Literary Terms
1. Alliteration - repetition of the FIRST consonant sound
e.g., Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. THE “P” SOUND is repeated
2. Allusion- mentioning a well-known person, place, event, or something from the Bible
e.g., You're a regular Einstein. (allusion to a historical figure)
3. Analogy – comparing the relationship of two pairs
i.e., day is to night; as; the sun is to the moon
4.
Anecdote: a very short personal story
5. Antagonist - a character that betrays, upsets, or works again the main character
THE BAD GUY (ANTI- AGAINST)
6. Aside – when a character is speaking directly to the audience and is PRETENDING the other characters on
stage can’t hear this even though they are standing right there
7. Cliché- a saying or expression that has been so overused that it has become boring and unoriginal
e.g.,
 in the nick of time – to happen just in time
 at the speed of light – to do something very quickly
 lost track of time – to stop paying attention to time
 They all lived happily ever after.
 Read between the lines
 Waking up on the wrong side of the bed.
 The quiet before the storm.
8. Climax - the turning point in the story or play. SOMETHING HAPPENS and the story changes from good
to bad or bad to good
9. Comic relief: something funny happens to break the seriousness of a story
10. Conflict – the main problem(s) to be solved by the characters
internal conflict (man vs. self ex: Paul was tempted to pull the pigtail, the voices in his head said, “pull it.”)
external conflict (man vs man ex: Paul sees the two pigtails hanging in front of him and has to pull it.)
In these examples the internal conflict caused the external conflict 
11. Conundrum- a riddle. The answer is or involves a pun (which is a play on words); it may also be a paradox
(which is a phrase that seems untrue but really it has a hidden truth)
e.g., Which came first, the chicken or the egg? HMMMMMMM…
12. Dialogue- conversation between characters.
IN FICTION OR DRAMA IT THIS IS THE WORDS IN QUOTATION MARKS
e.g., “But who did he tell it to? You and me?”
“They’ll get on all right!” Razumikhin answered reluctantly.
“But what business is it of yours?” Razumikhin cried with annoyance.
Direct and Indirect characterization
13. Direct characterization- the AUTHOR describes or tells about a character DIRECTLY though
narrative (IN FICTION, THE WORDS THAT ARE NOT IN QUOTATION MARKS)
14. Indirect characterization- the characters tells about himself/herself, OR other characters tell about
the other characters
15. Ethos- (ethical appeal): when an argument is constructed based on the ethics or credibility of the person
making the argument. ETHOS: ETHICS (based on morals: knowing the difference between right and wrong)
16. Epiphany- that moment in the story when the truth is revealed to a character. The "ah-ha" I GET IT,
moment.
e.g., In the movie Clueless, Cher has an epiphany near the end of the movie when she realizes that the
reason she doesn't want her friend to have a crush on her step-brother Josh is because she is actually in
love with him (it’s okay he’s not her step-brother anymore).
17. Flashback- a writer presents past events; think BACK: clue for in the past
18. Foreshadowing- a hint or clue to suggest something that will happen later in a story
19. Hyperbole- statements not meant to be taken literally-the writer is exaggerating the facts for effect
e.g., I’ve told you a million times to stop talking! NOT LITERALLY A MILLION!
20. Idiom- a phrase that does not literally mean what the individual words mean
e.g.,
1. It's raining cats and dogs. (meaning it’s raining hard not animals)
2. This is a piece of cake. (meaning something is very easy not food)
21. Imagery- the words represent the five senses: sight, taste, touch, sound, and smell.
i.e., LITERALLY the words create a mental image that you can see, feel, hear, taste, or smell
22. Inference- formulate a conclusion based on the evidence given while reading; we are using the evidence
that is available in the text to make a LOGICAL GUESS
e.g., A character has a diaper in her hand, spit-up on her shirt, and a bottle warming on the counter. You
can infer that this character is a mother.
e.g., A character has a briefcase, is taking a ride on an airplane, and is late for a meeting. You can infer
that this character is a businessperson.
23. Irony – the opposite of what is meant, THERE ARE THREE KINDS!
24. Dramatic Irony – when the audience/reader knows something that’s going to happen in the story but the
characters in the story do not
25. Situational Irony- when the end is the opposite of what the reader thought was going to happened
26. Verbal Irony- when the character says (verbal) the opposite of what they feel or should have really saidlike sarcasm.
27. Jargon- the term for specialized or technical language that is only understood by those who are members of
a group or who perform a specific trade.
