Literary Terms to Remember

Plot – the sequence of events; the action making up the story.

Setting – the specific time and place in which the story occurs

Characters – the person or people who are the main actors in the story; characters are by turns referred to as sympathetic or unsympathetic, dynamic or static, round or flat.

Protagonist – the main character in the story.

Antagonist (person, society, nature) – a person, presence or force acting against the wishes of the main character.

Foil – a character who is the opposite in personality or temperament from another character.

Subject Matter – the topics, issues, problems or general “subjects” that the story deals with (e.g. ghosts, crime, dinosaurs, skateboards, drugs, etc.)

Theme – the underlying message, moral or life-lesson that the story contains.

Motif – a “recurring element” or “common thread” within a story that has symbolic value or relevance to the overall theme.

Symbolism – a plot detail (person, place, thing, event) that stands for something beyond itself and elicits higher-level associations.

Point of View – the perspective from which the story is told (e.g. omniscient, limited omniscient, first person, objective)

Exposition – the information or relevant details that are provided at the beginning of the story.

Rising Action – the events leading up to the climax that build suspense and complicate the action of the story.

Conflict – disputes or disagreements that arise among the various characters or among opposing forces in a story.

Complication – the sequence by which conflicts in a story become intensified; this is what should happen as a result of the rising action.

Foreshadowing –  subtle hints about what will happen later on in the story.

Suspense – uncertainty or anxiety that is built up within a story about what the outcome of the story will be.

Irony – a contrast between what is said in the story and what actually happens or between what the characters expect will happen and what the audience knows will happen.

Climax – the turning point of the story – usually the scene with the most emotional intensity – after which nothing can ever be the same again.

Falling Action – the events that happen immediately after the climax and lead toward the end of the story.

Resolution / Denouement – something that happens at the very end of the story to provide “closure” – a tying up of loose ends – indicating that there is nothing more to say.

Poetic Devices to Remember

Alliteration – repetition of similar consonant sounds at the beginning of words within a line of poetry

Allusion – a reference to something in literature, mythology or history.

Assonance – repetition of similar sounding vowel sounds within a line of poetry. Note: Assonant sounds are not the same as rhymes.

Caesura – a dramatic pause in the middle of a line of poetry usually marked off with punctuation  marks (period or semi-colon).

Closed form –  traditional poetry or verse that uses rhyme and strict meter.

Couplet – two (consecutive) lines of poetry that rhyme – i.e. share similar sounds at the end of each line.

Diction or Poetic Diction– unusual or exotic word choice within a poem of the type not found in ordinary conversation

Elision – words in which certain letters have been omitted and replaced by apostrophes (‘).

Enjambment – this occurs when one line of poetry continues on into the next line without punctuation.

Free verse or Open Form – modern or experimental poetry that does not abide by strict use of rhyme or meter.

Imagery or Figurative Language – language that appeals to the five senses, especially the sense of sight or words that suggest very specific objects or things in the material world (trees, flowers, rocks, oceans, mountains…)

Hyperbole – dramatic overstatement or exaggeration for effect –- the opposite of understatement.

Metaphor –a comparison between two seemingly unlike things.

Meter – the measured pattern of rhythmic accents within a poem.

Metonymy – a figure of speech in which a closely related term is substituted for an object or idea.

Metrical Foot (iamb, dactyl, anapest) – a metrical unit composed of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Onomatopoeia – words that create sound effects.

Oxymoron or Paradox – an apparent absurdity or contradiction – usually the juxtaposition of two words that have opposite meanings.

Personification – assigning human characteristics to non-human entities.

Pun or “Word Play” – playful use of words that calls attention to how a word or phrase can have multiple meanings.

Quatrain – four-lines of poetry characterized by alternating rhymes and consistent meter.

Rhyme / Rhyme Scheme – the matching of vowel sounds or vowel-consonant sounds in two or more words; rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyme that unfolds within a particular poem.

Rhythm –  the recurrence of accents or stressed syllables in lines of verse; musical or percussive effects created by the use of sound patterns.

Simile – a comparison using “like” or “as.”

Sonnet – a 14-line poem made up of three quatrains and a couplet at the end – usually written in iambic pentameter.

Stanza – a set of lines within a poem making up a single unit of text; a block or “paragraph” of poetry.

Synecdoche –the use of a part of something to stand for the whole entity.

Symbol –an object or element that stands for something beyond itself or has higher-level associations beyond its literal meaning.

Syntax or Poetic Syntax– the use of stylized  or exotic word order such as is typically not found in ordinary conversation.