ISK English: Literary Terms
allegory = a story in verse or prose with a double
meaning; it can be read, understood and interpreted
at two or more different levels; it is derived from the
Greek for “speaking otherwise.”
alliteration = repetition of the same consonant sounds
(usually initial consonant sounds) used within lines of
poetry and prose, as in Five miles meandering with
mazy motion. The effect is usually cacophonous or
dissonant or discordant sound.
allusion = reference to a person, text, or event outside
the text, as in He is such a Romeo or According to
Brueghel / When Icarus fell / it was spring which
alludes to the C16th painter Brueghel and the Greek
mythological figure of Icarus.
ambiguity = doubtfulness or uncertainty.
*equivocation = being intentionally ambiguous.
*ambivalence = coexistence of opposing feelings.
*dichotomy = division into two contradictory ideas.
*incongruity = something in the work which shows a
discrepancy or contradiction.
*paradox = seemingly contradictory statement that is
true: e.g. standing is more tiring than walking or
Donne’s Death, thou shalt die.
anachronism = something that is out of its proper or
chronological order, as in the reference to a clock in
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.
anecdote = a brief story of an amusing or strange event.
annotate = to add notes, comments, reactions to a text.
anticlimax = something trivial or commonplace that
follows a series of significant events. Usually these
are events that follow the climax of a story.
archaic = ancient, especially in reference to diction,
grammar, and syntax. And she is exceeding wise
has an adjective functioning as an adverb. The term
obsolete refers to words or usages no longer in use,
as in If they durst.
archetype = ideal example of a type; established
character or personality types: e.g. the rebel, the allconquering hero, the country bumpkin, the self-made
person, the traitor, the snob, the social climber. Even
creatures have become archetypal emblems: e.g.
lion, eagle, snake, hare, tortoise.
aside = piece of dialogue intended for the audience and
supposedly not heard by the other actors on stage.
assonance = close repetition of similar vowels in
conjunction with dissimilar consonant sounds, as in
the phrase tilting at windmills. The effect is usually
euphonic, melodious, sweet sounding.
atmosphere = the mood or “feeling” of a particular
place, scene, or incident; often a function of setting.
autobiography = non-fiction account of one’s own life.
ballad = a song-like narrative poem written in verses.
biography = account of a person's life written,
composed, or produced by another person.
blank verse = verse consisting of unrhymed lines written
in iambic pentameter.
catharsis = release of emotional tension - as after an
overwhelming experience - that refreshes the spirit.
characterization = creating and developing a character.
*direct characterization = when the writer himself or
through a narrator directly states or describes a
character’s traits.
*indirect characterization = when the writer shows a
character’s personality through his or her actions,
thoughts, feelings, words, and appearance, or
through another character’s reactions or speech; the
reader must infer what traits are being portrayed.
*round character = a complex and dynamic
character with many traits; as opposed to a flat
character which has few traits, is static, and doesn’t
change.
*protagonist = main character in a drama or other
work.
*antagonist = principal character (e.g. the villain) or
other force (e.g. nature, conscience) in opposition to
the protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama.
*foil = character who, by contrast, underscores or
enhances the distinctive characteristics of another.
*motivation = reason that explains a character’s
thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech.
cliché = trite or overused expression or idea, like wise as
an owl, be there for someone, he didn’t know his own
mind, see the writing on the wall.
colloquialism = words, phrases or style used in everyday
informal talk; e.g. Good Morning, daddy! / Ain't you
heard in Dream Boogie by Langston Hughes.
conceit = an unusual, surprising, and often delightful
comparison between two very different things; relies
on fanciful and elaborate figurative language; full of
wit and ingenuity which provide an intellectual rather
than sensuous pleasure; particularly associated with
the Metaphysical poets.
conflict = opposition between characters or forces in a
work of drama or fiction, especially opposition that
motivates or shapes the action of the plot; e.g. human
versus human, Nature, God/supernatural, society,
and him/herself.
connotation = associative meanings of a word in addition
to its literal sense, as in stench (negative), odor
(negative/neutral), smell (neutral), aroma (positive);
connotation may be personal and individual, or
general and universal.
consonance = repetition of consonant sounds in
conjunction with dissimilar vowel sounds, as in blank
and think or strong and string or struts and frets.
counter plot = also known as sub-plot; subsidiary action
in a play or story which coincides with the main
action.
criticism = the art of comparison and analysis,
interpretation, and evaluation of works of literature.
