Literary Terms (Definitions)

Allegory

Extends a metaphor with meanings found outside the text

Alliteration

Repetition of the same consonant sounds

Allusion

A indirect reference to something

→ From politics, literature, science, sports, etc

Ambiguity

Multiple meanings

Analogy

Two things that are compared to show how alike they are

Antecedent

Words or phrase referred to by pronouns

Antithesis

The direct opposite of ideas

Aphorism

A memorable truth or principle from an author

Apostrophe

Implies personification of an object addressed

Atmosphere

Creates a mood by the entirety of a literary world

Caricature

To exaggerate or distort by a verbal description

Clause

Contains both a subject and a verb; grammatical unit

Colloquial/Colloquialism

Informality/slang in writing

Conceit

Intellectual cleverness as a result from a unusual comparison

Connotation

Associated meaning of a word

Denotation

Literal definition of a word

Diction

A authors writing style

Didactic

Teaching morals

Euphemism

Better substitute for a offensive substitute

Extended Metaphor

Metaphor occurring frequently

Figurative Language

Writing/speech that is not literal

Figure of speech

Device to produce figurative language

Generic conventions

Traditions for each genre; helps define

Genre

Main/major category in a literary work

Homily

Involves moral or spiritual advice seriously

Hyperbole

Exaggeration

Imagery

Sensory details typically with the 5 senses

Inference/Infer

Reasonable conclusions from listening

Invective

Violence through abusive language

Irony/Ironic

Contrast between what is stated and what it really means

Litotes

Something smaller or worse than it actually is

Loose sentence

The main idea comes first followed by dependent units

Metaphor

Implied comparisons of unlike things

Metonymy

A figure of speech that changes a name to another thing similar

Mood

atmosphere/aura of a work

Non-periodic sentence

The dependent units comes first followed by the main idea