Literary and Rhetorical Terms

Flashcards for vocabulary review.

Allegory

A story in which the narrative or characters carry an underlying symbolic, metaphorical, or possibly an ethical meaning.

Alliteration

The repetition of one or more initial consonants in a group of words or lines of poetry or prose.

Allusion

A reference to a person, place, or event meant to create an effect or enhance the meaning of an idea.

Analogy

A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things.

Antagonist

A character or force in a work of literature that, by opposing the protagonist, produces tension or conflict.

Antithesis

A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences.

Aphorism

A short, pithy statement of a generally accepted truth or sentiment.

Apostrophe

A rhetorical device in which a speaker addresses a person or personified thing not present.

Archetype

An abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form.

Assonance

The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines in poetry and prose.

Bard

A poet; in olden times, a performer who told heroic stories to musical accompaniment.

Blank verse

Poetry written in iambic pentameter, the primary meter used in English poetry and the works of Shakespeare and Milton. It is blank because the lines generally do not rhyme.

Cacophony

Grating, inharmonious sounds.

Carpe diem

Literally, seize the day; enjoy life while you can, a common theme in literature.

Catharsis

A cleansing of the spirit brought about by the pity and terror of a dramatic tragedy.

Conceit

A witty or ingenious thought; a diverting or highly fanciful idea, often stated in figurative language.

Connotation

The suggested or implied meaning of a word or phrase.

Consonance

The repetition of two or more consonant sounds in a group of words or a line of poetry.

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word.

Diction

The choice of words in oral and written discourse.

Dramatic irony

A circumstance in which the audience or reader knows more about a situation than a character.

Elegy

A poem or prose selection that laments or mediates on the passing or death of something or someone of value.

Eponymous

A term for the title character of a work of literature.

Euphemism

A mild or less negative usage for a harsh or blunt term.

Exposition

The background and events that lead to the presentation of the main idea or purpose of a work of literature.

Explication

The interpretation or analysis of a text.

Extended metaphor

A series of comparisons between two unlike objects.

Fable

A short tale often featuring nonhuman characters that act as people whose actions enable the author to make observations or draw useful lessons about human behavior.

Figurative language

In contrast to literal language, figurative language implies meanings. Figures of speech include metaphors, similes, and personification, among many others.

Foil

A minor character whose personality or attitude contrasts with that of the main character. Juxtaposing one character against another intensifies the qualities of both, to advantage or sometimes to disadvantage.

Foot

A unit of stressed and unstressed syllables used to determine the meter of a poetic line.

Foreshadowing

Providing hints of things to come in a story or play.

Free verse

A kind of poetry without rhymed lines, rhythm, or fixed metrical feet.

Genre

A term used to describe literary forms, such as novel, play, and essay.

Hubris

The excessive pride that often leads tragic heroes to their death.

Hyperbole

Overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect.

Iamb

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Idyll

A lyric poem or passage that describes a kind of ideal life or place.

Image

A word or phrase representing that which can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or felt.

Irony

A mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm; a state of affairs or events that is the reverse of what might have been expected.

Kenning

A device employed in Anglo-Saxon poetry in which the name of a thing is replaced by one of its functions or qualities.

Lampoon

A mocking, satirical assault on a person or situation.

Litotes

A form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity.

Lyric

Personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that compares unlike objects.

Metonymy

A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated

Motif

A phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature.

Muse

One of the ancient Greek goddesses presiding over the arts. The imaginary source of inspiration for an artist or writer.

Myth

An imaginary story that has become an accepted part of the cultural or religious tradition of a group or society.

Narrative

A form of verse or prose that tells a story.

Ode

A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning.

Oxymoron

A term consisting of contradictory elements juxtaposed to create a paradoxical effect.

Parable

A story consisting of events from which a moral or spiritual truth may be derived.

Paradox

A statement that seems self-contradictory but is nevertheless true.

Parody

An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject.

Pastoral

A work of literature dealing with rural life.

Pathos

That element in literature that stimulates pity or sorrow.

Pentameter

A verse with five poetic feet per line.

Persona

The role or facade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader, a viewer, or the world at large.

Personification

A figure of speech in which objects and animals are given human characteristics.

Plot

The interrelationship among the events in a story; the plot line is the pattern of events, including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Protagonist

The main character in a work of literature.

Pun

A humorous play on words, using similar-sounding or identical words to suggest different meanings.

Realism

The depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect.

Rhetoric

The language of a work and its style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience.

Rhyme

The repetition of similar sounds at regular intervals, used mostly in poetry.

Rhythm

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry.

Romance

An extended narrative about improbable events and extraordinary people in exotic places.

Sarcasm

A sharp, caustic expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt; different from irony, which is more subtle.

Satire

A literary style used to poke fun at, attack or ridicule an idea, vice, or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change.

Setting

The total environment for the action in a novel or play. It includes time, place, historical milieu, and social, political, and even spiritual circumstances.

Simile

A figurative comparison using the words like or as.

Sonnet

A popular form of verse consisting of fourteen lines and a prescribed rhyme scheme.

Stanza

A group of two or more lines in poetry combined according to subject matter, rhyme, or some other plan.

Style

The manner in which an author uses and arranges words, shapes ideas, forms sentences, and creates a structure to convey ideas.

Symbolism

The use of one object to evoke ideas and associations not literally part of the original object.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part.

Syntax

The organization of language into meaningful structure; every sentence has a particular syntax, or pattern of words.

Theme

The main idea or meaning, often an abstract idea upon which a work of literature is built.

Tone

The author's attitude toward the subject being written about. The tone is the characteristic emotion that pervades a work or part of a work.

Tragedy

A form of literature in which the hero is destroyed by some character flaw and a set of forces that cause the hero considerable anguish.

Trope

The generic name for a figure of speech such as image, symbol, simile, and metaphor.

Verbal irony

A discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the written or spoken words.

Versification

The structural form of a line of verse as revealed by the number of feet it contains.

Voice

The real or assumed personality used by a writer or speaker.

Wit

The quickness of intellect and the power and talent for saying brilliant things that surprise and delight by their unexpected cleverness.