HL IB English Literary Terms Study Guide

Foundational Literary Forms and Genres

• Fiction: Literature that is based on the imagination rather than strictly on factual history or reality.
• Short Story: A fictional tale designed to be read in a single sitting.
• Novel: A work of fiction that is longer and more complex than a short story.
• Non-fiction: Writing that is rooted in facts, including forms such as the essay, speech, or biography.
• Tragedy: A serious work, usually presented as a play, in which the main character (the tragic hero) experiences defeat. This downfall is typically brought about by a tragic flaw. It depicts serious events where the protagonist, often of high rank and dignity, reaches an unhappy end; it serves as the opposite of a comedy, which concludes happily.
• Tragic Hero: The central character in a tragedy. To fit this definition, the hero must possess a tragic flaw which causes their eventual downfall.
• Tragic Flaw: A specific character flaw or error in judgment that leads to the hero's downfall. An example provided is Oedipus, whose tragic flaw was his hubris.
• Epic: A narrative poem featuring a larger-than-life hero who embodies the core values of a particular society.
• Allegory: A story where the characters, setting, and events act as symbols for abstract or moral concepts.
• Prose: Written language that is not organized into lines or verses, thereby excluding poetry.
• Satire: A style of writing that uses ridicule to highlight human weakness, vice, or folly with the goal of bringing about social reform.
• Parody: A satiric imitation of a specific work or author intended to ridicule the subject. The parodist exploits the peculiarities of an author's expression, such as a tendency to use excessive parentheses or specific favorite words. It may also target improbable plots with overly convenient events.

Elements of Plot and Narrative Structure

• Plot: The storyline or series of related events in a literary work.
• Exposition: Background information provided at the start of a story to introduce the characters and the setting.
• Complication: The onset and subsequent development of the major conflict in the story.
• Rising Action: The sequence of events that lead up to the climax.
• Crisis/Boiling Point: The specific part of the action where conflict reaches its highest tension. At this point, a decision is made or an action is undertaken to resolve the conflict, leading directly into the climax.
• Climax: The consequence of the crisis and the high point of action or tension. After the climax, no new major developments occur in the story.
• Falling Action: The events that take place after the climax but before the final resolution.
• Resolution/Denouement: The final outcome where tension and uncertainty are resolved.
• Freytag's Pyramid: A visual concept map that places a storyline on a pyramid structure. According to Gustav Freytag, a drama is divided into five parts or acts: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement/resolution.
• Foreshadowing: The use of subtle hints or clues to suggest events that have yet to occur in the plot.
• Flashback: A narrative technique where the author interrupts the chronological plot to relate events from an earlier time period.
• Suspense: A feeling of uncertainty or curiosity regarding upcoming events in the story.
• Conflict: A struggle between opposing forces.
  • Internal Conflict: A struggle within a character, where two sides of their personality or morality conflict.
  • External Conflict: A struggle between a character and outside forces or other characters.
• Dilemma: A situation in which a person is forced to choose between two equal alternatives.

Narrative Perspective and Voice

• Point of View: The perspective from which a story is told.
• Narrator: The person telling the story.
• Unreliable Narrator: Specifically associated with first-person narration, this is a narrator whose personal motives, feelings, or opinions bias and affect the telling of the story.
• First Person: The story is told by a character residing within the story (using "I").
• Third Person: The story is told by a voice outside the narrative.
  • Third Person Limited: The perspective focuses mainly on one single character; the reader knows the thoughts and feelings of only that character.
  • Third Person Omniscient: An all-knowing perspective where the reader is privy to the thoughts and feelings of all characters.
  • Third Person Objective: A perspective where the reader does not know the internal thoughts or feelings of any character.
• Persona / Mask: A personality or identity created by the author to tell the story or deliver a message. The actual author may distance themselves from the narrator's attitudes or beliefs. For instance, an author might use a narrator who is not very bright to create irony.
• Voice: A pervasive authorial presence; the "speaker" in a piece of literature.
• Stream of Consciousness: A narrative technique that presents thoughts exactly as they occur in a character's mind, reproducing the random flow of the human thought process. An example cited is Catcher in the Rye.

