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Allegory

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A work with two levels of meaning - a literal on e a symbolic one. In such a work, most of the characters, objects, settings, and events represent abstract qualities. Personification is often used in traditional allegories. As in a fable or a parable, the purpose of an allegory may be to convey truths about life, to teach religious or moral lessons, or to criticize social institutions. Example: Animal Farm by George Well. In this story, the animals on the farm overthrow the humans and take over running the place. The farm politics represent real politics in the real word.

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Alliteration

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The practice of beginning several consecutive or neighboring words with the same sound Example: Allen ate apples

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Allusion

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A reference to a mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing. Example: "He was a Good Samaritan yesterday when he helped the lady start her car." This refers to the biblical story of the Good Samaritan.

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Anadiplosis

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Rhetorical device where a word or phrase at the end of a sentence or phrase is repeated at the beginning of the next sentence or phrase. Example: "When I give I give myself."

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Analogy

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Comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. Can explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or pointing out its similarity to something more familiar. Example: He is like a rock. This means he is steadfast and strong.

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Anaphora

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The repetition of the same word or group of words at the beginning or successive clauses. Example:"I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her to exercise."

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Antagonist

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The character who stands directly opposed to the protagonist. Example: Spiderman from the movie Spiderman

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Antithesis

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A direct juxtaposition of structurally parallel words, phrases, or clauses for the purpose of contrast. Example:Bitter-sweet

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Apostrophe

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A form of personification in which the absent or dead are spoken to as if present and the inanimate, as if animate. Example: Steve Jobs is visiting my house today.

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Archetype

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A pattern in literature that is found in a variety of works from different cultures throughout the ages. An archetype can be a plot, a character, an image, or a setting. Example: Spider man, Superman(stereotype of heros)

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Assonance

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The repetition of accented vowel sounds in a series of words. Example: Try to light the fire

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Asyndeton

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A deliberate omission of conjunctions in a series of related clauses; it speeds the pace of the sentence. Example: The evening whispered perfume, the twilight warmed his eyes, the dancing melted her inhibitions, the second burrito grande spoiled his moment

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Catharsis

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Release of emotion (pity and fear) from the audience's perspective. Example:Getting a tattoo of the loved one who passed away or simply allowing one self to cry.

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Characterization

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The way a writer creates and develops characters' personalities: physical description; narrator's direct comments; and character's own thoughts, speech, and actions. Direct characterization: Author makes direct statements about a character's personality and tells what the character is like. Indirect characterization: The Author reveals information about a character and his personality through that character's thoughts, words, and actions, along with how other characters respond to that character, including what they think and say about him. Examples: The patient boy and quiet girl were both well mannered and did not disobey their mother

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Characters

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Individual who participate in the action of a literary work. Flat: author chooses to emphasize a single important trait of a character. Round: author may present a complex, fully rounded personality. Static: character who changes little over the course of a narrative. Dynamic: character who undergoes important changes as the plot unfolds. Example: Spiderman

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Conflict

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The tension between opposing forces in a work of literature and an essential element of the plot. Common conflicts: man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. society. Example: Catherine is jealous of Courtny

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Connotation

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The associations, suggestions, and emotional overtones attached to a word. Example: Snake - evil or dangerous.

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Consonance

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The repetition of a consonant sound within a series of words to produce a harmonious effect. Example: He struck a streak of bad luck

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Couplet

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A rhymed pair of lines written in any rhythmic pattern. Example: Sir Lancelot was the first knight of the round table, Saying he was a coward is a complete fable

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Denotation

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The dictionary or literal meaning of a word. Example: Where a person lives at any given time.

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Dialect

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A nonstandard subgroup of a language with its own vocabulary and grammatical features. Writers often use regional dialects or dialects that reveal a person's economic or social class. Example: Dialect in Writing

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Diction

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Word choice intended to convey a certain effect. Example:"Words strain, Crack and sometimes break, under the burden, Under the tension, slip, slide, perish, Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place, Will not stay still." (T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton")

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Dramatic unities

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the play has to take place within a 24-hour period; Place - the action of the play is set in one place; and Action - The play contains one hero and one plot. Example:

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Ellipsis

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The deliberate omission of a word or words that are readily implied by the context. Example:The man looked above . . . all he could see were three black silhouettes against the bright blue sky. When the man looked above he couldn't quite believe what he saw . . . .

