Literary Devices and Character Analysis: Key Terms for English Literature

Allusion

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

Anecdote

A short account of an interesting or humorous incident

Cacophony

A harsh, discordant, unpleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds

Euphony

A smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds

Genre

A type or class, such as poetry, drama, etc.

Imagery

The representation through language of sensory experience

Mood

The pervading impression of a work

Prose

Non-metrical language; the opposite of verse/poetry

Theme

The main idea, or message, of a literary work. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and may be implied rather than stated explicitly.

Tone

The writer's or speaker's attitude toward the subject, the audience, or herself or himself; the emotional coloring, or emotional meaning, of a work

Topic

The subject matter or area of a literary work. Not to be confused with theme.

Setting

The context in time and place in which the action of a story occurs

Symbol (literary)

Something that means more than what it is; an object, person, situation, or action that in addition to its literal meaning suggests other meanings as well, a figure of speech which may be read both literally and figuratively.

Voice

The distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or a character in a book

Antagonist

Character in a story or poem who opposes the main character (protagonist). Sometimes the antagonist is an animal, an idea, or a thing.

Character

(1) Any of the persons involved in a story or play (2) The distinguishing moral qualities and personal traits of a character

Characterization

The process of conveying information about characters

Deuteragonist

The second most important character, after the protagonist, often a foil or eventual antagonist

Direct Characterization

A method of characterization in which the author, by exposition or analysis, tells us directly what a character is like, or has someone else in the story do so

Dynamic character

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

Flat character

A character whose character is summed up in one or two traits

Foil

A character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight various features of that other character's personality, throwing these characteristics into sharper focus.

Hero

A man who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for bold exploits, and favored by the gods

Hubris

Overbearing and excessive pride

Indirect Characterization

That method of characterization in which the author shows us a character in action, compelling us to infer what the character is like from what is said or done by the character

Protagonist

The main character of a novel, play, or film

Round character

A character whose character is complex and many sided.

Static character

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

Tragic Flaw

A flaw in the character of the protagonist of a tragedy that brings the protagonist to ruin or sorrow.

Aside

A brief speech in which a character turns from the person being addressed to speak directly to the audience; a dramatic device for letting the audience know what a character is really thinking or feeling as opposed to what the character pretends to think or feel.

Colloquial

Informal, conversational language.

Dialogue

A conversation between characters in a drama or narrative.

Diction

Word choice.

Euphemism

Substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term for a harsh, blunt, or offensive one.

Figure of speech

Broadly, any way of saying something other than the ordinary way; more narrowly (and for the purposes of this class) a way of saying one thing and meaning another.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used in the service of truth.

Proverb

A short saying conveying a universal truth. 'Actions speak louder than words.'

Soliloquy

A device used in drama where a character reveals his or her private thoughts and feelings to himself/herself and by way of the technique - the audience.

Understatement

A figure of speech that consists of saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants.

Exposition

The part of a play (usually at the beginning) that provides the background information needed to understand the characters and the actions.

Conflict

A clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals in the plot of a story or drama. Conflict may exist between the main character and some other person or persons; between the character and some external force—physical nature, society, or 'fate'; or between the main character and some destructive element in his or her own nature. A struggle that takes place in a character's mind is called internal conflict.

Rising Action

The development of plot in a story that precedes and leads up to the climax.

Climax

The turning point or high point of the story.

Falling Action

The action immediately following the climax that reveals the aftereffects of the events of the climax.

Resolution/Denouement

The conclusion of the story. The part in which conflicts are resolved (or remain unresolved). Sometimes a hint at the future of the characters is given.

Irony

A situation, or a use of language, involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy.

Dramatic irony

An incongruity of discrepancy between what a character says or thinks and what the reader knows to be true (or between what a character perceives and what the author intends the reader to perceive).

Irony of situation (AKA Situational Irony)

A situation in which there is an incongruity between appearance and reality, or between expectation and fulfillment, or between the actual situation and what would seem appropriate.

Verbal irony

A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant.

Epistolary novel

A novel written as a series of letters or documents.

First person point of view

The story is told by one of its characters, using the first person.

Flashback

A literary device in which an earlier event is inserted into a narrative.

Flashforward

A literary device in which a later event is inserted into a narrative.

In medias res

A Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning, establishing setting, character, and conflict via flashback and expository conversations.

Limited omniscient point of view

The author tells the story, using the third person, but is limited to a complete knowledge of one character in the story and tells us only what that one character thinks, feels, sees, or hears.

Linear structure

A plot that follows a straight-moving, cause and effect, chronological order.

Objective point of view

The author tells the story, using the third person, but is limited to reporting what the characters say or do; the author does not interpret their behavior or tell us their private thoughts or feelings.

Omniscient point of view

The author tells the story, using the third person, knowing all and free to tell us anything, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and why they act as they do.

Narrator

The speaker or the 'voice' of an oral or written work. Although it can be, the narrator is not usually the same person as the author.

Participant narrator

A narrator who is a protagonist or participant in any action that may take place in the story.

Observer narrator

A narrator who is someone indirectly involved in the action of a story.

Non participant narrator

A narrator who is not at all involved in any action of the story.

Nonlinear structure

When the plot is presented in a non-causal order, with events presented in a random series jumping to and from the main plot with flashbacks or flashforwards.

Point of View

The angle of vision from which a story is told.

Stream of consciousness

Narrative which presents the private thoughts of a character without commentary or interpretation by the author.

Unreliable narrator

A narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised. Unreliable narrators are usually first-person narrators.

Catastrophe

The concluding action of a classical tragedy containing the resolution of the plot.

Comic Relief

A humorous incident introduced into a serious literary work in order to relieve dramatic tension or heighten emotional impact.

Dilemma

A situation in which a character must choose between two courses of action, both undesirable.

Deus ex machina

The resolution of a plot by use of a highly improbable chance or coincidence.

Indeterminate ending

An ending in which the central problem or conflict is left unresolved.

Paradox

A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements.

Plot

The sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed.

Suspense

That quality in a story that makes the reader eager to discover what happens next and how it will end.

Subplot

A plot subordinate to the main plot of a literary work.