lit terms
Allusion
a brief, indirect reference to a famous person, place, event, book, or piece of art
Apostrophe
Example: referencing the Bible
Chiasmus
Repetition of any group of verse elements (including rhyme and grammatical structure) in reverse order, such as the rhyme scheme ABBA.
Example: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”
Connotation/denotation
Denotation is the literal, dictionary definition of a word, while connotation is the emotional or cultural feeling and association that the word carries.
Example: snake ( the animal), snake(a traitor
diction
an author's specific choice and arrangement of words. It shapes a text's tone, reveals character traits, and establishes the overall style of a work.
Example: Formal / High: Sophisticated, polite, and proper grammar (found in academic or classic texts)
elegy
a serious poem or song that expresses sorrow, grief, or lamentation, usually mourning someone who has died
epithet
a descriptive word or phrase that accompanies or replaces a person's or thing's name to highlight a key characteristic
Example: An example of an epithet is "the Great" in "Alexander the Great," which is a descriptive word or phrase added to a name to highlight a key quality.
euphemism
a polite, indirect expression used in place of a harsh, blunt, or taboo word to soften an unpleasant reality
Example: Saying someone "passed away" or "went to a better place" instead of "died".
farce
a comedy in which everything is absolutely absurd
Characters swap roles or misunderstand who others are, creating chaos.
hyperbole
a figure of speech that uses extreme exaggeration to make a point, show strong emotion, or add humor
imagery
Imagery in literature is descriptive language that engages the reader's physical senses to create vivid mental pictures
irony
a contrast or gap between expectation and reality, or between what is said and what is meant.
juxtaposition
a technique where an author places two or more characters, settings, images, or ideas side by side to highlight their differences or unexpected similarities
metaphor
a technique where an author places two or more characters, settings, images, or ideas side by side to highlight their differences or unexpected similarities
mood
the overall atmosphere or the emotional feeling that a text evokes in the reader
simile
a figure of speech that compares two different things using the words "like" or "as" to highlight a shared quality
metonymy
a figure of speech where an author replaces a word or concept with a different word that is closely linked or associated with it
paradox
a statement, character, or situation that appears to contradict itself, yet actually reveals a deeper, hidden truth
parody
a work that mimics the style, tone, or ideas of another original work or genre in an exaggerated way, usually to create humor or critical commentary
point-of-view
the perspective or narrative voice that an author uses to tell a story and share information with the reader
personification
a literary device where writers give human traits, emotions, or actions to non-human things like objects, animals, or abstract ideas
onomatopoeia
a figure of speech in which a word imitates, mimics, or suggests the natural sound of the thing it describes
oxymoron
a figure of speech that places two contradictory or opposite words side by side to create a new, thought-provoking meaning
rhetorical question
a figure of speech formatted as a question that is asked to make a point, create dramatic effect, or persuade rather than to get an actual answer
Satire
Definition: The use of humor, irony, and exaggeration to both expose and critique. It makes fun of an idea, person, or thing not just to entertain but also to inform/make people think.
Example: Mark Twain's writing in “ The Lowest Animal”, Political cartoons
Sonnet
Definition: A fixed poetic form consisting of 14 lines written with a specific rhyme.
Elizabethan: Three quartrains, with a final rhymed couplet.
Petrarchan: Broken into two parts, the first 8 lines are the octave, the second 6 lines are the sestet
Example: Sonnet 18, william shapeskere and The Cross of Snow by Longfellow.
Symbol
Definition: A person, thing, object, or place that stands for something/has a physical meaning.
Example: The A in The Scarlet Letter and Ethan's son's plagiarized essay symbolizing moral decay.
synecdoche
Definition: A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole
Examples: “ hands” referring to hired workers in Of Mice and Men, “ boots on the ground” referring to the people wearing the boots.
Tone
Definition: the attitude and feeling conveyed by the speaker, author, or narrator.
Examples: anxious, peaceful.