Lit Terms 5

Parallelism: the principle in sentence structure that states elements of equal function should have equal form.
Parody:  an imitation of mimicking of a composition or of the style of a well-known artist.
Pathos:  the ability in literature to call forth feelings of pity, compassion, and/or sadness.
Pedantry: a display of learning for its own sake.
Personification: a figure of speech attributing human qualities to inanimate objects or  abstract ideas.
Plot: a plan or scheme to accomplish a purpose.
Poignant:  eliciting sorrow or sentiment.
Point of View: the view that the person is seeing it from or experienced .
Postmodernism: literature characterized by experimentation, different, breaking the fourth wall. Blurring the boundary between imaginary and real things
Prose:  the ordinary form of spoken and written language or language with out rhyme
Protagonist: opposes the antagonist, main character in a fiction
Pun:  play on words; the humorous use of a word emphasizing different meanings or applications.
Purpose: what the author intends you to get from it
Realism:  writing about the ordinary aspects of life and showing it as it is.
Refrain:  a phrase or verse recurring at intervals in a poem or song
Requiem:  any chant, dirge, hymn, or musical service for the dead.
Resolution: point in a literary work where an answer is found or a problem had been solved
Restatement: idea repeated for emphasis.
Rhetoric: use of language, used to persuade
Rhetorical Question: question suggesting its own answer or not requiring an answer; used in argument or persuasion.
Rising Action: building the plot making way towards the climax
Romanticism:  movement in western culture  in the eighteenth and continuing to the  nineteenth century as a revolt against Classicism.
Satire:  use of humor and exaggeration to criticize people's stupidity
Scansion: the analysis of verse in terms of meter.
Setting: the time and place in which events in a story, novel, play or narrative occur.

Lit Terms 4

Interior Monologue: a form of writing which represents the inner thoughts of a character.
Inversion: words out of order for emphasis
Juxtaposition: the intentional placement of a word, phrase, or sentences  to contrast with another nearby.
Lyric: a poem having musical form and quality, short showing of the author’s
innermost thoughts and feelings.
Magic(al) Realism:  a style of painting and literature in which imaginary and often images or events are depicted detailed  manner.
Metaphor(extended, controlling, and mixed): an analogy that compare two different  things imaginatively.
   Extended: a metaphor that is extended or developed as far as the writer wants to take it.
   Controlling: a metaphor that runs throughout the piece of work.
   Mixed: a metaphor that ineffectively blends two or more analogies.
Metonymy:  literally device of figurative language in which the
 name of an attribute or associated thing is substituted for the usual name of a thing. Ex: suit for a business man
Mode of Discourse:  persuasion argument... description, and exposition.
Modernism:  literary movement characterized by style, rejecting tradition, symbolism and psychology.
Monologue:  a long speech told by a character
Mood:  the atmosphere or feeling of the story
Motif:  a recurring feature in a piece of literature.
Myth:  a story, often about immortals, and sometimes connected with religious rituals, that attempts to give meaning to the mysteries of the world.
Narrative:  a story or description of events.
Narrator:  someone who narrates or tells a story.
Naturalism: extreme form of realism.
Novelette/Novella: short story or short prose narrative
Omniscient Point of View:  knowing everything, usually the third person.
Onomatopoeia: use of a word with a sound that imitates or suggests the meaning. 
Oxymoron: a figure of speech in which two contradicting words or phrases are combined to produce a rhetorical effect.
Pacing:  the rate of something moving
Parable:  a story designed to show some religious principle, moral lesson, or fact. 
Paradox:  a statement that conflicts with itself or opinion opposite  to generally accepted ideas

Lit Terms 3

Exposition: beginning of a story that sets gives facts, information, and details
Expressionism: movement in art, literature, and music showing inner feelings
Fable: a short story that usually had animals as characters and usually is true
Fallacy: a Latin word that means to deceive. An untrue fact or belief
Falling Action: part of the narrative or drama after the climax.
Farce: a comedy with laughter and dialogue
Figurative Language: speech or writing where imaginative language is used to show figures of speech
Flashback: a narrative device that flashes back to prior events.
Foil: a person or thing that when compared one, makes another seem better or more prominent.
Folk Tale: story passed on by word of mouth
Foreshadowing: in fiction and drama, a device to prepare the reader for what is to come without giving it away.
Free Verse: verse with irregular pattern or no rhyme
Genre: a category or class of artistic endeavor having a particular form, technique, or content.
Gothic Tale: a style in literature characterized by gloomy settings, or violence.
Hyperbole: an exaggerated statement often used as a figure of speech or to prove a point.
Imagery: figures of speech or vivid description, conveying images through any of the senses.
Implication: a meaning that is to be understood by the reader but that is not fully stated by the author.
Incongruity: the deliberate joining of opposites or of elements that are not appropriate to each other.
Inference: a judgement or conclusion based on given evidence, the forming of an opinion with a degree of probability according to facts already available.
Irony: a contrast between what is said and what is meant, or what is expected to happen and what actually happens.

Lit Terms 2

Circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have served
Classicism: principles of ancient Greece and Rome: traditions, reasoning ,order, and everything in balance
Cliché: something over used in society
Climax: the highest point in a story where the question is answered
Colloquialism: informal conversation using slang or made up changed words
Comedy: a piece of work with a  happy ending but it now is known to be funny making the audience laugh and smile
Conflict: struggle or problem in a story that must be solved
Connotation: a meaning beyond the dictionary meaning
Contrast: a device where an idea or object is compared with the opposite  to provide clarity
Denotation: dictionary definition
Denouement: tying up the ending of a story after the climax
Dialect: the language of a particular district, class or group of persons; the sounds, grammar, and diction employed by people distinguished from others.
Dialectics: formal debates usually over the nature of truth.
Dichotomy: split or break between two opposing things.
Diction: the style of speaking or writing as reflected in the choice and use of words
Didactic: having to do getting educated of learning ex: education.
Dogmatic: rigid beliefs and customs.
Elegy: a mourning poem or song that shows views on death or remembering a person who has passed on
Epic: a long narrative poem written by a hero, who believes and shows their custom or race
Epigram: witty aphorism
Epitaph: a message or note that someone may want on their tombstone
Epithet: a name or phrase that could insult someone
Euphemism: the use of an indirect word or expression that is mean or offensive
Evocative: making memories and remembering things

Lit Terms 1

Allegory: story, poem or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning.
Alliteration: the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words
Allusion: the reference to something else without out saying it directly
Ambiguity: doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention
Anachronism: something or someone that is set in the wrong time era and does not fit in
Analogy: a similarity between two like figures
Analysis: a method of studying the nature of something
Anaphora: repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more sentences.
Anecdote: a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.
Antagonist: the adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work:
Antithesis: the direct opposite
Aphorism: a terse saying embodying a general truth, or astute observation
Apologia: an apology, as in defense or justification of a belief, idea, etc.
Apostrophe: a sign that indicates possession or connects two words
Argument: a disagreement, when two people have a different view on something.
Assumption: something taken for granted; a supposition: a correct assumption.
Audience: the people listening, and watching or the people or person that is reached out to.
Characterization: the creation and convincing representation of fictitious characters.
Chiasmus: a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases