Key Literary Terms and Concepts

Flashcards containing important literary terms and their definitions for review.

Style

Any of the characteristic ways an author uses language; elements include word choice, sentence length and complexity, imagery, symbols, sound, and rhythm.

Stylistic Analysis

The analysis of style in literature that focuses on the writer's choices, chiefly in vocabulary, syntax, and diction.

Suspense

A device used to hold the attention of a reader, characterized by anxious uncertainty.

Syllogism

A formula for logical argument consisting of a Major Premise, Minor Premise, and Conclusion.

Symbol

Something that stands for or represents something else, especially an idea, quality, or condition.

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases in a sentence to show how they relate to each other; also known as sentence structure.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies a part, e.g., 'wheels' for a car or 'hired hands' for workmen.

Terza Rima

A rhyming verse stanza form that consists of an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme (ABA BCB CDC DED).

Theme

The topic or subject with which a literary work deals; the main focus.

Tone

The author's attitude toward the subject.

Understatement

A statement that expresses a fact too weakly or less emphatically than it should, often used for humorous effect.

Verbal Irony

A form of sarcasm in which the opposite of what is intended is said.

Verisimilitude

The quality or state of having the appearance of truth.

Verse Form

The specified formula or pattern for a particular stanza, e.g., a sonnet has 14 lines; blank verse does not rhyme.

Vignette

A literary sketch or short verbal description.

voice

who is speaking in a literary work