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Allegory

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is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy

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Alliteration

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is the repetition of first consonant sound

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Allusion

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reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, myth, politics, sports, science, the arts.

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Ambiguity

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statement which has two or more possible meanings; a statement whose meaning is unclear

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Anachronism

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something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, esp. a thing or person that belongs to an earlier time

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Analogy

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a comparison of two or more like objects that suggests if they are alike in certain respects

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Anaphora

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repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.

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Anecdote

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a brief account of an interesting incident or event that usually is intended to entertain or to make a point

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Antagonist

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Counterpart to the main character and source of a story's main conflict. The person may not be "bad" or "evil" by any conventional moral standard, but he/she opposes the protagonist in a significant way.

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Anthropomorphism

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Where animals or inanimate objects are portrayed in a story as people, such as by walking, talking, or being given arms, legs and/or facial features. (This technique is often incorrectly called personification.)

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Apostrophe

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A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply

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Archetype

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the original model or pattern from which copies are made. It is also a symbol, theme, setting, or character that is thought to have some universal meaning and recurs in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, dreams, and rituals

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Assonance

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is the repetition of vowel sounds. This repetition can occur anywhere in the words.

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Asyndeton

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Is the deliberate omission of conjunctions in a series of related clauses: example: I came, I saw, I conquered.

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Cacophony

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A harsh, discordant, unpleasant sounding choice and arrangement of sounds

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Caesura

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A pause introduced into the reading of a line by a punctuation

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Characterization

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the process of revealing the personality of a character in a story, through (a) the character's speech, (b) the character's physical appearance and dress, (c) the character's inner thoughts and feelings, (d) other characters' opinions character, (e)the character's actions, or (f) direct description

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Colloquialism

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colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech

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Connotation

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the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression in addition to its explicit or primary meaning: A possible connotation of "home" is "a place of warmth, comfort, and affection."

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Consonance

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is the repetition of consonant sounds. Although its similar to alliteration, consonance is not limited to the first letters of the words

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Cynicism

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An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others - the tone word is cynical

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Declarative Sentence

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A sentence which makes a statement

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Denotation

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the explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression, basically the dictionary definition.

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Diction

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a writer's choice of words. Diction reflects the author's attitude towards his subject (tone). It is an essential element of the writer's style

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Dynamic character

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is complex in temperament and motivation; drawn with subtlety; capable of growth and change during the course of the narrative

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Enjambment

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the running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break.

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Epiphany

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a sudden moment of understanding that causes the audience or a character to change or to act in a certain way

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Ethos

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a manner of persuasion which appeals to the ethics of the audience

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Euphemism

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the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt

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Euphony

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A smooth, pleasant sounding choice and arrangement of sound

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Exaggeration

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To enlarge, increase, or represent something beyond normal bounds so that it becomes ridiculous and its faults can be seen.

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Exclamatory Sentence

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A sentence which is simply a more forceful version of a declarative sentence, marked at the end with an exclamation mark.

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Feminine Rhyme

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Is a rhyme that matches two or more syllables, usually found at the end of the verse

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Figurative language

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expressions that are not literally true

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First-person point of view

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In this case, the narrator is a character in the story who relates events in the first-person (in other words, "I remember the first time I saw her.")

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Flashback

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A reference to an event which took place prior to the beginning of a story, poem or play. It provides important information about the character or the present situation.

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Foil

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A character in a play who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison. Much can be learned about each by comparing and contrasting the characteristics of the two, often illuminating important themes.

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Foreshadowing

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when the writer provides clues or hints that suggest or predict future event in a story

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Free or Blank verse

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poetry that is free of regular meter, meaning free of a strict pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

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Hyperbole

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figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humorous effect

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Imagery

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Language that appeals to the senses. Most images are visual - that is, they appeal to the sense of sight. Images can also appeal to the senses of taste, touch, sound, or smell.

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Imperative Sentence

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A sentence which gives a direct command to someone -- this type of sentence can end either with a period or with an exclamation mark

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Incongruity

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To present things that are out of place or are absurd in relation to its surroundings

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Internal rhyme

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rhyme that occurs within the line of poetry

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Interrogative Sentence

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A sentence which asks a question

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Irony

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the discrepancy between what is said and what is meant, what is said and what is done, what is expected or intended and what happens, what is meant or said and what others understand

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Jargon

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the language, esp. the vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group

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Juxtaposition

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to place directly opposite ideas side by side or within proximity in a work of literature

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Logos

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a manner of persuasion which appeals to the logic of the audience

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Masculine rhyme

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is a rhyme on a single stressed syllable at the end of a line of poetry. This is much more common than feminine rhyme

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Metaphor

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figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, in which one thing becomes another thing.