denotation = specific or direct meaning of a word found
in the dictionary, in contrast to its figurative or
associated meanings. The denotation of home is a
dwelling in which people live; the connotation is
positive and comforting for most people.
determinism = philosophical doctrine that every event,
act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of
elements independent of the human will.
deus ex machina = the use of an improbable incident to
bring a story to a satisfactory conclusion, as seen in
Moliere’s Tartuffe. Literally, “god from a machine,”
from the Greek dramatic convention of having a god
descend to the stage to make things turn out right.
dialect = regional variety of a language distinguished by
pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary; differing from
1
the standard literary language or speech pattern of
the culture in which it exists; e.g. Flannery
O’Conner’s That car ain’t run in fifteen year.
diction = choice and use of words in speech or writing,
as part of a writer’s style. Diction may be formal or
informal, plain or ornate, common or technical,
abstract or concrete.
elegy = a poem that mourns the death of a person.
enjambment = continuation of grammatical structure in a
poem beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza
and into the next. Also called run-on line; it is the
opposite of end-stopping. An example is this poetic
line by Vernon Watkins: He stands unfaltering while
the gulls / And oyster-catchers scream.
epic = a long narrative poem, on a grand scale, about
the deeds of warriors and heroes; incorporates myth,
legend, folk tale and history; e.g. Gilgamesh; The
Odyssey; Beowulf.
epic simile = extended simile elaborated in great detail,
also called the Homeric simile because it appears so
often in The Iliad and The Odyssey.
epiphany = comprehension or perception of reality by a
sudden realization or discovery which changes a
character. Similar to a crystallized moment.
epistle = a kind of letter to a friend or audience. The
C18th epistolary novel is a novel in the form of
letters.
existentialism = philosophy that emphasizes the
uniqueness and isolation of the individual in a hostile
or indifferent universe; human existence is not
explainable, stressing freedom of choice and
responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.
epithet = an adjective or descriptive phrase that is used
to describe a person, place, or thing; e.g. Peter the
Great or America the Beautiful.
explication = writing that presents a detailed analysis or
thoughtful interpretation of a subject.
extended metaphor = a comparison which continues to
be elaborated through detail.
fable = a short didactic tale which usually includes
animals that talk and act like people. Some of the
most popular fables are attributed to Aesop.
fiction = literary work whose content is produced by the
imagination and is not necessarily based on fact.
*non-fiction = prose works other than fiction.
figurative language = language which uses figures of
speech (e.g. simile, metaphor, personification,
alliteration) and imagery to create a special effect or
feeling. The opposite, literal, refers to the primary,
non-figurative, dictionary meaning of words.
flashback = literary or cinematic device in which an
earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological
order of a narrative; showing events that happened
at an earlier time, often used in modern fiction;
purpose is to make the present make more sense to
the reader.
foot (metric) = unit of rhythm; pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables in a poetic line. The following
line lengths (number of feet per line) are the most
common:
dimeter
two metrical feet per line
trimeter
three metrical feet per line
tetrameter four metrical feet per line
pentameter five metrical feet per line
hexameter six metrical feet per line
foreshadowing = technique of arranging events and
information so that later events are prepared for.
free verse = verse with no regular meter or line length; it
often captures the rhythm of natural speech.
genre = category of artistic composition, marked by a
distinctive style, form, or content; e.g. epic, tragedy,
lyric, comedy, satire, novel, short story.
haiku = Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed
lines of five, seven, and five syllables; traditionally
invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.
hubris = the most common defect in a tragic hero which
leads to his or her downfall; overbearing pride or
presumption; arrogance.
hyperbole = figure of speech in which exaggeration is
used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a
year or This book weighs a ton; understatement, its
opposite, states something as less than it is, often to
ironic effect, as in Robert Frost’s Birches: One could
do worse than be a swinger of birches; litotes are
figures of speech which also rely on understatement
for emphasis.
imagery = use of vivid or figurative language which
appeals to any or all of the five senses in order to
stimulate the imagination of objects, actions, or ideas.
*metaphor = figure of speech in which a word or
phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to
designate another, thus making an implicit
comparison, as in Shakespeare’s a sea of troubles or
All the world's a stage.
*simile = figure of speech in which two essentially
unlike things are compared, often in a phrase
introduced by like or as, as in So are you to my
thoughts as food to life.
*analogy = comparison based on similarity; an
extended metaphor.
irony, verbal: when what is said is not what is meant;
when meaning is contrary to the words; e.g. Swift
proposes that the Irish solve their poverty problems
by selling their babies to their English landlords as
food.
