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WHS Glossary of Literary Terms
B. Warren
Abstract diction: refers to language that denotes ideas, emotions, conditions, or concepts that are intangible; opposite of concrete.
Action: the happenings in a narrative or drama, usually physical events, but also mental changes.
Aesthetic: the study or philosophy of beauty in art, literature, and nature.
Allegory: a prose or poetic narrative that has a second meaning beneath the surface, often relating each literal term to a fixed, corresponding abstract idea or moral principle; a story in which people, things, and events have a second meaning.
*Alliteration: the practice of beginning several consecutive or neighboring words with the same consonant sound.
Allusion: a reference, explicit or implicit, to something in previous literature or history (i.e., a mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing).
Ambiguity: multiple meanings that a literary work may communicate, especially two that are incompatible; multiplicity of meaning, often deliberate, that leaves the reader uncertain about the intended significance.
Anachronism: something out of its normal time.
Analogy: a figure of speech embodying an extended or elaborate comparison between two things or situations. Usually analogies involve two or more symbolic parts, and are employed to clarify an action or a relationship.
Analysis: the careful identification, separation, and examination of components of a literary work in order to increase understanding.
Anapest (anapestic): two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed.
Anecdote: a: a short narrative, usually reporting an amusing event in the life of an important person. b: a brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.
Antihero: a protagonist who is particularly graceless, inept, stupid, or dishonest.
Antagonist: the adversary of the protagonist.
Anticlimax: occurs when an action produces smaller results than one had been led to expect. Anticlimax is often comic.
Antithesis: a contrast or opposition; a rhetorical device of opposition in which one idea or word is established, and then the opposite idea or word is expressed, as in “I burn and freeze” and “I love and hate.”
Aphorism: a short and usually witty saying, such as: “Classic? A book which people praise and don’t read.”—Mark Twain
*Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply.
Archetype: a character, action, or situation that is a prototype, or pattern, of human life, occurring over and over again in literature. Common archetypes include:
- setting (e.g., desert, snow)
- archetypal characters (e.g., damsel in distress, witch, old crone)
- heroic journey/quest (e.g., The Odyssey, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)
Argumentation (persuasion): the act of convincing or persuading an audience, or proving or refuting a point of view. Argumentation uses one or both of the following development strategies:
- induction: moving from observations about particular things to generalizations.
- deduction: moving form generalizations to valid inferences about particulars.
In order to establish credibility as a writer or speaker, composers will use a combination of the following types of evidence:
- emotional (pathos): appeal to one’s emotions; writing or speech that evokes pity or sadness.
- ethical (ethos): appeal to one’s morality or sense of right and wrong.
- logical (logos): appeal to one’s ability to reason.
Aside: in the theater, words spoken by a character in the presence of other characters, but directed to the audience—i.e., understood by the audience to be inaudible to the other characters; a dramatic device for letting the audience know what a character is really thinking or feeling as opposed to what the character pretends to think or feel.
*Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words; the repetition at close intervals of the vowel sounds of stressed syllables or important words.
Ballad: a long, narrative poem, usually in very regular meter and rhyme; a narrative poem that is, or originally was, meant to be sung. Repetition and refrain characterize the ballad, and it usually has a naïve, folksy quality.
Ballad stanza (meter): a common stanza form, consisting of a quatrain that alternates four-beat and three-beat lines: one and three are unrhymed iambic tetrameter (four beats), and two and four are rhymed iambic trimeter (three beats).
*Blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Cacophony: an unpleasant combination of sounds; the opposite of euphony.
Cadence: the beat or rhythm of poetry in a general sense.
Caesura: a speech pause occurring near the middle of a line of verse.
Canto: the name for the section division in long work of poetry. A canto divides a long poem into parts the way chapters divide a novel.
Catastrophe: the denouement of a drama, especially a classical tragedy.
Catharsis: according to Aristotle’s rules for tragedy, the release of emotion (pity and fear) from the audience’s perspective.
Cause and Effect: arguing from the presence (or absence) of the cause to the existence (or nonexistence) of the effect, or result. Conversely, one may argue from an effect to its probable cause(s). A writing pattern that revolves around a cause for an event and the subsequent effect of that cause.
Characters: People or animals who take part in the action of a literary work.
Characterization: the various literary means by which characters are presented.
Character trait: quality exhibited through the style, actions, or words of a character that reveals motive and personality.
Chorus:in drama, a chorus is the group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it.
Chronological order: literary pattern that flows from the beginning to the end in a successive time sequence, presenting events in the order in which they occur.
Circumlocution: a roundabout expression; evasive talk; the use of many words where fewer would do.
Classification: identifies the subject as a part of a larger group with shared features.
Cliché: an expression that through overuse has become commonplace and has ceased to be effective.
Climactic order: writing pattern that builds gradually, through examples or descriptions, to a final focus point.
Climax: the pivotal point of a story; a turning point, often the point of greatest tension in the plot.
