Literary Glossary
The green pages. Basic literary terms.
Terms
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- irony
- the opposite of what is expected. a reality different from appearance.
- falling action
- all action that takes place after the climax.
- alliteration
- the repetition of initial consonant or vowel sounds in two or more successive or nearby words.
- onomatopoeia
- a figure of speech that uses words to imitate sound.
- rhyme scheme
- the pattern of rhyming words. the last word in each line is assigned a letter of the alphabet beginning with a.
- consonance
- the repetition of a consonant the end of two or more words.
- rising action
- the path of the plot leading to the climax.
- epic
- a long narrative poem about the adventures of gods or a hero.
- myth
- a fictional tale about gods or heroes. allusions to greek, roman, norse, and celtic myths are common in english literature.
- allusion
- a reference to a well-known person, place, event, work of art, myth, or religion.
- archetypes
- primordial images and symbols that occur in literature, myth, religion, and folklore.
- antagonist
- a character, institution, group, or force that is in conflict with the protagonist.
- personification
- a figure of speech that attributes human qualities to an inanimate object.
- climax
- the high point in the plot, after which there is falling action. may coincide with crisis.
- conflict
- the struggle between characters and other characters, forces of nature, or outside forces beyond their control, internal conflict within a character who struggles with moral choices and matters of conscience.
- metaphor
- a figure of speech in which one thing is said to be another thing.
- analogy
- a comparison of two things that are somewhat alike.
- ellipsis
- three periods (. . .) that signify the omission of one or more words.
- extended metaphor
- a metaphor that is elaborated on and developed in several phrases or sentences.
- simile
- a figure of speech that compares two things that are not alike, using the words "like," "as," or "than."
- poetic devices
- words with harmonious sounds including assonance, consonance, alliteration, repetition, and rhyme.
- assonance
- the repetition of vowel sounds in two or more words that do not rhyme.
- essay
- a short nonfiction work about a specific subject. Essays may be narrative, persuasive, descriptive, expository, or argumentative.
- protagonist
- the main character.
- epithet
- a word or phase describing a quality of a person, place, or thing that is repeated throughout a work.
- denouement
- the falling action or final revelations in the plot.
- repetition
- a poetic device that uses the repeating of words, sounds, phrases, or sentences.
- pun
- a play on words.
- sensory imagery
- language that evokes images and triggers memories in the reader in the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
- figurative language
- the use of figures of speech to express ideas.
- foil
- a character who, through contrast, reveals the characteristics of another character.
- couplet
- a pair or rhyming lines in the same meter.
- rhyme
- words with identical sounds, but different spellings.
- hyperbole
- a figure of speech that uses exaggeration.