Sophomore English Literary Terms

Vocabulary flashcards covering literary terms and definitions compiled by Mr. Adams' Sophomore English Class of 2022.

Allegory

A story in which people, things and actions represent an idea or a generalization about life; allegories often have a strong moral or lesson.

Allusion

A literary reference to a familiar person, place, thing, or event.

Analogy

A comparison of two or more similar objects, suggesting that if they are alike in certain respects, they will probably be alike in other ways as well.

Antagonist

The person or thing working against the protagonist, or hero, of the work.

Autobiography

An author’s account or story of her or his own life.

Biography

The story of a person’s life written by another person.

Characterization

The method an author uses to reveal characters and their personalities.

Comedy

Literature in which human errors or problems appear funny. Comedies end on a happy note.

Conflict

The problem or struggle in a story that triggers the action. The five basic types are Person vs. Person, Person vs. Society, Person vs. Self, Person vs. Nature, and Person vs. Fate (God).

Context

The set of facts or circumstances surrounding an event or a situation in a piece of literature.

Dialogue

The conversation carried on by the characters in a literary work.

Diction

An author's choice of words based on their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.

Colloquialism

An expression that is usually accepted in informal situations and certain locations, as in “He really grinds my beans.”

Jargon

(Technical diction) the specialized language used by a particular group, such as those who use computers: override, interface, download.

Profanity

Language that shows disrespect for someone or something regarded as holy or sacred.

Slang

The informal language used by a particular group of people among themselves; it is also language that is used in fiction to lend color and feeling: awesome, chill out, no way.

Vulgarity

Language that is generally considered crude, gross, and, at times, offensive. It is sometimes used in fiction to add realism.

Didactic

Literature that instructs or presents a moral or religious statement.

Drama

The form of literature known as plays; but drama also refers to the type of serious play that is often concerned with the leading character’s relationship to society.

Empathy

Putting yourself in someone else’s place and imagining how that person must feel.

Epic

A long narrative poem that tells of the deeds and adventures of a hero.

Epitaph

A short poem or verse written in memory of someone.

Epithet

A word or phrase used in place of a person’s name; it is a characteristic of that person: Alexander the Great, Material Girl, Ms. Know-It-All.

Essay

A piece of prose that expresses an individual’s point of view; usually, it is a series of closely related paragraphs that combine to make a complete piece of writing.

Fable

A short fictional narrative that teaches a lesson. It usually includes animals that talk and act like people.

Antithesis

An opposition, or contrast, of ideas.

Hyperbole

An exaggeration or overstatement.

Metaphor

A comparison of two unlike things in which no word of comparison (like or as) is used.

Metonymy

The substituting of one word for another related word.

Personification

A literary device in which the author speaks of or describes an animal, object, or idea as if it were a human.

Simile

A comparison of two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”.

Understatement

A way of emphasizing an idea by talking about it in a restrained manner.

Flashback

Returning to an earlier time for the purpose of making someone in the present more clear.

Foil

Someone who serves as a contrast or challenge to another character.

Foreshadowing

Giving hints or clues of what is to come later in the story.

Genre

Refers to a category or type of literature based on its style, form, and content. The mystery novel is a literary genre.

Hubris

Derived from the Greek word hybris, means “excessive pride.” In Greek tragedy, hubris is often viewed as the flaw that leads to the downfall of the tragic hero.

Imagery

The use of words to create a certain picture in the reader’s mind; usually based on sensory details.

Irony

Using a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or normal meaning; there are 3 kinds of irony: dramatic, verbal, situational.

Memoir

Writing based on the writer’s memory of a particular time, place, or incident. Reminiscence is another term for memoir.

Mood

The feeling a text arouses in the reader: happiness, peacefulness, sadness, and so on.

Moral

The particular value or lesson the author is trying to get across to the reader.

Motif

The term for an often-repeated idea or theme in literature.

Myth

Traditional story that attempts to justify a certain practice or belief or to explain a natural phenomenon.

Narrator

Person who is telling the story.

Novel

A lengthy fictional story with a plot that is revealed by the speech, action, and thoughts of the characters.

Novella

A prose work longer than the standard short story, but shorter and less complex than a full length novel.

Oxymoron

A combination of contradictory terms as in jumbo shrimp, tough love, or cruel kindness.

Paradox

A statement that seems contrary to common sense, yet may, in fact, be true: “The coach considered this a good loss.”

Plot

The action or sequence of events in a story. It is usually a series of related incidents that build upon one another as the story develops.

Exposition

Writing that is intended to explain something that might otherwise be difficult to understand. In a play or novel, it would be the portion that gives the background or situation surrounding the story.

Climax

Usually the most intense point in a story. A series of struggles or conflicts builds a story or play toward the climax.

Resolution

Or denouement, is the portion of the play or story in which the problem is solved. It comes after the climax and falling action and is intended to bring the story to a satisfactory end.

Point of View

The vantage point from which the story is told. Includes first-person, third-person omniscient, third-person limited omniscient, and camera view.

Protagonist

Main character or hero of the story.

Romance

A literary movement with an emphasis on the imagination and emotions.

Satire

A literary tone used to make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting or changing the subject of the attack.

Setting

The time and place in which the action of a literary work occurs.

Soliloquy

A speech delivered by a character when he or she is alone on stage. It is as though the character is thinking out loud.

Symbol

A person, a place, a thing, or an event used to represent something else; the dove is a symbol of peace.

Theme

Statement about life that a writer is trying to get across in a piece of writing; in most cases, the theme will be implied rather than directly spelled out.

Tone

The overall feeling, or effect, created by a writer’s use of words. This feeling may be serious, humorous, or satiric.

Tragedy

A literary work in which the hero is destroyed by some character flaw or by forces beyond his or her control.