Colloquial: language belonging to or proper to ordinary or familiar conversation.
Comedy: a work of literature, especially a play, which has a happy ending.
Comic relief: in a tragedy, a comic scene that follows a scene of seriousness and by contrast intensifies the emotions aroused by the serious scene.
Comparison: a rhetorical strategy based on the assumption that a subject may be shown more clearly by pointing out ways it is similar to something else. The two subjects may each be explained separately, and then their similarities are noted.
Compare and contrast: writing pattern that discusses both the similarities and differences of an issue.
Conceit: a comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metaphor within a poem; a startling or unusual metaphor
Concrete diction: consists of specific words that describe physical qualities or conditions.
Conflict: a clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals between opposing forces in a work of literature. Conflict may exist between the protagonist and some other person or persons; between the protagonist and some external force—physical nature, society, or “fate”; or between the protagonist and some destructive element in his or her own nature. Conflict is an essential element of plot.
*Connotation: what a word suggest beyond the dictionary definition; the feelings and attitudes associated with a word.
Consonance: the repetition of a consonant sound within or at the end of a series of words to produce a harmonious effect; the repetition at close intervals of the final consonant sound of stressed syllables or important words.
Contrast: a rhetorical strategy based on the assumption that a subject may be shown more clearly by pointing out ways in which it is unlike another subject.
Controlling image: a conceit or image that dominates and shapes an entire work.
*Convention: a device or style or subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expression.
Couplet: two successive lines, usually in the same meter, linked by end rhyme.
Crisis: the point of uncertainty and tension in a literary work that results from the conflicts and difficulties brought about through the complications of the plot. The crisis leads to the climax—that is, to the decision made by the protagonist to resolve the conflict. Sometimes the crisis and the climax are considered as two elements of the same stage of plot development.
Criticism: analysis, study, and evaluation of individual works of literature.
Dactyl: a metrical foot of three syllables, a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.
*Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word.
Denouement: the unraveling of the conflict; the resolution or outcome of the story.
Description:the picturing in words of people, places, and activities through detailed observations of color, sound, smell, touch, and motion.
Descriptive essay: an essay which seeks to convey an impression about a person, place, or object activities.
Details: facts, revealed by the author or speaker, which support the attitude or tone in a piece of poetry or prose.
Deus ex machina: (“god from the machine”) The resolution of a plot by use of a highly improbable chance or coincidence (so named from the practice of some Greek dramatists of having a god descend from heaven at the last possible minute—in the theater by means of a stage machine—to rescue the protagonist from an impossible situation).
Dialect: the speech characteristics of a particular region or group.
Dialogue: exchange of words between characters; conversation.
Diction: word choice (and sentence structure) intended to convey a certain effect.
Didactic: intended to teach, particularly in having moral instruction as an ulterior motive.
Digression: insertion of material not closely related to the work or subject.
Dimeter: a line of two metrical feet.
Direct characterization: the method of characterization in which the author, by expression or analysis, tells us directly what a character is like, or has someone else in the story do so.
Dirge: a song for the dead. Its tone is typically slow, heavy, and melancholy.
Discourse:spoken or written language; a formal discussion of a topic in speech or writing.
Doggerel: crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme.
Dogma: a: something held as an established opinion; especially: one or more definite and authoritative tenets. b: a point of view or alleged authoritative tenet put forth as dogma without adequate grounds: an arrogant or vehement expression of opinion.
Drama: a story written to be performed by actors.
Dramatic irony: an incongruity or discrepancy between what a character says or thinks and what the reader knows to be true (or between what a character perceives and what the author intends the reader to perceive).
Dramatic monologue: a poem spoken entirely by one character but addressed to one or more other characters whose presence is strongly felt, or to an internal listener or reader.
Dramatic unities: time, place, and action according to Aristotle’s rules for tragedy.
- Time: the play takes place within a 24-hour period.
- Place: the action of the play is set in one place.
- Action: the play contains one hero and one plot.
Dynamic (developing) character: a character who during the course of a work undergoes a permanent change in some distinguishing moral qualities or personal traits or outlook.
Elegy: a poem of lamentation about a death; a lyric poem, usually a meditation on a death
End rhyme: rhymes that occur at the end of lines.
*End-stopped line: a line of poetry that ends with a natural speech pause (usually marked by a comma, semicolon, or period) because the grammatical structure and the sense reach completion.
English (or Shakespearean) sonnet: developed by Shakespeare, this form is composed of three quatrains and a final couplet, with a rhyme scheme pattern of abab cdcd efef gg.
Enjambment: a line of poetry having no vocal pause and no end punctuation, but continuing directly to the next line or lines.
Epic: a long narrative, especially in verse, that usually records heroic material in an elevated style.
Epic (Homeric) simile: a more involved, ornate simile.
Epigram: a short and witty poem, often in couplets, that makes a humorous or satiric point.
