Literary Terms

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Allegory

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Allegory

A literary work that portrays abstract ideas concretely.

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Alliteration

Repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in a sequence.

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Anachronism

An error of chronology or timeline in a literary piece.

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Anagnorisis

The startling discovery that produces a change from ignorance to knowledge.

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Anapestic

A metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable.

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Antithesis

A person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else.

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Aphorism

A pithy observation that contains a general truth.

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Adage

A short, memorable saying based on facts and considered a veritable truth.

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Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, art, history, or current events.

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Anaphora

Repetition of an initial word or words to add emphasis.

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Antagonist

Character who opposes the protagonist and creates or intensifies a conflict.

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Apostrophe

A direct address to an abstraction, thing, animal, or absent person.

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Archetypal hero

A hero in literature who possesses great qualities and overcomes obstacles.

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Archetype

A very typical example of a certain person or thing; universal recurrent symbol or motif.

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Aside

A dramatic device in which a character speaks to the audience.

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Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of words.

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Ballad

A sung poem that recounts a dramatic story.

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Bathos

An effect of anticlimax created by a shift from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous.

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Biblical Free Verse

Biblical poetry without a rhyme scheme or consistent metrical pattern.

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Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter, closest to natural patterns of speaking in English.

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Bombastic

Pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language.

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Cacophony

A combination of words or phrases that sound harsh and unpleasant.

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Cadence

Quality of spoken text formed from combining rhythm and inflection.

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Caesura

A pause within a line of poetry, often mirroring natural speech.

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Carpe Diem

A theme meaning 'seize the day' and enjoy the present.

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Catastrophe

The action at the end of a tragedy that initiates the falling action.

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Catharsis

The emotional release felt by the audience at the end of a tragic drama.

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Climax

The point in a story when the conflict reaches its highest intensity.

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Comedy

A dramatic work with a light, amusing plot and a happy ending.

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Comedy of Manners

A satiric dramatic form that lampoons social conventions.

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Conceit

A metaphor that compares two very unlike things in a surprising and clever way.

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Conflict

The tension, opposition, or struggle that drives a plot.

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Connotation

Meanings or associations readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition.

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Consonance

Identical final consonant sounds in nearby words with different vowel sounds.

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Couplet

A two-line, rhyming stanza.

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Dactylic Foot

A stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones.

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Denotation

The literal definition of a word.

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Denouement

The phase of a story's plot where the conflict has been resolved.

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Deus ex Machina

A god who resolves the entanglements of a play by supernatural intervention.

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Dirge

A brief hymn or song of lamentation and grief, typically performed at a funeral.

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Doggerel

A low, loosely constructed form of verse often used for comedy and satire.

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Double Entendre

A phrase or figure of speech with multiple senses or interpretations.

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Dramatic monologue

A poem in which the speaker addresses an audience that is present in the poem.

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Euphony

Pleasing harmony of sounds achieved through the use of serene imagery.

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Elegy

A contemplative poem on death and mortality, often written for someone who has died.

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End stopped lines

Lines of poetry that conclude with punctuation, marking a pause.

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English sonnet

A fourteen-line poem with three quatrains and a couplet, rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

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Enjambment

A poetic technique in which one line continues to the next without a pause.

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Epigram/epigraph

A brief witty poem, often satirical.

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Epiphany

A character's transformative moment of realization.

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Exposition

Contextual and background information about characters, plot, setting, and situation.

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Fable

A brief story with an explicit moral provided by the author.

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Falling action

The phase of a plot that follows the climax and resolves the conflict.

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Farce

A dramatic form marked by absurd situations, slapstick, and raucous wordplay.

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Foil

A character who contrasts and parallels the main character.

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Foreshadowing

Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or story.

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Free Verse

Poetry without a regular rhythm or rhyme scheme.

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Hamartia

A concept used to describe tragedy.

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Heroic Couplet

Rhyming pairs of verse in iambic pentameter.

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Homily

A sermon or speech that offers a moral change in direction.

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Hubris

An extreme expression of pride or self-confidence in a character.

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Hyperbole

Deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or to produce a comic or ironic effect.

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Iambic

A metrical foot made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one.

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Imagery

A description of how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, or sounds.

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Implied Author

The source of a work's design and meaning inferred by readers from the text.

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Implied Reader

The author's image of the recipient fixed and objectified in the text.

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In Media Res

A technique in which a narrative begins in the middle of the action.

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Irony - Verbal

A figure of speech where what is said is the opposite of what is meant.

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Irony - situational

A discrepancy between what is expected and what actually happens.

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Irony - Dramatic

Tension created by the contrast between what a character says or thinks and what the audience knows to be true.

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Irony - cosmic

Irony involving fate and destiny controlling human hopes and desires.

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Italian Sonnet

A fourteen-line poem with an octave and a sestet, rhyme scheme abba, abba, cdecde.

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Juxtapose (Juxtaposition)

Placing two things side by side for comparison or contrast.

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Litote

A form of understatement in which a sentiment is expressed ironically by negating its contrary.

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Lyric poetry

Poetry with a musical rhythm that explores romantic feelings or strong emotions.

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Malapropism

The mistaken use of an incorrect word resulting in a nonsensical or humorous utterance.

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Meiosis

A figure of speech that intentionally understates something or implies it is lesser in significance or size.

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Melodrama

Plays with stereotyped villains and heroes representing extremes of good and evil.

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Metaphor

A figure of speech that compares or equates two things without using like or as.

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Metaphysical conceit

A striking analogy between two entities that would not usually invite comparison.

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Metonymy

A figure of speech in which something is represented by another thing related to it.

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Metrics

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line.

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Miracle and morality plays

Allegorical dramas that personify moral values and abstract ideas to teach lessons.

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Mock Heroic

Poems that use a grand and formal style to describe a common or trivial subject.

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