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Epic

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A long narrative poem on a serious subject, presented in an elevated or formal style. It traces the adventures (war and/or journey) of a great hero whose actions reflect the ideals and values of a nation or race. Epics address universal concerns, such as good and evil, life and death, and sin and redemption. Example: The Odyssey by Homer.

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Epanalepsis

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Repetition at the end of a clause of the word that occurred at the beginning of the clause; it tends to make the sentence or clause in which it occurs stand apart from its surroundings. Example: The king is dead, long live the king.

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Epithet

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A brief phrase that points out traits associated with a particular person or thing. Example: Alfred the Great and William the Conqueror

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Epiphany

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A sudden revelation of an underlying truth about a person or situation. Example: If only there were a longer time between epiphany and epitaph

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Epistrophe

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The repetition of the same word or group of words at the ends of a successive clauses; it sets up a pronounced rhythm. Example: For no government is better than the men who compose it, and I want the best, and we need the best, and we deserve the best.

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Ethos

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The rhetorical appeal to ethics (right and wrong). Example: The ethos of Ghandhi and his followers included passive resistance.

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Euphemism

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The use of a word of phrase that is less expressive or direct but considered less distasteful or offensive than another. Example:

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Figurative Language

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Language that communicates meanings beyond the literal meanings of words. Example: Simile

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Flashback

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A scene that interrupts the action of a work to show a previous event. Example: Rubashov spends hours in his prison cell thinking about his own past and reliving it, so to speak.

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Foil

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A character that provides a striking contrast to another character. By using a foil, a writer can call attention to certain traits possessed by a main character or simply enhance a character by contrast. Example: A Tale of two Cities

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Foreshadowing

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The use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest future actions. Example: When the screne builds up.

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Hamartia

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The tragic flaw that leads to the tragic hero's downfall. Example: Oedipus Rex

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Hero

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1) Archetypal Hero - the hero's life can clearly be divided into a series of well-marked adventures, which strongly suggest a ritualistic pattern. At birth, some attempt is made to kill him; however, he is spirited away and raised by foster parents. Upon reaching adulthood, he returns to his future kingdom, and after a victory of the king or a monster, marries a princess, becomes king, and reigns uneventfully until his death on a hill; (2) Epic Hero- an important figure from a history or legend, usually favored by or even partially descended from the gods, but aligned more closely with mortal/human figures. The epic hero participates in a journey or quest, faces adversaries that try to defeat him in his journey, gathers allies, and returns home significantly transformed by his journey. The epic hero is known for their courage, strength, loyalty, and intelligence; and (3) Tragic Hero - the main character in a tragedy who makes an error (tragic flaw) in his or her actions that leads to his or her downfall. Example (1): Superman Example (2): Batman Example (3): Spiderman

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Hero's Journey

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A pattern of narrative identified by Joseph Campbell that appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person Example: Shrek

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Historical Context

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In literature, a theme, subject, event, person, or belief that is grounded in a particular time period. Example: A family in the 1940's did not have much food because of the great depression that was going on during that time.

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Homeric (Epic) Simile

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A long, elaborate comparison between the hero or a god/goddess and something common or ordinary. Example:

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Hubris

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Exaggerated pride or self-confidence, many times toward god(s). Example: Bernie Maddock

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Hyperbole

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A deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration. Example: I ate the whole cow.

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Idiom

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An accepted phrase or expression having a meaning different from the literal. Example: Piece of cake - easy

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Imagery

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The words or phrases a writer uses to represent persons, objects, actions, feelings and ideas descriptively by appealing to the five senses. Example: The car was red with yellow stripes across the bumper.

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Irony

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Occurs in three types - (1) Verbal Irony occurs when a speaker or narrator says one things while meaning the opposite; (2) Situational Irony occurs when a situation turns out differently from what one would normally expect - though often the twist is oddly appropriate; and (3) Dramatic Irony occurs when a character or speaker says or does something that has different meanings from what he or she thinks it means, though the audience is and other characters understand the full implications of the speech or action. Example: It was ironic that the fire station burned down.

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Juxtaposition

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A poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas, words, or phrases are placed next to one another, often creating an effect of surprise and wit. Example: Pine limbs touch pine limbs under the blanket of snow- fox shivers alone

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Logos

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The rhetorical appeal to logic or reason. Example: Jordan

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Loose (or cumulative) sentence

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A sentence where the main clause is located at the beginning of the sentence, but continues with one or more subordinate clauses or other modifiers. Example: He went into town to buy groceries, to visit his friends, and to go to the bookstore

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Metonymy

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A form of a metaphor in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. Example: The pen is mightier than the sword

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Metaphor

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The comparison of two unlike things not using "like" or "as." Example: Time is a thief..

