Hoxie's Literary Terms

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vantage point from which a narrative is told: Narrator Point Of View
repetition of consonant sounds: Consonance
the use of phrases, clauses, or sentences that are similar or complementary in grammatical structure or in meaning: Paralellism
a four-line stanza (quatre is french for four): Quatrain
a person or animal who takes part in a piece of literature: Character
a figure that seems godlike in its magnificence or power: Apotheosis
use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning (crack, bang): Onomatopoeia
an eight-line stanza: Octave
several phrases joined without using conjunctions between them (...that government of the people, by the people, for the people... - Preamble to Constitution Of The USA): Asyndeton
a play on words. Involves using a word or a phrase that has two different meanings at the same time. ("The smell of the chicken coup was, indeed, most FOWL." not foul.): Pun
a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement ("He would walk a million miles to see her smile."): Hyperbole
a poem, usually a short one, that expresses a speaker's thoughts or feelings or describes something emotional: Lyric Poem
contrast between what is stated and what is really meant ("Sure, I would be glad to slave all night and not get paid!"): Irony
latin for the "Seize the day": Carpe Diem
a narrative poem in which one or more characters speak: Dramatic Poem
a point in a literary work where something changes-the tone, the diction, the syntax, the point of view of the narrator: Shift
the attitude a writer takes toward his or her subject: Tone
when a question is asked that requires no one to answer it: Rhetorical Question
repeating the same wording at the beginning of phrases (Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition! - William Shakespear): Anaphora
a figure of speech in which a part is used to stand for the whole. (A hand on the ranch): Synecdoche
a poem of mourning, usually over the death of an individual, it may also be a lament over an event: Elegy
the general idea or insight about life that a writer wishes to express in a literary work: Theme
a sudden moment of enlightenment for a character: Epiphany
joining grammatical elements with "and" to build up a sense of labor or create an emphasis ("The Okies toiled and starved and cried and prayed."): Polysyndeton
a group of lines in a poem, many poems are divided into stanzas that are separated by spaces: Stanza
a scene in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem that interrupts the action to show an: Flashback
opposites (big and small, dark and light): Antithesis
figure of speech that substitutes something closely related for the thing actually meant (White House instead of the President of the U.S.): Metonymy
a kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners: Dramatic Monologue
words that, together, produce a word picture: Imagery
a five-line stanza (cinq is five in french, by the way): Cinquain
a break in a line of poetry using grammatical tools such as a period, semi-colon, colon, or dash: Caesura
a purging of emotions; a cleansing of the spirit (used in Greek tragedies): Catharsis
the part or parts of a work, both long or short, where the total meaning comes to light at once (epiphany for the reader): Crux
a statement that reveals the truth but at first seems contradictory ("One must feel pain to appreciate life."): Paradox
the "dictionary" meaning of a word: Denotation
writing that ridicules or holds up to contempt the faults of individuals or groups, it can be gentle or extremely harsh: Satire
language and its many shapes and forms, both oral and written: Rhetoric
a fourteen-line poem with a single theme: Sonnet
a list of items in a series: Cataloguing
a speech made by one character who is alone and thus reveals his/her private thoughts to the audience in an aside, a method to convey thoughts of a character: Soliloquy
to place side by side-usually creates special effects in literary selection: Juxtapose
the comparison of two unlike things using the words "like" or "as" (Her eyes were as blue as the sea): Simile
figure of speech in which a non-human subject is given human characteristics: Personification
whatever is opposing the protagonist in a story, the bad guy: Antagonist
tells a story in verse: Narrative Poem
repetition of initial consonant sounds ("She sells sea shells down by the sea shore"): Alliteration
the untying of the plot, usually at the end of a work of literature, where all is explained: Denouement
a two-line stanza in which the ending words rhyme (I'm a poet, and I didn't even know it): Couplet
a struggle between two opposing forces in a story, novel, play, or narrative poem: Conflict
a reference to a person, a place, an event, or piece of literature the writer expects the reader to know: Allusion
when an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inhuman is addressed directly (Oh apple, why are you so bruised?): Apostrophe
all the emotions and associations that a word or phrase may arouse (differs from person to person): Connotation
the repetition of vowel sounds (Hear the mellow wedding bells. - Edgar Allan Poe, "The Bells" ): Assonance
character developement: actions, dialogue, direct narrator statement, what others say about a character: Characterization
clues in a literary work that suggest events that have yet to occur: Foreshadowing
rhythmical pattern of a poem, usually a set number of syllables per line of verse: Meter
figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory ideas or terms ("microsoft works" or "jumbo shrimp"): Oxymoron
a character who provides a contrast to another character, his or her opposite, to emphasize the characterization more clearly: Foil
the character on whom the action centers and with whom the reader sympathizes most: Protagonist
a seven line stanza: Heptastich
a deliberate understatement in the opposite sense ("he was not unmotivated"): Litotes
the time and place in which a story or poem occurs: Setting
a three-line stanza: Tercet
poetry not written in a regular rhythmical pattern; uses devices but is free, no ending rhyme: Free Verse
the ways words and punctuation combine in writing, the mechanics of a piece: Syntax
in poetry, the running together of lines of verse without ending punctuation: Enjambment
a recurring feature in a work of literature, generally occurs through a work and often is symbolic: Motif
regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem or stanza: Rhyme Scheme
a direct comparison of two unlike things ("the classroom is a jungle"): Metaphor
a six-line stanza: Sestet

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