Literary Terms

abstract/concrete

allegory

alliteration

allusion

ambiguity

anachronism

analogy

anaphora

antagonist

antanaclasis

antecedent

anticlimax

antihero

antimetabole

antithesis

aphorism

apostrophe

apotheosis

archetype

asyndeton

aside

assonance

aubade

ballad

bildungsroman

blank verse

byronic

cacophony

caesura

caricature

catharsis

characterization (including methods, etc.)

chiasmus

clause

climax/crisis

colloquial

complex sentence

compound sentence

compound-complex sentence

conceit

confessional poetry

conflict

consonance

conventional character

connotation

couplet

decasyllabic lines

denotation

denouement

deus ex machina

dialect

diction

didactic

direct speech

dissonance

distortion

elegy

end-stopped

enjambment

epic

epigram

epigraph

epiphany

epistolary novel

epistrophe

epithet

ethos

euphemism

euphony

exposition

fable

farce

figurative language

flashback

flat character

foil

foreshadowing

free indirect speech

free verse

genre

heroic couplet

hubris

hyperbole

idiolect

imagery

imperative sentence

in medias res

interior monologue

interrogative sentence

intrusive narration

inversion

irony

lexis

litotes

logos

loose sentence

lyric poetry

metaphor

meter

metonymy

Modernism

monosyllabic

motif

myth    

onomatopoeia

oxymoron

parable

paradox

parallelism

parody

pastoral

pathetic fallacy

pathos

periodic sentence

persona

personification

phrase

picaresque

plosive

plot

point of view (know various types: see handout for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, objective, etc.)

polysyllabic

polysyndeton

Postmodernism

prolepsis

prose

protagonist

pun

quatrain

Realism

refrain

register

resolution

rhetoric

rhetorical question

Romance/Romanticism

rhyme – (exact/slant/eye; internal/end/masculine/feminine)

satire

sestet

setting

shift

sibilance

simile

soliloquy

stanza

stereotype or stock character

stichomythia

stream of consciousness

structure

style

subtext

Surrealism

symbol

sympathetic or unsympathetic character

synecdoche

synesthesia

syntax

tense

theme

tone

tongue in cheek

tragic flaw

transition/segue

travesty

understatement

verisimilitude

vernacular

verse

Victorian

voice

volta

zeugma