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Allegory

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extended narrative that carries a second meaning along with the surface story; the continuity of the second meaning involves an analogous structure of ideas or events

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Alliteration

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the close repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words used for poetic effect

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Allusion

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a reference, usually brief, to a presumably familiar historical event, religious text, person, work of literature, etc.; a reference in one literary work to a character or theme found in another literary work

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Analogy

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a similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them (sometimes expressed as a simile) to explain something unfamiliar by associating it with or pointing out its similarity to something familiar

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Antagonist

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the major character in opposition to the hero or protagonist of a narrative or drama; a person or force which opposes the protagonist in a literary work.

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Anti-hero

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a type of hero lacking the traditional heroic qualities, frequently a pathetic, comic, or even antisocial figure

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Antithesis

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a rhetorical figure in which sharply opposing ideas are expressed within a balanced grammatical structure

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Aphorism

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a terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or moral principle; a memorable summation of an author's point; a brief statement which expresses an observation on life, usually intended as a wise observation.

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Apostrophe

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a figure of speech in which a person not present or a personified abstraction is addressed; a figure of speech wherein the speaker speaks directly to something non-human.

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Aside

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in theater, a short passage spoken in an undertone, usually directed to the audience; the aside is presumed to be inaudible to the other characters on stage, and, most importantly, presumed to be true; a device in which a character in a drama makes a short speech which is heard by the audience but not by other characters in the play.

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Atmosphere

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the mood established by the totality of the literary work

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Catharsis

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the feeling of relief within a reader or audience, after witnessing tragic events in the life of a literary character; a purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience; a moral and spiritual cleansing; an emphatic identification with others

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Cliché

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a timeworn expression which has lost its vitality and to some extent its original meaning

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Climax

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the moment in a play or story at which a crisis reaches its highest intensity and is resolved; the major climax may be preceded by several climaxes of lesser intensity; the decisive moment in a drama, the climax is the turning point of the play to which the rising action leads. This is the crucial part of the drama, the part which determines the outcome of the conflict.

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Colloquialism

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an expression of language that is appropriate in informal situations but not in formal ones

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Comedy

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a dramatic work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone and that usually contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict; the genre made up of such works; a literary work which is amusing and ends happily. Modern comedies tend to be funny, while Shakespearean comedies simply end well. Shakespearean comedy also contains items such as misunderstandings and mistaken identity to heighten the comic effect. Comedies may contain lovers, those who interfere with lovers, and entertaining scoundrels.

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Comic Relief

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a comic element inserted into a tragic or somber work, especially a play, to relieve its tension, widen its scope, or heighten by contrast the tragic emotion

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Coming-of-age story (Bildungsroman)

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a type of novel in which the protagonist is initiated into adulthood through knowledge, experience, or both, often by a process of disillusionment; understanding comes after the elimination of preconceptions, a destruction of a false sense of security, or the loss of innocence. Some of the shifts that take place are: ignorance to knowledge, innocence to experience, false view of world to correct view, idealism to realism, immature responses to mature responses

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Conceit

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a fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects; a far-fetched simile or metaphor, a literary conceit occurs when the speaker compares two highly dissimilar things.

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Conflict

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the opposition of two forces or characters; conflict may occur: 1) within one character; 2) between a character and society; 3) between two characters, each of whom tries to impose his will on the other.

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Connotation and Denotation

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the denotation of a word is its dictionary definition. The word wall, therefore, denotes an upright structure which encloses something or serves as a boundary. The connotation of a word is its emotional content. In this sense, the word wall can also mean an attitude or actions which prevent becoming emotionally close to a person.

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Context

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the part of a work of literature or piece of writing that precedes or follows a given word, phrase, or passage, which is used to clarify, specify, extend, or change meaning

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Convention

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A generally accepted literary device or form; a recognized structure or device in formal or standard writing

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Dialogue

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the speeches of characters in a narrative or play; a conversation between characters. One interesting type of dialogue, stichomythia, occurs when the dialogue takes the form of a verbal duel between characters.

