English Literary Terms

Satire

The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

Connotation

Selecting a word or phrase for its suggested meaning instead of its literal one.

Anaphora

The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

(Example: give me liberty or give me death)

Euphemism

Substituting an offensive expression for a more agreeable and innocuous one

(Example: saying “spin the truth” instead of “lie”)

Blank Verse

Verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.

Flat Character

A character who embodies a single quality and who does not develop in the course of a story

Round Character

A character who demonstrates some complexity and who develops or changes in the course of a work

Point of View

The perspective from which a story is told

Aside

A remark or passage by a character in a play that is intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by the other characters in the play.

Diction

The choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

Juxtaposition

The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

Mood

Feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader

Tone

A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter

Allegory

A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Situational Irony

The irony of something happening that is very different to what was expected

Dramatic Irony

The audience's understanding of events surpasses that of its characters

Symbol

A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.

Alliteration

The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Soliloquy

An act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers, especially by a character in a play.

Consonance

The repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighboring words whose vowel sounds are different

(Example: He stood on the road and cried → the d’s sound the same)

Imagery

Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.

Fable

A short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral.

Assonance

A resemblance in the sounds of words/syllables either between their vowels

(Example: Go slow over the road → vowel sounds repeat)

Allusion

A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art

Stock Character

The stereotyped character in who is immediately known from typical characters in history

Couplet

Two successive lines that rhyme.