Characterization

• Protagonist: The central character and primary focus of interest.
• Antagonist: The person, force, or idea that opposes the protagonist.
• Direct Characterization: When the author tells the reader about a character's traits directly.
• Indirect Characterization: When the author reveals character traits through their speech, actions, thoughts, and the reactions of other characters.
• Round Character: A complex character with many different sides to their personality.
• Flat Character: A simple, two-dimensional character.
• Dynamic Character: A character who undergoes a dramatic change during the course of the story.
• Static Character: A character who remains the same and does not change by the conclusion of the work.
• Stereotype/Stock Character: A character based on a fixed or oversimplified idea of what a certain type of person or group is like.
• Foil: A character who sets off another character through strong contrast, thereby highlighting and stressing the distinctive temperament or traits of the other.

Language, Style, and Diction

• Style: The general manner of linguistic expression used by a writer.
• Tone: The writer's attitude toward the audience or the subject matter. A pedantic tone is one that is stuffy, formal, and overly focused on teaching or instruction.
• Mood: The atmosphere of a work or the feelings elicited in the reader by the author. It may reflect the tone or contrast with it.
• Diction: Word choice and the language style of the writer.
• Denotation: The literal dictionary definition of a word; its most direct and specific meaning.
• Connotation: All the meanings, associations, emotions, and impressions that a word suggests beyond its literal definition.
• Syntax: The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences; the grammatical arrangement and word order.
• Register: The level of formality in language.
• Dialect: A form of language spoken by people in a specific geographical region.
• Vernacular: The native language of a country or place, as commonly spoken by the people. Huckleberry Finn is noted as being written in the vernacular of the South.
• Colloquialism / Slang: The use of informalities or "improper" casual language in speech or writing. These are generally not acceptable for formal writing but give a work a conversational and familiar tone (e.g., Catcher in the Rye).
• Jargon: Language that is specific to a particular profession, activity, or hobby.
• Idiom: A phrase where the overarching meaning is not clear from the individual words (e.g., "I'm at the end of my rope").
• Euphemism: Substituting a mild or less negative word for a harsh or blunt one (e.g., using "pass away" instead of "die") to put something bad in a more positive or neutral light.

Rhetoric and Persuasion

• Rhetoric: The principles of writing effectively, eloquently, and persuasively.
• Rhetorical Appeals: Persuasive devices used by a writer to sway an audience's response.
  • Ethos: Persuasion based on the speaker's credentials and credibility.
  • Logos: Persuasion through logic, reason, evidence, and leading the audience toward a conclusion.
  • Pathos: Persuasion by appealing to the emotions, interests, or sympathies of the audience to gain support for an argument.
• Rhetorical Question: A statement formulated as a question that expects no answer. It is used to draw attention to a point and is generally stronger than a direct statement.
• Didactic: Writing that has the primary aim of teaching or instructing, specifically regarding moral or ethical principles.

Figurative Language and Imagery

• Figurative Language: Writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally.
• Imagery: Language that appeals strongly to the physical senses. This includes:
  • Visual: Sight.
  • Auditory: Sound.
  • Gustatory: Taste.
  • Olfactory: Smell.
  • Tactile: Touch.
  • Kinetic: Movement.
• Simile: A comparison between two basically unlike objects using the words "like" or "as."
• Metaphor: A comparison between two unlike objects without using "like" or "as."
  • Extended Metaphor: A metaphor developed at great length, appearing frequently throughout a work.
  • Conceit: A type of extended metaphor where two very unlike things are compared in several different ways.
• Personification: A type of metaphor where human qualities or attributes are given to non-human or non-animate things.
• Hyperbole / Exaggeration: Purposeful exaggeration, often used for humor or emphasis.
• Understatement: The purposeful representation of something as being less important or of a smaller magnitude than it really is.
  • Litotes: A specific form of understatement that enhances an idea by negating its opposite (e.g., saying "that was no small task" or describing a horrific scene by saying "it was not a pretty picture").
• Allusion: A brief reference to a famous person, place, thing, event, or another work of literature to evoke specific associations (e.g., "My love for you is as passionate as Romeo's for Juliet").
• Symbol: Something concrete that stands for something abstract.
  • Universal Symbol: A symbol recognized across many different cultures.
  • Archetype: A universal symbol, such as the color green representing hope, rebirth, and renewal.
• Motif: A recurring person, place, thing, idea, image, word, or situation that ties into a theme and persists throughout a work.
• Theme: The central idea, message, or insight about life within a story.

