Lit Terms

Cornett

Allegory

A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

Allusion

A reference to a well-known outside person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

Anaphora

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

Archetype

A detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature, such as the jester character

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds

Colloquialism

A word or phrase that is not formal or literary, typically one used in ordinary or familiar conversation. Slang.

Euphemism

An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

Foreshadowing

A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader.

Hyperbole

Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Idiom

A common, often used expression that doesn't make sense if you take it literally.

Imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)

Irony

The use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning

Juxtaposition

Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts

Metaphor

A comparison without using like or as

Metonymy

Substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it (the White House for the President)

Omniscient

All-knowing

Onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

Peripety

A sudden change of events

Personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

Polysyndeton

Deliberate use of many conjunctions

Setting as Character

Active setting that is changing to fit the plot

Simile

A comparison using "like" or "as"

Symbolism

A person, place or object which has a meaning in itself but suggests other meanings as well

Verisimilitude

The appearance of truth, whether the underlying thing is real or not. Ex, Superman eating krypton would not have been verisimilitude because it had already been established that he couldn't.