Common Literary Terms
Terms
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- Alliteration
- A pattern of sound that includes the repetition of consonant sounds.
- Allusion
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A reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another works of literature.
An example of this is when a writer refers to a Greek mythological figure, or to a character in the Bible. - Ambiguity
- Openness to different interpretations or an instance in which some use of language may be understood in diverse ways.
- Antagonist
- A character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or works against the main character, or protagonist, in some way.
- Bildungsroman
- A coming-of-age story. This is a story in which the protagonist is initiated into adulthood through knowledge, experience, or both, often by a process of disillusionment. Understanding comes after the dropping of preconceptions, a destruction of a false sense of security, or in some way the loss of innocence.
- Denouement(day-noo-mon)
- The final resolution of clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot. The events following the climax of a drama or novel in which sucha resolution or clarification takes place.
- Dialogue
- The conversation between characters in a drama or narrative.
- Epiphany
- A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something; a comprehension or perception of reality by means of sudden intuitive realization. Dr. House has an epiphany in just about every episode of the popular t.v. show "House" when he realizes what is really wrong with a patient just minutes before they die, or before the episode ends. And they all lived happily ever after...
- Hyperbole
- An extravagant exaggeration. An example is the tales of Paul Bunyon, Pecos Bill, and other "tall tales" form Western America.
- Irony
- Refers to how a person, situation, statement, or circumstance is not as it would actually seem. Many times it is the exact opposite of what it appears to be. The three most common types of irony are verbal, dramatic, and cosmic.
- Metaphor
- A figure of speech in which one thing, idea, or action is referred to by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea, or action, so as to suggest some common quality shared by the two.
- Motif
- A recurrent image, word, phrase, represented object or action that tends to unify the literary work or that may be elaborated into a more general theme.
- Narrative
- A collection of events that tells a storym which may or may not be true, placed in a particular order and recounted through either telling or writing.
- Narrator
- The voice that relates the events, actions, ideas, emotions, etc. that occur in a work.
- Personification
- A figure of speech where animals, ideas, or inorganic objects are given human characteristics.
- Plot
- The pattern of events or main story in a narrative or drama.
- Point of view
- The vantage point from which the narrative is passed from author to reader.
- Protagonist
- The main character or lead figure in a work. It may also be referred to as the "hero" of a work.
- Setting
- The time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a situation occurs. Settings include the background, atmosphere, or environment in which characters live and move, and usually include physical characteristics of the surroundings.
- Simile
- Language that does not mean exactly what it says, that makes a comparison between two otherwise unlike objects or ideas by connecting them with the words "like" or "as."
- Subtext
- The meaning beneath the surface or obvious meaning. There are often many subtexts in a work. These subtexts often emerge after closer study of a work.
- Symbol
- A word or objectthat stands for another word or object. The object or word can be seen with the eye, or be invisible. For examble, the dove stands for peace.
- Theme
- A common thread or repeated idea that is incorporated thougout a literary work.
- Tone
- The mood or attitude present in a work. Authors establish tone both with the words they use as well as their descriptions of characters and settings.