Literary Terms

Allegory

a narrative/description having a second or symbolic meaning beneath the surface one . uses symbolic characters to express generalizations or truths about human life

allusion

a reference, explicit or implicit, to something in previous literature or history

anecdote

a short account of an interesting or humorous incident

apostrophe

a figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply

connotation

what a word suggests beyond its basic definition: a word’s overtones of meaning. generally described in terms of positive or negative.

denotation

the basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word

figurative language

language employing figures of speech; cannot be taken literally or only literally

juxtaposition

positioning opposites next to each other to heighten the contrast

paradox

a statement or idea, which seems to be self-contradictory, yet turns out to make good sense when examined more closely

prose

non-metrical language; the opposite of verse (poetry)

parody

an imitation of a literary, artistic, or musical piece of work for the purpose of poking fun at the original

satire

the ridicule of something, with the purpose of inspiring reform, using techniques of exaggeration, understatement, irony, or absurdity

syntax

word organization and order

verse

metrical language; the opposite of prose 

flat character

a character whose character is summed up in one or two traits. only one side of the character can be seen. think 2d

round character

a character whose character is complex and many sided; think 3d

foil character

a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight various features of that other character’s personality, throwing these characters into sharper focus

dynamic character

a character who during the course of a story undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of a character or outlook

static character

a character who is the same sort of person at the end of a story as at the beginning

stock character

a stereotyped character

aside

a brief speech where a character turns from addressing a character to the audience; lets the audience know what the character truly feels and thinks, instead of what they show

colloquial

informal, conversational language

soliloquy

a device often used in drama where a character relates their thoughts and feelings to themselves and the audience without addressing any of the characters. similar to monologue

dramatic irony

incongruity between what a characters says/thinks/does and what the reader knows to be true. the reader knows more about a character’s situation than the character does

situational irony 

a situation in which there is an incongruity between appearance and reality / expectation and fulfillment / actual situation and what would seem appropriate

verbal irony

when what is said is the opposite of what is meant (ie. sarcasm)

alliteration

the repetition of initial consonant sounds

assonance

the repetition of vowel sounds

oxymoron

two words placed close together which are contradictory

consonance

the recurrence of similar consonant sounds in close proximity