Examples of Medical Jargon
BP - Medical shorthand for blood pressure
NPO - A patient should not take anything by mouth
Examples of Business Jargon
Bang for the buck - A term that means, to get the most for your money
The 9-to-5 - Business jargon meaning a standard work day
Examples of Police Jargon
Suspect - A person whom the police think may have committed a crime
10-4 - Radio jargon meaning Okay or I understand
Examples of Military Jargon
AWOL - Absent without leave
28. Logos- (logical appeal): uses facts and evidence to convince a reader or listener of the strength of an
argument. LOGOS: LOGIC
e.g., citing statistics, research, financial costs, authority figures, historical events, etc.
29. Metaphor - a comparison without using like, as, or than.
e.g., The cat's eyes were jewels, gleaming in the darkness. SAYING THE EYES ARE JEWELS
30. Monologue – one character gives a speech on stage to the audience or other characters
e.g. The balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy
father and refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love and I'll no longer be a Capulet. Shall I hear
more, or shall I speak at this? 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy: thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
31. Mood- the feeling the writer creates
32. Moral- the lesson to be learned
33. Onomatopoeia- the name given to a sound
e.g., TAP-TAP, AH-CHOO
34. Oxymoron: two words next to each other that have opposite dictionary definitions
e.g., all alone, jumbo shrimp, pretty ugly, horribly cute
35. Paradox – a statement that seems untrue/ridiculous, but actually states truth
e.g., Men work together whether they work together or apart. - Robert Frost
(Essentially even if you work by yourself, alone, you are working for a greater good, all, and/or for another man)
e.g., You can save money by spending it.
(You spend money by putting it into savings but essentially you are saving it for later) MIND BLOWN!
36. Parody- (sometimes referred to as a spoof) is a piece of writing that imitates another piece of writing, or an
author's style, to produce humor
e.g., “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” parodies Robin Hood”; “Space Balls” parodies “Star Trek”; all the
scary movies, or “funny” movies that take concepts from other movies but make them humorous- it’s
the same for literature if you understand the concept.
37. Pathos- (emotional appeal): appealing to a reader’s emotions PATH: word part means FEELINGS
e.g., Advertisement about donating to a charity includes scenes of emaciated children and the words,
"For just $1.00 a day, you can feed a starving child."
38. Personification - giving human characteristics to animals or objects
e.g., The daffodils nodded their yellow heads. The curtains danced in the breeze.
39. Poetry:
Speaker – the narrator of the poem
Stanza – a group of lines arranged together; much like a paragraphs in narratives
Rhythm – the repetition of a pattern of sounds in poetry; the stressed syllables in a poem created by meter,
rhyme, alliteration, and refrain (repetition)
Meter – the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem
Rhyming/Rhythm – includes end rhyme (a word at the end of one line rhymes exactly with a word at the end
of another line), near rhyme (imperfect/close rhyme), and internal rhyme (a word within a line rhymes with
another word in the same line).
40. Point of view – who is telling the story
first person - the narrator uses "I"
third-person narrative - the narrator is telling the story using the characters: uses he, she, they, and so on
third-person narrator can be omniscient (all-knowing)--a narrator who knows everything, yes
EVERYTHING in the story
limited--a narrator only knows information about a single character, or is limited to a small number of
characters
41. Protagonist - a protagonist is the major character; usually trying to solve a problem: THE GOOD GUY
42. Pun – a humorous play on word used to create a double meaning
e.g., You were right, so I left”… right meaning correct, left meaning leave
43. Repetition – when words or phrases are repeated
i.e., Martin Luther King, Jr. repeats “I have a dream” throughout his speech
44. Setting - the time, place, physical details, and circumstances in which a situation occurs
45. Satire-an author uses exaggeration, humor, and irony to criticize something about a person or society or
turn a serious subject into something humorous by exaggerating or employing irony to expose the foolishness of
society.
46. Simile - using like, as, or as though to make a comparison
e.g., She floated in like a cloud.
47. Slang- informal language; words that are not typically part of what is accepted as correct use of language
http://www.manythings.org/slang/
48. Soliloquy – a speech spoken by a character to reveal his or her inner thoughts. Essentially, the character
speaks to him or herself-regardless of whether others are on stage or not.
49. Symbol- a word or object that has its own meaning and represents another word, object or idea that is more
abstract.
e.g., American Flag
Literally represents the U.S.A
Symbolically it represents freedom, independence, America, honor, bravery
50. Theme- the main message or lesson learned that is incorporated throughout a literary work
51. Thesis- the main idea of a text; it presents the author’s statement or claim. The rest of the piece should
develop and support the thesis
52. Tone- the author’s word choice, THE WORDS, creates the tone
53. Understatement- when a statement means less than what is meant
e.g., “It rained a bit more than usual” but there was a flood and it rained for three days