Advanced Literary Devices

• Paradox: A statement or concept that appears to be a contradiction but, upon closer inspection, reveals a truth (e.g., "war brings peace").
• Oxymoron: A technique that produces an effect through a seeming self-contradiction by conjoining contradictory terms (e.g., "cruel kindness," "deafening silence").
• Juxtaposition: A poetic and rhetorical device where normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed side-by-side to create an effect of surprise, wit, comparison, or contrast.
• Antithesis: A contrast or opposition of thoughts, usually expressed in two balanced phrases, clauses, or sentences.
• Aphorism: A terse statement of known authorship that expresses a general truth or moral principle (e.g., "All animals are equal but some are more equal than others" from Animal Farm).
• Apostrophe: Addressing someone or something that is not present as if they were actually there (e.g., "Death, be not proud").
• Cacophony: The use of harsh, unmusical, or discordant sounds to emphasize the harshness of a subject.
• Euphony: A quality of style marked by pleasing, harmonious, and agreeable sounds.
• Catharsis: Aristotle's term for the pity and fear an audience experiences while viewing the downfall of a hero.
• Parallelism / Parallel Structure: The repeated use of phrases, clauses, or sentences similar in structure and meaning to emphasize ideas, create rhythm, and make writing more forceful.
  • Extended Parallelism: The repetition of words or grammatical elements to achieve cumulative force and rhythm (e.g., the repetitive lines in "the bear went over the mountain").
• Chiasmus: An inversion in the second of two parallel phrases (e.g., "loving to live — living to love").
• Metonymy: Substituting a word for another word closely associated with it (e.g., using "the Crown" to symbolize the authority of a King or Queen).
• Synecdoche: A figure of speech where a part stands for the whole or vice versa (e.g., saying "nice wheels" to refer to a car).
• Shift: A change in feelings or perspective by the speaker/narrator, often occurring between the beginning and the end of a piece.

Irony

• Irony: The contrast between expectation and reality; a mode of expression where appearance and fulfillsment are reversed.
• Verbal Irony: When a character says one thing but means the opposite. It is often synonymous with Sarcasm, which is a particularly cutting or sneering form of irony where praise is used tauntingly to indicate disapproval.
• Situational Irony: When what happens in a situation is entirely different from (and often the opposite of) what was expected to occur (e.g., a fire house burning down).
• Dramatic Irony: When the audience or reader knows something vital that the character does not. Consequently, the character's words have a different meaning for the audience than for the character themselves (e.g., Oedipus vowing to catch the cause of the plague when the audience knows he is the cause).

Poetic and Grammatical Terms

• Alliteration: The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of words.
• Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in neighboring syllables.
• Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds within two or more words in close proximity (e.g., the "t" sounds in "but yet we trust that somehow").
• Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter, common in Shakespearean and Renaissance drama.
• Free Verse: Verse that has no regular rhyme or meter, often using natural cadences.
• End-stopped: A line of poetry that has a natural pause at the end, indicated by punctuation like a period or comma.
• Enjambed / Run-on Line: The running over of a sentence or thought from one line or couplet to the next without a pause at the end of the line.
• Adjective: A word that qualifies or modifies the meaning of a noun (e.g., "red" hat).
• Adverb: A word that qualifies or adds to the action of a verb (e.g., ran "quickly").
• Clause: A sentence or sentence-like construction contained within another sentence.
• Conjunction: A word used to connect words or constructions.
• Homophones: Words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings (e.g., "maid" and "made").
• Lexical Set: A group of words habitually used within a specific environment (e.g., "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday").

Miscellaneous Theater Terms

• Aside: Private words spoken by a character in a play to the audience or another character that are not intended to be overheard by others on stage.
• Soliloquy: A long speech delivered by a character who is usually alone on stage, used to express private thoughts or internal interests.