IB English Literary Terms

Theme

truth suggested in a work of literature

Mood

atmosphere or feeling of a passage

Tone

author’s attitude toward the world of the text

Voice

ethos or personality of a passage

imagery

lalnguage touches on one of the five senses

allusion

a reference or another literary work or an historical event

symbolism

when an object represents more than itself

motif

a repeated symbolic feature or idea

diction

word choice

literal

concrete, straightforward diction

figurative

non-literal, symbolic use of language

connotation

implied definition/feeling of a word

hyperbole

ectreme exaggeration

forth wall

invisible barrier between actors and audience

pun

a play on words

allegory

a story functions like an extended metaphor; story tells more than one story

metaphor

a comparison of unlike things without using “like” or “as”

repetition

repeated words or sounds

simile

s comparison of unlike things using like or as

personification

giving an inanimate object human characteristics

paradox

when something does not seem to make sense but it does make sense

jusxtaposition

two things close together with contrasting effect

irony

when something unexpected happens or somethingthat normally signifies the opposite

dramatic irony

the audience knows something that other characters do not

anticlimactic

buildingn up to a climax but the mood shifts

anaphora

repetition of exact words/phrases

consonance

repetition of consonant sounds

alliteration

repetition of speech sounds at the beginning of words

assonance

repetition of vowel sounds

sibilance

repetition of “s” sounds (“s” and “sh”)

onomatopoeia

when the sound reflects the sense

pacing

speed or lack thereof

cacophony

a harsh or rigid sounding line of prose or poetry

euphony

a smooth sounding line of prose or poetry

enjambment

continuation; idea does not stop at end of line (used in poetry mainly)

caesura

pause in the middle of a line of poetry

end stop

in poetry, a period, question mark, or exclamation point

synecdoche

a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa… ex. “wheels” for car

metonymy

the substitution for the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant…ex. “suits” for business executives

Polysyndeton

the repetition of conjunctions in close succession…ex.”the wind and rain and darkness”

oxymoron

a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g. old news)