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Metonymy

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the metaphorical substitution of one word or phrase for another related word or phrase. Example: "The pen is mightier than the sword." The word "pen" is used in place of "words" and the word "sword" is used to represent the idea of fighting or war.

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Mimetic

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characterized by, exhibiting, or of the nature of imitation or mimicry: mimetic gestures.

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Mood

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a mood or atmosphere is the feeling that a literary work conveys to readers. Mood is created through the use of plot, character, the author's descriptions

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Motif

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One of the dominant ideas in a work of literature; a part of the main theme. It may consist of a character, a recurrent image, or a verbal pattern

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Onomatopoeia

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is the use of words that sound like what they mean

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Oxymoron

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a form of figurative language combining contradictory words or ideas (ex. jumbo shrimp, bittersweet)

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Parable

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A simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson

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Paradox

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A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true

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Parallel Structure

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refers to a grammatical or structural similarity between sentence or parts of sentences. It involves an arrangement of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs so that elements of equal importance are equally developed and equally phrased: e.g., "The sun rises; the sun sets.

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Parody

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To imitate the techniques and/or style of some person, place, thing

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Pathos

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a manner of persuasion which appeals to the emotion of the audience

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Personification

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a type of metaphor in which a non-human thing or quality is talked about as if it were human.

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Point of view

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the way the events of a story are conveyed to the reader, it is the "vantage point" from which the narrative is passed from author to the reader. The point of view can vary from work to work.

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Polysyndeton

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Is the deliberate use of many conjunctions for special emphasis - to highlight quantity or mass of detail. Example: During the summer the students had to write World Literature I, and World Literature II, and the Extended Essay, and all the other assignments.

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Protagonist

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The main character in a story, the one with whom the reader is meant to identify. The person is not necessarily "good" by any conventional moral standard, but he/she is the person in whose plight the reader is most invested.

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Repetition

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repetition of sounds, or words, or of phrases is often used in poetry to create rhythm

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Reversal

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To present the opposite of the normal accepted order, accepted truths

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Rhetoric

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the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience.

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Rhetorical Sentence

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A sentence in which a question which you do not actually expect the reader to answer

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Sarcasm

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the act of saying one thing but meaning another. It can be related to a character's speech, and narrator's or writer's tone.

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Satire

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A literary work that ridicules its subject through the use of techniques such as exaggeration, reversal, incongruity, and/or parody in order to make a comment or criticism about it

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Simile

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figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, in which one thing becomes another thing, using the words like, or as.

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Simple Sentence

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A sentence which contains one independent clause

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Soliloquy

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a dramatic form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or reveals his thoughts without addressing a listener.

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Static character

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is built around a single idea or quality and unchanging over the course of the narrative

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Stream of consciousness

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Writing in which a character's perceptions, thoughts, and memories are presented in an apparently random form, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or syntax. Often such writing makes no distinction between various levels of reality--such as dreams, memories, imaginative thoughts or real sensory perception.

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Syllogism

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a form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion; for example, All humans are mortal, the major premise, I am a human, the minor premise, therefore, I am mortal, the conclusion

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Symbolism

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is the use of an object, a person, or a event that functions as itself but also stands for something more than itself.

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Synecdoche

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a literary technique in which the whole is represented by naming one of its parts or vice versa . Example: "You've got to come take a look at my new set of wheels." The vehicle here is represented by its parts, or wheels.

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Synesthesia

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a sensation produced in one modality when a stimulus is applied to another modality, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain color.

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Third-person point of view

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In this case the events are related by someone who is outside of the story. There are three types of third-person narration.

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Tone

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the writer, speaker, or narrator's attitude towards his subject. Tone is determined through the diction, imagery, and the connotation within the text.

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Tragic hero

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A protagonist who comes to a bad end as a result of his own behavior, usually cased by a specific personality disorder or character flaw.

IB English A1 Literary Devices – Flashcards

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