Short Story Literary Terms

Analogy

A point by point comparison between two things that are alike in some respect

Antagonist

Usually the principle character in opposition to the protagonist.

Character

People who take part in the action of a story.

Internal Conflict

Involves a character pitted against themselves

External Conflict

Involves a character pitted against an outside force

Connotation

This refers to the attitudes and feelings associated with a word

Denotation

This is the literal or dictionary meaning of that word.

Dialect

A form of language as it is spoken in a particular geographic area or by a particular social or ethnic group.

Dialogue

A written conversation between two or more characters.

Figurative Language

Language that communicates ideas beyond the ordinary, literal meaning of a word

Flashback

A conversation, episode, or even that happened before the beginning of the story.

Foreshadowing

A writer’s use of hints or clues to indicate events and situations that will occur later in the plot.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or for humorous effect.

Imagery

Consists of descriptive words or phrases that re-create sensory experiences for the reader.

Situational Irony

The contrasts between what a reader/character expects and what exists/happens

Dramatic Irony

Where the reader/viewer knows something that a character doesn’t.

Verbal Irony

When someone knowingly exaggerates or says one thing and means another.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that compares two things that are basically unlike but have something in common.

Mood

The feeling or atmosphere a writer creates.

Narrator

A character or voice whose point of view events are told.

Paradox

A statement that seems to contradict itself but is really true.

Personification

A figure of speech in which human qualities are attributed to an object, animal, or idea.

Plot

The sequence of events in a story.

Point of View

The method of narrating in a piece of writing.

Protagonist

The central character or hero in a narrative or drama.

Setting

The time and place of action in a story.

Stereotype

Simplified or stock characters who conform to a fixed pattern and/or defined by a single trait.

Symbol

A person, place, activity, or object that stands for something beyond itself.

Symbolism

A literary device where characters, objects, actions, or ideas are ingrained or associated with a deeper meaning beyond the literal sense

Theme

The main idea in a work of literature.

Tone

The attitude a writer takes toward a subject

Understatement

A technique of creating emphasis by saying less than is actually or literally true.