EN 222 vocab

Allegory

A work in which concrete elements such as characters, objects or incidents represent abstract qualities. This form of writing is often used to teach religious principles or ethical behavior or to espouse political agendas.

Alliteration

Repetition at close intervals of consonant sounds in phrases or lines of poetry

Allusion

An indirect reference to literature, a historical event, a famous person or character or work of art

Anagnorisis

In tragedy, the point at which a character reaches recognition, discovery, or self-awareness; the change from ignorance to knowledge

Analogy

Comparison of things otherwise thought to be dissimilar; point-by-point comparison.

Antagonist

An opposing force or character; that element which opposes or clashes with the main character or protagonist.

Classification

Organization according to methodical division into groups or cluster: the system of grouping or arranging.

Comedy

A literary work, usually a play, that ends happily and that often includes humor and laughter.

Conflict

The opposition between protagonist and antagonist in a play or narrative; the opposition between the protagonist and another force, either within him- or herself or without, e,g., between the person and the environment, the person and society or the person and the cosmic.

Connotation

Suggestive, implied, or emotional meaning or a word or phrase

Denotation

The dictionary, literal, or exact meaning of a word

Dialect

Speech or speech patterns of a particular region, occupational or social group, or culture. Dialect is usually perceived as deviating from “standard” speech

Epiphany

In literature, a sudden manifestation or revelation of meaning; an instinctive perception of reality.

Evidence

In literary argumentation, the passages from the primary source and/or the secondary source(s) that support the warrants and help to prove the overall claim.

Exposition

The beginning or opening of a play or a story: the introduction of characters, conflicts, and other information important to the readers.

First-person point of view

Narration using I or we.

Flashback

A break in the chronological presentation of a story to return to the past or to an earlier episode.

Flat character

A character who is not fully developed; the character is often one-dimensional.

Foreshadowing

Hints of clues that help to predict a later event.

Hyperbole

Figurative language that uses exaggeration for effect

Image

A mental or visual impression that employs an appeal to one of the five senses.

Irony

Contradiction; discrepancy or contrast between what is implied any what is real

Metaphor

Figure of speech that uses an implied comparison between two distinctly different things

Monologue

A long speech by a person or character to the audience, to a character not present, or to him or herself.

Motivation

The reason a character behaves, talks or because what he or she is; the driving force or forces behind a character’s actions.

Narrator

The teller of a story or novel.

Omniscient point of view

Literally all-knowing point of view whereby the author can recall the thoughts and actions of all characters and be in several places at one time

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory or unbelievable statement that, upon reflection, reveals a truth.

Personification

Figurative language giving an inanimate object, animal, or abstraction human characteristics.

Point of view

The perspective from which a story is narrated

Protagonist

The main or central character in fiction or drama.

Satire

A literary work that ridicules some aspect of society or some human folly or vice

Setting

The time, place, and physical and cultural environment of a story, play or poem

Speaker

The person who speaks in the poem.

Symbolism

The use of symbols in a literary work

Theme

Major idea, moral precept, or abstract principles underlying a work

Third Person Limited point of view

Narration of a story in the third person strictly limed to the thoughts and the perceptions of a single character.

Tone

The attitude of the author, speaker, and/or narrator toward the subject or situation of a literary work

Tragic hero or heroine

Protagonist in a tragedy who must be basically good but flawed

Unreliable narrator

The teller of a story whose narration is biased or limited