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Dialect

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the way people speak in a certain region or area; in dialect, certain words are spelled or pronounced differently

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Diction

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the choice and arrangement of words in a literary work; diction varies according to the end a writer wishes to achieve; an author's choice of words.

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Dystopian Novel

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an anti-utopian novel in which, instead of a paradise, all goes wrong in the attempt to create a perfect society

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Elegy

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a solemn, reflective poem, often about death, written in a formal style

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Epigraph

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A brief quotation which appears at the beginning of a literary work, and usually reveals one of the themes.

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Epiphany

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a sudden spiritual manifestation which an object or action achieves as a result of the observer's apprehension of its significance; the awakening of the character to a "truth" previously unknown

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Episode

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an incident within a longer narrative, sometimes closely related to the plot, sometimes a digression

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Euphemism

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from the Greek "good speech," a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts; a mild word of phrase which substitutes for another which would be undesirable because it is too direct, unpleasant, or offensive.

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External Conflict

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a character's struggle against nature, society, or another character

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Figurative Language

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language which makes use of certain devices called "figures of speech," most of which are techniques for comparing dissimilar objects, to achieve effects beyond the range of literal language; a way of saying one thing and meaning something else.

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Figure of Speech

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any of the devices of figurative language, such as: hyperbole, metaphor, personification, etc.; an example of figurative language that states something that is not literally true in order to create an effect. Similes, metaphors and personification are figures of speech which are based on comparisons. Metonymy, synecdoche, synesthesia, apostrophe, and oxymoron are other figures of speech.

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Flashback

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a device that allows the writer to present events that happened before the time of the current narration or the current events in the fiction; techniques include memories, dreams, stories of the past told by characters, or even authorial sovereignty (the author might simply state, "But back in Tom's youth..."); useful for exposition, to inform about a character or place, or about the background to a conflict

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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. In Hamlet, Hamlet and Laertes are young men who behave very differently. While Hamlet delays in carrying out his mission to avenge the death of his father, Laertes is quick and bold in his challenge of the king over the death of his father. Much can be learned about each by comparing and contrasting the actions of the two.

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Foreshadowing

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a plot device that hints at events to follow or begins a pattern of revelation regarding a character or a theme

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Genre

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the major category into which a literary work fits; type or class of literature such as short story, nouvelle, novel, play, poem, ballad

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Hero/Heroine

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traditionally a character who has such admirable traits as courage, idealism, and fortitude; earliest heroes were often favored by the gods or were themselves semi-divine (Odysseus); the deified hero symbolized the possibility of overcoming human limitations in a hostile universe ruled by the certainty of death; the hero embodied the cultural values of his time and functioned as defender of his society

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Historical Novel or Fiction

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a narrative which utilizes history to present an imaginative reconstruction of events, using either fictional or historical personages or both

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Homily

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literally, "sermon"; any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice

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Humor

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the most general of terms denoting the laughable; the word humor is sometimes limited to gentle and sympathetic laughter and contrasted with wit, which evokes intellectual and derisive laughter

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Hyperbole

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a figure of speech in which emphasis is achieved through deliberate exaggeration; often produces irony

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Illusion

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a quality of belief which is evoked by every successful narrative or drama; if the work produces an illusion of reality, by the process of a willing suspension of disbelief, the reader can deem the work valid

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Imagery

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the use of language to descriptively represent things, actions, or even abstract ideas; imagery suggests visual pictures, but also includes other senses; a word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell, and serves to intensify the impact of the work.

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In Medias Res

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"in the middle of time"; beginning a work in the midst of action

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Irony

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a device by which a writer expresses a meaning contradictory to the stated one; the writer demands that the reader perceive the concealed meaning that lies beneath his surface statement; used for many reasons, but frequently used to create poignancy or humor • verbal: words literally state the opposite of the writer's (or speaker's) true meaning • situational: events turn out the opposite of what was expected; what the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen • dramatic: facts or events are unknown to a character in a play or piece of fiction but known to the reader, audience, or other characters in the work

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Local Color

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the use of regional detail to add interest to a narrative; It is not usually of crucial importance to the plot or for an understanding of motivation. Local color is more of a decoration - a description of the locale, dress, and customs, concerned with the picturesque

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Metaphor

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a figure of speech in which two unlike objects are compared by identification or by the substitution of one for the other; a figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without the use of the words "like" or "as."