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Extended Metaphor

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A metaphor developed at great length, occurring frequently in or throughout a work. Example: He is the pointing gun, we are the bullets of his desire.

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Meter

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Is the measured, patterned arrangement of syllables according to stress and length in a poem. Example: A poem has meter as to the rhythm of rhymes

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Mood

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The atmosphere or predominant emotion in a literary work. Example: Accepted

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Motif

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A recurring and dominant subject or idea. Example: You could decorate a room using a sports motif if you had pictures of famous athletes, maybe a baseball bat hanging on the wall, paint the floor to look like a football field, use a hockey stick as a curtain rod, etc.

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Onomatopoeia

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The use of the words that mimic the sounds they describe. Example: Bang

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Oxymoron

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A form of paradox that combines a pair of opposite terms into a single unusual expression. Example: jumbo shrimp

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Parallelism/Parallel Structure

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A grammatical or structural similarity between sentences or parts of a sentence. It involves and arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are equally developed and similarly phrased. Example: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle.

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Paradox

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Occurs when the elements of a statement contradict each other though the statement may appear illogical, impossible, or absurd, it turns out to have a coherent meaning that reveals hidden truth. Example: Nobody goes to that restaurant, it's too crowded.

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Parody

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An imitation of another work, a type of literature, or a writer's style, usually for the purpose of poking fun. The purpose of parody may be to ridicule through broad humor, deploying such techniques as exaggeration or the use of inappropriate subject matter. Example: Americans love to poke fun at overly serious stuff

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Pathos

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The rhetorical appeal to emotions. Example: World Vision Ads

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Periodic Sentence

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A sentence which has its main clause at the end of the sentence. It forces the reader to retain information from the beginning of the sentence and often builds to a climactic statement with meaning unfolding slowly. Example: When I was a lad, every schoolboy had the sentence by heart: Unprovided with original learning, uninformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved -- to write a book.

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Personification

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A kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics. Example: The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.

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Point of View

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The perspective from which a narrative is told. Example: I was walking down the street when all of a sudden...

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Polysemous

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Words with two or more meanings; usually, multiple meanings of a word or words. Example: Park

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Polysyndeton

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The deliberate use of many conjunctions for special emphasis - to highlight quantity or mass of detail or to create a flowing, continuous sentence pattern. Example: He ran and jumped and laughed for joy.

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Plot

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The sequence of events or actions in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem. Example:

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Propaganda

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Ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause or to damage an opposing cause. Propaganda often uses repetition, outgrouping, bandwagon, and name calling. Example: An Inconvenient Truth

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Prose

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All forms of written or spoken expression that are not in verse (a.k.a. poetry). Example: "Why," you may ask, "would you use quotation marks?"

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Protagonist

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The central character of a drama, novel, short story, or narrative poem Example: Harry potter

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Pun

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A play on words that are identical or similar in sound but have sharply diverse meanings. Puns can have serious as well as humorous uses. Example: My rechargeable batteries are revolting.

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Quatrain

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A four-line stanza, or group of lines, in poetry written in a variety of meters and rhyme schemes. Example: Temple Run temple run is fun to play at least you dont jump over clay until you dont hit a tree bonus points are here to redeem

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Repetition

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The deliberate use of any element of language more than once - sound, word, phrase, sentence, grammatical pattern, or rhythmical pattern. Example: We listened to the gun fire beyond the walls. We listened to the walls being hit by shrapnel, ricochets, and blind fire, at least it's what I thought it could of been. We listened to the creaking the windows made when they opened and shut due to the wind from the outside. We listened to the cries of our men, and the prayers they made to their gods. We listened, but said nothing.

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Reversal

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Occurs when the opposite of what the hero intends is what happens. Example: Jocasta, Laius and Oedipus

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Rhetorical Question

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Change or movement in a piece resulting from an epiphany, realization, or insight gained by the speaker, a character, or the reader. Example: Is the Pope Catholic? Do bears live in the woods?

