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Glossary of literary terms 1-28

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a dramatic literary, or pictoral device in which each object, character, and event symbolically illustrates a moral or religious principle
allegory
words and phrases that re-create vivid sensory experiences for the reader

ex."The boom of the tingling strings."

imagery
the repetition of initial consonant sounds

ex.Peter Picked a Peck of Pickeled Peppers
alliteration

a writer's use of hints or clues to indicate events that will occur later in a narrative
foreshadowing
connecting of a thing, of a person, or happening with another that came after in history; anything that seems to be out of place in history

ex.A Connecticuit Yankee in King Arthur's Court
anachronism
a writers choice of words
diction
an indirect reference to a historical or literary person, place, thing, or event with which the reader is assumed to be familiar

ex.Oh Brother Where Art Thou-The Oddessy
allusion
the part of a literary work that provides the background information necessary to understand characters and their actions
exposition
dynamic characters _____
change
writing that appears to the senses
description
a literal or dictionary meaning
denotation
a term, word, or phrase used to characterize a person or thing; an abusive phrase or word

ex."Alexander the Great"
epithet
a language that communicates ideas beyond the literal meanings of the words
figure of speech
a dramatic work that is light and often humerous in tone, usually ending happily with a peaceful reesolution of the main conflict
comedy
debating, offering reason for or against a subject
argument
two kinds of conflict
external-man v. man/nature

&

internal-man v. self
a brief nonfiction composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal views of the writer
essay
the struggle between opposing foreces and is the basis of a plot in dramatic and narrative literature
conflict
an account of a converstion, an episode, or an event that happened before the begining of a story
flashback
a brief, fictitious story embodying a moral and using persons, animals, or inanimate objects as characters; a false hood; a lie
fable
feeling, or mood, that a writer creates for the reader
atmosphere
a writer's account of his or her own life and is, in almost every case, told from the first-person point of view
autobiography
the individuals who participate in the action of a literary work
character
the act of inverting or the state of behing inverted; that which is inverted

inversion
literature that developes plot and character through dialogue and action in other words; drama is literature in play form
drama
a long narrative poem on a serious subject, presented in an elevated or formal style

ex.The Illiad and The Odessey
epic
the emotional response evoked by a word, in contrast to its denotation
connotation
static characters _____
stay the same
a play that prompts laughter through rediculous situations, exaggerated behavior and language, and physical comedy

farce
the particular variety of a language spoken in a definite place by a distinct group of people
dialect
an account of a person's life written by another person
biography

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