Epiphany: a moment or event in which a character achieves a spiritual insight into life or into his or her own circumstances; a sudden unfolding in which a character proceeds from ignorance and innocence to knowledge and experience.
Epitaph: lines that commemorate the dead at their burial. An epitaph is usually a line or handful of lines, often serious or religious, but sometimes witty and even irreverent.
Essay: a short, nonfiction work about a particular subject. Essays can be formal, informal or humorous.
Euphemism: a mild or vague expression substituted for another expression thought to be too harsh or direct.
Euphony: a smooth, pleasant-sounding choice and arrangement of sounds.
Exact (perfect) rhyme: the placement of rhyming words in which both the vowel and concluding consonant sounds, if any, are identical (e.g., see/be, done/run).
Exaggerate: to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth.
Explication: a detailed analysis of a work of literature, often word by word and line by line; a close reading.
Explicit: stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or misinterpretation.
Exposition: the setting forth of a systematic explanation of or argument about any subject; writing or speech that explains, informs, or presents information. In the plot of a story or drama, the exposition is the part of the work that introduces the characters, the setting, and the basic situation.
Expository essay: an essay which gives information, discusses ideas, or explains a process.
Extended (controlling) metaphor: a metaphor that is sustained for several lines or sentences or throughout a work, also known as a conceit.
Eye rhyme: The sounds do not rhyme, but the words look as though they would rhyme (e.g., bough/cough).
Fable: a short story (often involving speaking animals) with an easily grasped moral. Fables are most often associated with the ancient Greek writer Aesop.
Fallacy: a mistaken belief, especially one based on unsound argument; a failure in reasoning that renders an argument invalid.
Falling action: the events that follow the climax and lead inevitably toward a revelation of meaning that occurs at the denouement.
Fantasy: a highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found in real life.
Farce: an exaggerated comedy, one that relies on improbable situations, physical humor, and broad wit rather than on in-depth characters and believable plots.
Feminine rhyme: a rhyme of two or more syllables, with the stress falling on a syllable other than the last (e.g., fatter/batter, tenderly/slenderly).
Fiction: prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events.
Figure of speech: words or phrases that describe one thing in terms of something else; a way of saying one thing and meaning something else.
First-person point of view: the story is told by one of its character, using the first person.
Flashback: an interruption in a narrative that presents an earlier episode.
Flat character: a character whose distinguishing moral qualities or personal traits are summed up in one or two traits.
Foil: a minor character whose situation or actions parallel those a major character, and thus by contrast sets off or illuminates the major character.
Foot: a metrical unit, consisting of two or three syllables, with a specified arrangement of the stressed and unstressed syllables.
Foreshadowing: use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest future action.
Framework story: a story that contains a story within another story.
*Free verse: poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter, and nonrhyming lines.
Genre: a division or type of literature.
Half-rhyme (or off-rhyme): only the final consonant sounds of the words are identical; the stressed vowel sounds as well as the initial consonant sounds, if any, differ (e.g., soul/oil, mirth/folly).
Hamartia: according to Aristotle’s rules for tragedy, the tragic flaw that leads to the tragic hero’s downfall.
Heptameter: a metrical line of seven feet.
Hero/Heroine: the main character (not necessarily heroic or even admirable) in a work: cf. protagonist.
*Heroic couplet: two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with the thought usually completed in the two-line unit.
Hexameter: a line of six metrical feet.
High or formal diction: language that creates an elevated tone. It is free of slang, idioms, colloquialisms, and contractions. It often contains polysyllabic words, sophisticated syntax, and elegant word choice.
Hubris: according to Aristotle’s rules for tragedy, arrogance before the gods; excessive pride or self-confidence.
*Hyperbole: a figure of speech using an extravagant, deliberate, and outrageous exaggeration. It may be used for either serious or comic effect.
*Iamb: a two-syllable foot with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The iamb is the most common foot in English poetry.
Idiom: an accepted phrase or expression having a different meaning form the literal; a form of expression peculiar to a language, person, or group of people.
Image: a word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the five senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell.
Imagery: the use of descriptive or figurative language in literature to create a vivid mental picture.
In media res: Latin for “in the midst of things”; refers to opening a story in the middle of the action, necessitating filling in past details by exposition or flash back.
Implicit: implied though not plainly expressed.
Inciting incident: interrupts the harmony and balance of the situation; the incident that causes a conflict.
Indirect characterization: the method of characterization in which the author shows us a character in action, compelling us to infer what the character is like from what is said or done by the character.
Infer: deduce or conclude from evidence and reasoning rather than from explicit statements.
Inference: a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning; the process of reaching such a conclusion.
Interior monologue: a term for novels and poetry, not for drama. It refers to writing that records the mental talking that goes on inside a character’s head. It is usually coherent as if the character were actually talking.
Internal rhyme: a rhyme in which one or both of the rhyming words occurs within the line.