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Mood

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the strong feeling readers get from a literary work; created by characterization, description, images, and dialogue; similar to tone and atmosphere

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Motif

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a theme, character, or verbal pattern which recurs in literature or folklore; a recurring element in a story or novel

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Narrative

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a recounting of a series of actual or fictional events in which some connection between the events is established or implied

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Objectivity

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a quality assigned to a work in which the author seems to be presenting his characters in an impersonal, noncommittal fashion without offering any judgment of them or their actions

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Onomatopoeia

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figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds of words; examples: buzz, hiss, hum, crack

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Oxymoron

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from the Greek "pointedly foolish"; a figure of speech consisting generally of two apparently contradictory terms that express a startling paradox (or difference); examples: jumbo shrimp, cruel kindness; a combination of contradictory terms.

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Parable

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a short, simple story illustrating a moral lesson; Christ's tale of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 30-7) is an example.

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Paradox

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a statement which, though it appears self-contradictory, contains a basis of truth that reconciles the seeming opposites; the apparent contradiction often concentrates the reader's attention on a particular point; John Donne's "Holy Sonnet 14" provide an example: That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, The poet paradoxically asks God to knock him down so that he may stand. What he means by this is for God to destroy his present self and remake him as a holier person.

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Parallelism

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also referred to as parallel construction or parallel structure; from Greek roots meaning "beside one another"; grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity; can involve, but is not limited to, repetition of a grammatical element such as a preposition or verbal phrase; the arrangement of equally important ideas in similar grammatical constructions (such as the same opening words or ending fragments); examples: • "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity..." A Tale of Two Cities • "I came, I saw, I conquered." Julius Caesar • "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Ulysses

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Pathos

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the quality in a work of literature which evokes from the reader feelings of pity, tenderness, and sympathy

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Periodic Sentence

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presents its central meaning in a main clause at the end; independent clause preceded by a phrase or clause that cannot stand alone; effect is to add emphasis and structural variety

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Personification

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a figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstract ideas are endowed with human qualities or action

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Point of View

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the point from which a story is seen or told; common types are: • Third-person Omniscient: godlike, allows the writer to present the inner thoughts and feelings of his characters • Third-person Limited: the point of view of a single character used as a central observer or participant • First-person Narrative: point of view is solely that of the character telling the story

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Protagonist

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the hero or central character of a literary work. In accomplishing his or her objective, the protagonist is hindered by some opposing force either human, animal, or natural

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Repetition

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duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language, such as a sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical pattern • Argumentation - proves the validity of an idea, or point of view, by presenting sound reasoning, discussion, and argument that thoroughly convinces the reader; persuasive writing is a type of argumentation that has the additional aim of urging some form of action • Description - re-creates, invents, or visually presents a person, place, event or action so that the reader can picture that which is being described; can involve the five senses; this writing may be straightforward and objective or highly emotional and subjective • Narration - tells a story or narrates an event or series of events; this writing frequently employs the tools of descriptive writing

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Rhetorical Devices

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uses of language that are particularly effective in speech or writing; those communicative devices that are used in oratory and writing to persuade the audience

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Satire

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a work that targets human vices and follies, or social institutions and conventions, for reform or ridicule; seen as a style of writing rather than a purpose for writing; thought provoking and insightful about the human condition

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Simile

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an explicit comparison, normally using like, as, or if; a comparison between two unlike things

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Static Character

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a character, often a secondary or minor character that does not change through the course of action in a literary work

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Stereotype

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a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by a group of people; an author's method of treating a character so that the character is immediately identified with a group through accent, food choices, style of dress, or any readily identifiable group characteristic. Examples are the rugged cowboy, the bearded psychiatrist, and the scarred villain.

