established structures or patterns for poetry.