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Rhetorical Shift (or Turn)

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The repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases that appear close to each other in a poem. Example: "however," "although,"

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Rhyme

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The varying speed, intensity, elevation, pitch, loudness, and expressiveness of speech, especially poetry. Example: brain and gain

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Rhyme Scheme

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The pattern of end rhymes. Example: Whose woods these are I think I know - a His house is in the village though - a He will not see me stopping here - b To watch his woods fill up with snow -a

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Rhythm

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The varying speed, intensity, elevation, pitch, loudness, and expressiveness of speech, especially poetry. Example: Roses are red (or white) Violets are blue

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Sarcasm

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The use of verbal irony in which a person appears to be praising something but ix actually insulting it. Example: You weren't supposed to do that, smart one.

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Satire

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A literary technique in which ideas, customs, behaviors, or institutions are ridiculed for the purpose of improving society. Satire may be gently witty, mildly abrasive, or bitterly critical, and it often involves the use of irony and exaggeration to force readers to see something in a critical light. Example: The Daily Show

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Setting

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The time and place in which events in a short story, novel, or narrative poem takes place. Example: The Statue of Liberty on a friday afternoon.

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Shift (or Turn)

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The change or movement in a piece resulting from an epiphany, realization, or insight gained by the speaker, a character, or the reader. Example:

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Simile

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The comparison of two different things or ideas through the use of the words "like" or "as." It is a definitely stated comparison in which the writer/poet says one thing is like another. Example: Car is like a toy

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Social Context

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In literature, a topic (and, at times, a motif) which is found in and concerns society (no matter the time period or geological location). Example:

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Soliloquie

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A speech, in drama, in which a character speaks his or her thoughts aloud. Generally, the character is on stage alone, not speaking to other characters and perhaps not even consciously addressing an audience. Example:To Be Or Not To Be

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Sonnet

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A lyric poem of 14 lines, commonly written in iambic pentameter. The Shakespearean, or Elizabethan, sonnet consists of three quatrains and a final couplet with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. Example:

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Stanza

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A group of two or more lines that form a unit in a poem. A stanza is comparable to a paragraph in prose. Example: A paragraph of a poem.

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Style

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The writer's characteristic manner of employing language (i.e. not what the author says, but how he or she says it). The author relies on diction, syntax, tone, figurative language, etc. to reveal style. Example: Daniel Defoe uses run-on sentences in Robinson Crusoe, making it somewhat hard to follow and making the reader work to figure out what is happening.

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Suspense

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Quality of a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events. Example: My girlfriend told me he had a surprise for me , but would not tell what it was or when, or where he would give it to me.

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Symbol

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An object, person, place, or action that has both meaning in itself and that stands for something larger than itself, such as quality, attitude, belief, or value. Example: Flag

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Synecdoche

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Form of a metaphor, a part of something is used to signify the whole. Example: The word "head" refers to cattle.

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Syntax

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The arrangement of words and the order of grammatical elements in a sentence. Example: The young man carries the lady. The lady carries the young man.

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Synthesis

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The composition or combination of parts or elements so as to form a whole. Example:

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Theme

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The central message of a literary work. It is not the same as a motif or subject, which can be Expressed in a word or two (such as courage, survival, war, love, etc.). The theme is the idea the author wishes to convey about the motif or subject. It is expressed as a sentence or general statement about life or human nature (the universal message). A literary work may have move than one theme, and most themes are not directly stated but are implied. Example: Italy, dark mansion, etc.

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Thesis

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A statement of purpose; the argument. In order to be complete, a thesis must (1) answer the given prompt, (2) briefly reveal claims that prove answer, and (3) explain the significance of answer (link to theme or the bigger picture). Example: A thesis is a quick summary of the ground your paper will cover

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Tone

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The writer's or speaker's attitude toward a subject, character, or audience, and it is conveyed through the author's choice of words and detail. Example: People never believe you

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Tragic Flaw

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An error in judgment on the part of the hero that sets the tragic plot in motion. Example: Macbeth

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Tragedy

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Characterize by protagonists who are "highly renowned and prosperous," and whose reversal of fortune and fall from greatness are brought about "not by vice or depravity, but by some error" or flaw. Example: When your best friends dies in a car accident

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Understatement

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The opposite of hyperbole; a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is. Example: He was getting very hard to live with

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Voice

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Writer's unique use of language that allows a reader to "hear" a human personality in the writer's work. Can reveal much about the author's personality, beliefs, and attitudes. Example: The hikers were found by the dogs.

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