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Structure

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the organization of elements other than words in a literary work (paragraphs, chapters, lines, scenes, etc.) and the relationship they have to each other and the total work

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Style

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the manner of expression of a particular writer, produced by choice of words, grammatical structures, use of literary devices, and all the possible parts of language use; some general styles include scientific, ornate, plain, emotive; most writers have their own particular styles; consideration of style has two purposes: • Evaluation of the sum of the choices an author makes in blending literary elements; some authors' styles can be recognized quickly; analysis can be made of an author's style to determine its appropriateness to the intended purpose • Classification of authors to a group and comparison of an author to similar authors

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Subjectivity

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a quality of writing in which the expression of personal feeling or experiences is primary; may also include the author's choice to focus on the thoughts and feelings of his characters, rather than those of the author, himself

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Suspense

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the feeling of tension or anticipation a writer creates in a work; the writer's use of subplots, incidents, and mysterious events to heighten the curiosity and apprehension of the reader

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Syllogism (Syllogistic Reasoning)

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from the Greek for "reckoning together"; a deductive system of formal logic that presents two premises - the first called "major" and the second "minor" - that inevitably lead to a sound conclusion; A syllogism's conclusion is only valid if each of the two premises is valid; example: • Major premise: All men are mortal • Minor premise: Socrates is a man • Conclusion: Socrates is mortal

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Symbol

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objects in a work, or the entire work itself, may represent an idea, person, or thing; something that on the surface is its literal self but which also has another meaning or even several meanings (a sword may be a sword and also symbolize justice); something concrete - such as an object, character, action, or scene - that represents something abstract; symbol may embody an idea; One way to categorize symbols: • Universal symbols that embody universally recognizable meanings wherever used, such as light to symbolize knowledge, a skull to symbolize death • Constructed symbols that are given symbolic meaning by the way an author uses them in a literary work, as the white whale becomes a symbol of evil in Moby Dick Another system to categorize symbols: • Natural symbols use objects and occurrences from nature to represent ideas commonly associated with them (dawn = hope, new beginning; rose = love; tree = knowledge) • Conventional symbols have been invested with meaning by a group (religious = cross or Star of David; national = flag or eagle; skull and crossbones - pirates; scales of justice = lawyers) • Literary symbols are sometimes also conventional in the sense that they are found in a variety of works and are generally recognized; however, a works' symbols may be more complicated (the whale in Moby Dick or the jungle in Heart of Darkness)

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Synecdoche

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a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole (the hand being the artist, wheels is the car, etc.)

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Syntax

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the way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences; the study of rules for the grammatical construction of sentences; the study of patterns of phrases or sentences constructed of words; when analyzing syntax, consideration should be given to: length or brevity, unusual construction, patterns, and kinds of sentences; writer may use questions, declarations, exclamations, or rhetorical questions; sentences also classified as periodic, loose, simple, compound, or complex

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Theme

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the central idea, universal truth, or insight into life, etc., expressed in a literary work; can be stated directly or indirectly; an ingredient of a literary work which gives the work unity, and provides an answer to the question "What is the work about?" Each literary work carries its own theme(s). Shakespeare's King Lear contains many themes, among which are blindness and madness. Unlike plot which deals with the action of a work, theme concerns itself with a work's message or contains the general idea of a work.

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Tone

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the author's relationship to or attitude toward his material or to his audience; a writer can be formal, informal, playful, ironic, and especially, optimistic or pessimistic, etc.; while both Swift and Pope satirize the same subjects, there is a profound difference in their tone

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Tragedy

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drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances; the story of a man and his undoing; characterized by: protagonist is a person of national or universal importance; character is influenced by a weakness or "tragic flaw", actions affect the lives of many, is given a situation to which he must react, ruined or destroyed by choices; order must be restored after the undoing of the character

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Tragic Flaw

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a weakness of personality that leads to the destruction of a tragic hero

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Understatement

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ironic minimizing of fact; presents something as less significant than it is; the effect a can be humorous or emphatic

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Verisimilitude

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the quality of literature that seems to be sufficiently probable and "real" to the reader; how fully the characters and actions in a work of fiction conform to our sense of reality; to say that a work has a high degree of verisimilitude means that the work is very realistic and believable or "true to life."

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Vernacular

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everyday spoken language of the people in a particular locality or time period; dialect

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Voice

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the sense that a written work conveys to a reader of its writer's attitude, personality, and character

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