100 Literary Terms—Master List
1. plot—series of related events that make up a story or drama
2. exposition—the beginning part of the plot that gives information about the characters and their problems or conflicts
3. rising action—the actions which lead up to the climax; the problems and conflicts
4. climax—moment of great emotional intensity or suspense in a plot
5. falling action—follows the climax and leads to the resolution
6. resolution—the end of the story; also called denouement
7. setting—the time and place of a story or play
8. mood—the story’s atmosphere or feeling that it evokes
9. character—person in a story, poem, or play
10. theme—the central idea or message of a work of literature
11. protagonist—the main character in fiction or drama, sometimes called
the hero
12. antagonist—the character or force who opposes the main character,
sometimes called the villain
13. round character—has many different character traits which sometimes
contradict each other
14. flat character—has only one or two character traits and can be
described in a few words
15. motivation—fears, conflicts, or needs that drive a character’s actions
16. dynamic character—character who changes as a result of the story’s
events
17. static character—character who does not change much in the course of
the story
18. conflict—struggle or clash between opposing characters or opposing
forces
19. external conflict—when a character struggles against an outside force
20. internal conflict—struggle within a character between opposing needs or emotions
21. characterization—the process of revealing the personality of a character in a story
22. indirect characterization—when the readers have to use their own judgment to decide what a character is like, based on the evidence the writer gives us
23. direct characterization—when the author plainly tells what a character is like
24. point of view—vantage point from which a writer tells a story
25. first person point of view—one of the characters is telling the story, using the pronoun “I”
26. second person point of view—the reader is the main character of the story, using the pronoun “you”
27. third person limited point of view—the narrator, who plays no part in the story, zooms in on the thoughts and feelings of just one character
28. third person omniscient point of view—the narrator knows everything there is to know about the characters and their problems
29. foreshadowing—the use of clues to hint at events that will occur later in a plot
30. narrator—the person or voice telling the story
31. drama—a story that is written to be acted for an audience; also called a play
32. act—a major division of a drama
33. scene—a minor division of an act
34. stage directions—instructions in a play intended to give the actors information about how to perform their part, move on the stage, or use props or scenery
35. aside—words that are spoken by a character in a play to the audience or to another character but that are not supposed to be heard by the others onstage
36. soliloquy—long speech in which a character who is onstage alone expressed his or her thoughts aloud
37. monologue—a long speech by one character while other characters are onstage
38. blank verse—poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter, used extensively by Shakespeare
39. iambic pentameter—line of poetry which contains five patterns of unstressed/stressed syllables
40. dialogue—the conversation between characters in a story or play
41. tragedy—play that depicts serious and important events in which the main character comes to an unhappy end
42. comedy—a story which contains both humorous and serious events, but which ends happily
43. comic relief—funny scene or event that breaks up a serious play or narrative
44. foil—character who is used as a contrast to another character
45. irony—contrast between expectation and reality
46. situational irony—when a story ends different than is expected
47. verbal irony—when a character says the opposite of what is meant
48. dramatic irony—when the reader has knowledge that somecharacters in the story do not have
49. pun—play on the multiple meanings of words that sound alike but have different meanings
50. symbol—person, place, thing, or event that stands for itself and for something beyond itself as well.
51. epic--a long, narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historic hero who embodies the values of the society
52. epic simile--an extended comparison using "like" or "as" relating heroic events to simple and easily understandable everyday events the audience would recognize immediately
53. flashback--scene in a story that interrupts the present action of the plot to tell what happened at an earlier time
54. hero--the main character or protagonist of the story, usually the "good" character, but who may also have character flaws
55. didactic literature--stories meant to teach a lesson or impart moral beliefs
56. myth--traditional stories, rooted in a particular culture, that usually explain a belief, a ritual, or a mysterious natural phenomenon
57. oral tradition--the retelling of a story from person to person, from one generation to the next
58. metaphor--a direct comparison of two unlike things
59. simile--a comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as"
60. onomatopoeia--the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning
61. hyperbole—figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion; also called overstatement
62. oxymoron—a figure of speech which combines two seemingly contradictory words, such as “pretty ugly,” “jumbo shrimp,” “alone together,” and “same difference”
63. alliteration—repetition of the same consonant sounds at the beginnings of words
64. assonance—repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds
65. personification—kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing is described with human characteristics
66. line—a division of a poem, sometimes labeled with numbers and organized into stanzas
67. stanza—group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a single unit
68. speaker—the “voice” of the poem; not always the author’s voice
69. allusion—reference to a statement, person, place, or event from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science, or pop culture
70. ballad—a long, narrative poem set to music
71. couplet—two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme
72. lyric poetry—poetry which expresses a person’s feelings or thoughts
73. haiku—Japanese verse form consisting of three lines and seventeen syllables (5-7-5)
74. narrative poetry—poetry that tells a story
75. rhyme—repetition of accented vowel sounds and endings of words, makes the words sound the same
76. rhyme scheme—pattern of end sounds in the words in the ends of lines of poems, for example "abab"
77. rhythm—musical quality in poetry produced by repetition; also called “beat”
78. figurative language—words used for descriptive effect, includes metaphors, similes, oxymorons, and hyperboles
79. free verse—poetry that does not have meter or rhyme
80. imagery—language that appeals to the senses
81. meter—pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry, also called "beat"
82. foot—a unit of measurement in meter, containing certain numbers of stressed or unstressed syllables
83. parallelism—repetition of words, phrases, or sentences that have the same grammatical structure
84. repetition—use, more than once, of a literary convention
85. analogy—comparison made between two things to show how they are alike, usually in the form of “______:______:: ______:______”
Example pencil : paper :: paintbrush : canvas
86. anecdote—very brief story told to make a point
87. autobiography—an account of an author’s own life
88. biography—an account of a person’s life written or told by someone else
89. connotation—meanings, associations, or emotions that have come to be attached to some words in addition to their literal dictionary definitions
90. denotation—the definition of a word as found in a dictionary
91. ambiguity--an element of uncertainty in a text, in which something can be interpreted in a number of different ways
92. persona--mask or voice assumed by the author or narrator
93. dialect--way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular region or a particular group of people
94. fiction--literature which is not based on a true story
95. nonfiction--literature which is based on truth
96. genre--category or type of literature (poetry, short story, etc.)
97. parody--a work that imitates or makes fun
98. moral--the lesson about life, usually involving right or wrong, in a piece of literature
99. parable--a short story that imparts a moral lesson
100. tone--the author's attitude towards the subject of a piece of literature (serious, mocking, nostalgic, etc.)