ENGL 120 Narrative and Literary Terms

Alliteration

Repetition of the same consonant sounds in two or more words usually at the beginning of the words.

Apostrophe

To turn away from the general audience of a work to address a specific group, person, or thing.

Assonance

The repetition of vowel sounds within sentences, paragraphs, or poetic lines.

Character

The vehicle (person, animal, creation) that moves the story forward.

Cliché

An expression that has lost its freshness or appeal due to overuse.

Climax

Moment of greatest intensity or emotional tension as a narrative’s conflict is reached.

Conflict

The struggle or tension within the plot between opposing forces.

Connotation

The associations, images, or impressions carried by a word.

Consonance

The close repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after differing vowel sounds.

Dénouement

The outcome or resolution of the plot.

Epiphany

Any moment when a character has a moment of realization.

Foreshadowing

Hints or clues that indicate events that will occur later in the narrative.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration or overstatement used to emphasize a point.

Imagery

Descriptive sensory words and specific details that address the reader’s sensory experience.

Irony

A contrast between appearance and actuality.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that draws implicit comparison between two unlike things.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which a phrase or word is substituted for one closely related to it.

Motif

A unifying element in an artistic work, especially any recurrent image or symbol.

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that imitate sounds.

Personification

Figurative language in which inanimate objects or abstract concepts are given human qualities.

Simile

A figure of speech that draws an explicit comparison between two unlike things using like or as.

Symbol/Symbolism

An object that stands for an abstract idea or larger object.

Synecdoche

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

Theme

A story’s overall message or meaning.

Tone

The attitude expressed by a narrator or characters in a narrative.

Understatement

A type of verbal irony that downplays something serious.

Euphemism

Substituting a pleasant-sounding phrase for an accurate word.

Verbal Irony

A narrator, speaker, or character says one thing, but means something entirely different.

Situational Irony

Occurs when something happens that is entirely different from what is expected.

Dramatic Irony

occurs when the reader knows information that the characters do not.

Meiosis

Downplaying something serious.

Litotes

Negating a negative

First-Person; The Narrator

- A Main character in the story

- Uses the pronouns I and me to refer to himself or herself

- Shares his or her thoughts, feelings, and opinions of other characters and events

- Doesn’t know the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of other characters

Third-Person Limited; The Narrator

- Not a character in the story but an outside character

- Zooms in the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of one character

Third-Person Omniscient; The Narrator

- Not a character in the story but an outside observer

- “All-knowing” —that is, he or she has access to the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of all characters

Dynamic Characters

Character complex that often changes as the story plot unfolds

Static Chracters

Often stay the same

Foil

Helps readers understand the protagonist by showing who they are not. The contrasts reveal the essence of the main character.

Diction

Writer’s specific choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to create meaning.