englit vocab 100

Allegory

A story where characters, events, and things represent qualities or concepts, revealing an abstraction or truth.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial identical consonant sounds or vowel sounds in successive words or syllables.

Allusion

An indirect reference to something, usually a literary text, that the reader is expected to be familiar with.

Anachronism

Assignment of something to a time when it was not in existence.

Anaphora

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences.

Antagonist

The character or force causing the problem; often the 'bad' guy.

Antithesis

A balancing of two opposite or contrasting words, phrases, or clauses.

Apostrophe

An address to the dead as if living; to the absent as if present; or to the unborn as if alive.

Archetype

An image, character, story, symbol, or pattern that recurs throughout literature as a universal concept.

Assonance

Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity.

Asyndeton

A series of words separated by commas without conjunctions, emphasizing each part equally.

Carpe diem

A Latin expression meaning 'seize the day.'

Climax

Point of highest intensity in a story which determines the outcome.

Colloquialism

Use of slang or informal language, including regional dialects.

Conceit

An unusual or surprising comparison between two very different things.

Conflict

The major problem(s) the character faces.

Connotation

The associations that a word suggests beyond its dictionary definition.

Consonance

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.

Couplet

A rhyming stanza made up of two lines.

Deductive reasoning

A form of reasoning that begins with a generalization, then applies it to specific cases.

Deus ex machina

A god who resolves the entanglements of a play by supernatural intervention.

Diction

Word choice; the types and arrangements of words that affect meaning.

Didactic

Describes fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral.

Direct characterization

The author directly tells us what the character is like.

Disparagement

To speak of in a slighting way; to belittle.

Dramatic irony

Discrepancy between what the reader knows and what a character knows.

Dynamic Character

A character who changes over the course of the work.

Enjambment

The running over of a sentence from one line or stanza to another.

Epigraph

A quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of a theme.

Epiphany

A major character's moment of realization or awareness.

Epistolary novel

A novel that tells a story through letters.

Epithet

A term used to characterize a person or thing.

Euphemism

A less direct or less offensive word or phrase.

Exposition

Initial information given at the beginning of a story.

Extended Metaphor

A metaphor developed at length that involves several points of comparison.

External conflict

Conflicts in which an individual struggles with something outside himself/herself.

Falling action

The events that follow the climax.

Figurative Language

Words that describe by calling to mind sensations or responses.

First Person Point of View

A narrative perspective where the narrator participates in the action.

Flat Character

A character constructed around a single idea or quality.

Foil

A character whose traits are opposite of another, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses.

Foreshadowing

Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or story.

Hyperbole

Conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect.

Imagery

Use of images in a pattern to create a strong sensory impression.

Incongruity

A surprising contrast occurring through various literary elements.

Indirect characterization

Implying a character's personality through actions, appearances, and dialogue.

Inductive reasoning

Reasoning that works from body of facts to generalizations.

Internal conflict

A conflict that takes place within an individual.

Invective

Harsh, abusive language directed against a person or cause.

Irony

The discrepancy between what appears to be true and what actually is true.

Litotes

A kind of understatement by stating the opposite.

Lyric poetry

A short poem expressing personal feelings.

Metaphor

A comparison of two unlike things.

Meter

A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

Metonymy

Designation of one thing with something closely associated with it.

Mixed Metaphor

When two metaphors are jumbled together, often illogically.

Mood

The atmosphere created by a writer's word choice and details selected.

Moral

The lesson drawn from a fictional or nonfictional story.

Motif

A frequently recurrent character, incident, or concept in literature.

Narrative poetry

Poetry that tells a story.

Non-sequitur

An inference or conclusion that does not follow from the premise.

Objective Point of View

A perspective where the narrator tells what happens without revealing characters' thoughts.

Onomatopoeia

The naming of a thing by imitating the sound associated with it.

Oxymoron

Juxtaposition of two contradictory terms.

Parable

A short story from which a lesson may be drawn.

Paradox

A statement that appears contradictory but contains some truth.

Parallelism

Sentence construction that places two or more equal grammatical constructions in close proximity.

Parody

A work that imitates the style or content of another for comic effect.

Pastoral

A poem depicting rural life in a peaceful, romanticized way.

Pathos

Qualities of a work that evoke sorrow or pity.

Persona

A fictional voice adopted by a writer to tell a story.

Personification

Giving human traits or form to inanimate objects, animals, or ideas.

Polysyndeton

A sentence that uses conjunctions to separate items in a series.

Protagonist

The main character in a narrative work trying to achieve an objective.

Quatrain

A stanza or poem consisting of four lines.

Resolution

The final part of a story that usually settles the conflict.

Rising action

A series of complications that intensify the conflict.

Round Character

A character drawn with sufficient depth and complexity that feels like a real person.

Sarcasm

A type of verbal irony intending to hurt under the guise of praise.

Satire

A work revealing a critical attitude toward human behavior to inspire change.

Second Person

Told from the perspective of the reader, using 'you.'

Setting

The time and place of a story.

Simile

A figurative comparison of two unlike things using 'like' or 'as.'

Situational Irony

When events transpire in a way opposite from expectation.

Stanza

A division of a poem consisting of a series of lines.

Static Character

A character who does not change over the course of the work.

Stock Character

Conventional character types that recur in various literary genres.

Style

The choices in diction, tone, and syntax made by a writer.

Symbol

A thing or event that represents an abstract idea while retaining its literal meaning.

Synaesthesia

Mixing sensory inputs in an impossible way.

Synecdoche

A part used to stand for the whole.

Syntax

The arrangement of words in a sentence to show their relationship.

Theme

A central idea of a work of fiction or nonfiction.

Third Person Limited

A narrator whose knowledge is limited to one character.

Third Person Omniscient

A narrator who knows everything about all the characters.

Tone

A writer's attitude towards the subject matter revealed through writing style.

Tragedy

Representations of serious actions that result in disaster.

Understatement

Deliberately representing something as much less than it really is.

Unreliable Narrator

A narrator whose credibility has been compromised.

Verbal irony

The discrepancy between what a character says and what they really mean.