Short Story Literary Terms Pre-Test/ Review
Affix: literally, an attachment (used in relation to parts of words)
Allegory: a symbolic story
Allusion: a reference to an outside work, event, or idea
Antagonist: the character who stands in contrast to the protagonist; the villain
Archetype: a recurring character type or plot line throughout literature
Aside: a dramatic technique in which one character speaks to another, and the audience can hear while other characters on the stage cannot
Audience: the person or persons by which a piece of literature is intended to be heard
Character flaw: any weakness a character contains which usually leads them to their downfall
Characterization: the various ways a character is developed: from 1st, 3rd, or 3rd omniscient perspective
Climax: the point of highest tension in the story, after which conflicts tend to be resolved
Conflict: any point of tension or discordance within a story
Connotation: the implied definition of the word
Conventional Symbol: a symbol used by a group or organization
Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word
Diction: the words an author chooses to use and the affect those words have upon the story
Dramatic Irony: when the reader knows more about a situation than the characters
Dynamic Character: a character who does change significantly throughout the course of a story
Elements of Plot: the various parts of a story including exposition, rising action, conflict, peak, climax, falling action and resolution (denouement)
Epizeuxis: the repetition of words for emphatical purposes
Exposition: the beginning of a story in which characters are introduced, mood is established, and setting is described
External Conflict: a conflict occurring in the external world; types are: human vs. human, human vs. machine, human vs. nature, human vs. society
Fable: a symbolic story which uses animals or other animate objects to represent ideas
Falling Action: the point directly after the climax
Figurative Language: language which conveys meanings beyond their literal implications
Flashback: a literary technique in which the reader is allowed to view past events
Foreshadowing: hints and clues as to what may occur later in the story
Genre: another term for “category”
Hyperbole: an exaggeration, usually for comic purposes
Iamb: the combination of a stressed and unstressed syllable
Iambic pentameter: a line containing a combination of five iambs
Internal Conflict: a conflict occurring within the mind of a character; also known as a human vs. self conflict
Literal language: language which does not convey meanings beyond their literal significance
Literary devices: any technique used in the writing of literature
Literary symbol: any symbol derived from a literary work whose meaning depends upon that words context
Metaphor: a comparison between two things without using “like” or “as”
Meter: a unit of measurement
Monologue: a dramatic technique in which a character speaks his or her thoughts to the remaining characters an audience for an extended period of time
Mood: the overall emotional atmosphere of a work of literature; the effect of the tone
Motif: a recurring structure, symbol, or device throughout a work of literature
Natural Symbol: a symbol derived from nature
Outcast: an archetypal character who is shunned and ostracized from society
Oxymoron: a phrase which contains a natural contradiction
Peak: a point of great tension in a story, but not the highest point of tension
Personification: giving human or living attributes to that which is not human or living
Prefix: the beginning component of a word
Point of View: the perspective from which a story is told
Protagonist: another term for “hero’
Pun: a form of verbal irony in which a word has two possible meanings, the less obvious which is implied
Resolution/ Denouement: the point in a story when all conflicts are resolved
Rising Action: the part in the story where conflict develops
Sarcasm: a form of verbal irony in which one says one thing but means another, usually for comic purposes
Scapegoat: an archetypal character who is blamed for the actions of another
Sensory Detail: details which appeal to the five senses: sight, taste, touch, sound, smell
Setting: the time and place of a work of literature
Short Story: a work of literature intended to be read in one sitting
Simile: a comparison between two things using “like” or “as”
Situational Irony: when the reader expects one thing to occur, but another does instead
Soliloquy: a speech given by a character in which he or she speaks his or her private thoughts to the audience
Static Character: a character who does not change significantly throughout the course of a story
Stereotype: a generalization about a specific group of people, usually derogatory in nature
Stream of Consciousness: a form of writing in which an author allows thoughts to permeate from their mind without interrupting the flow of the pen
Style: any of the various elements which help to make an author’s writing unique
Suffix: the ending component of a word
Symbolic Imagery: images which represent ideas
Synecdoche: using a part to represent the whole
Theme: a universal concept explored throughout a work of literature
Tone: emotions as conveyed through the words of literature
Tragedy: a genre of literature in which a tragic hero stands for a cause beyond themselves, contains a tragic flaw, and experiences a downfall as a result
Tragic flaw: a character flaw or weakness which leads a tragic hero to their downfall
Turning Point: any point in a story at which a major change takes place
Understatement: a form of verbal irony in which an individual lessens the importance or intensity of an occurrence or idea
Verbal Irony: saying one thing, but meaning another
Vignette: a short, graceful literary sketch
Voice: the “sound” of a narrator’s style
1st Person Point of View: the perspective of the main character; uses terms such as “I”
2nd Person Point of View: a narrative perspective in which the reader is interpellated through the use of the “you” voice
3rd Person Limited Point of View: when a narrative is told from a character other than the main character; uses terms such as “they”, “he”, “she”
3rd Person Omniscient Point of View: perspective from an “all-knowing” narrator