*dramatic: when the audience or reader knows
something that a character doesn’t.
*situational: when what happens contradicts
expectations.
jargon = technical vocabulary peculiar to a trade or
profession.
juxtaposition = act of placing things side by side for the
purposes of comparing or contrasting (v. juxtapose).
local color = use of detail peculiar to a particular region
and environment to add interest and authenticity; the
locale, dress, customs, music, etc.
lyric poetry = musical poem in which the poet expresses
personal thoughts and feelings.
macrocosm = the universe in its entirety; the larger
reality or “big picture”; microcosm refers to a sort of
miniature system representative of a larger system.
malapropism = figure of speech named after Mrs.
Malaprop, a character in Sheridan’s The Rivals
(1775) who had a habit of using polysyllabic words
incorrectly: I would have her instructed in geometry,
that she might know something of the contagious
[contiguous] countries.
meter = pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables;
particular arrangement of sounds in poetry (such as
2
iambic pentameter) determined by the kind and
number of metrical units in a line.
The following metrical feet are the most common:
iambic
U/
dactylic / U U
trochaic
/U
spondaic / /
anapestic U U /
Poets use syncopation to save a syllable sound
through the suppression of an internal sound such as
“ne’er”; contraction also allows for the suppression
of a syllable through the apostrophe, as in “’tis”;
elision is a form of contraction that creates slurring,
such as “th’one with th’other”; The creation of an
extra syllable sound is expansion, as in “moved”
becoming “mov/ed”.
monologue = literary composition in which one person
speaks alone, with or without an audience; aka
dramatic monologue. Compare to soliloquy which is
the dramatic form of discourse in which a character
reveals his or her thoughts when alone or unaware of
the presence of other characters.
mood = pervading impression, atmosphere, or feel of a
literary work.
myth = explanation of the natural order and cosmic
forces; a story which is not “true” and which involves
supernatural events.
narrative = writing which tells a story, with a beginning,
middle, and ending.
naturalism = works which show a strong interest in,
sympathy with, and love of natural beauty; the belief
that everything that exists is a part of nature and can
be explained by natural causes.
novel = long, fictional prose narrative, usually about
ordinary people who come to represent humanity.
ode = lyric poem which honors something and has a
stately tone and style.
onomatopoeia = formation or use of words such as buzz
or murmur or hiss that imitate the sounds associated
with the objects or actions they refer to; e.g. The
buzz saw snarled and rattled.
oxymoron = figure of speech in which incongruous or
contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening
silence and an honest thief and a cold fire.
parallelism = repetition of a sentence pattern or
grammatical structure; e.g. Elizabeth Barrett
Browning’s I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
parataxis = coordination of clauses without conjunctions;
the effect is terseness and compression. Emily
Dickinson used parataxis.
parody = imitative use of an author’s words, style,
attitude, tone, and ideas to make them look
ridiculous.
pastoral = literary or other artistic work that portrays or
evokes rural life, usually in an idealized manner,
displaying nostalgia for a former or hypothetical state
of love or peace which has been lost.
pathos = quality which invokes feelings of tenderness,
pity, or sorrow; e.g. Gertrude’s speech describing the
death of Ophelia in Hamlet.
personification = figure of speech in which inanimate
objects or abstractions are given human qualities or
are represented as possessing human form, as in
Hunger sat shivering on the road or Flowers danced
about the lawn or Time goes on crutches.
plagiarism = the stealing of another’s words or ideas.
plot = plan of events; main actions in a narrative or
drama.
poetic justice = term which conveys the idea that the evil
are punished appropriately and the good rewarded as
they should be.
poetic license = liberty allowed to the poet to work (even
distort) the language according to his/her needs, as in
figurative speech, rhyme, or syntax.
point of view = the position of the narrator in a piece of
literature; the perspective through which the events of
the narrative are viewed.
*narrator = person telling a story in a literary work.
*omniscient = all-seeing, all-knowing narrator; able
to reveal the thoughts of all the characters.
*limited omniscient = author uses the third person
but is able to reveal thoughts of only one character,
as if standing at his/her elbow.
*speaker = the individual telling the story; a first
person speaker refers to a character who is in the
story and who uses “I” as he narrates; second
person refers to an individual being addressed
directly; third person refers to the individual or thing
spoken of (he/she/it).
*objective = narration without the ability to reveal
thoughts; like a video camera which can reveal only
what it sees, as in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
*persona = voice or character speaking in a poem.
précis = summary or synopsis of a work; a shortened
version of a passage.
preface = introduction to a literary work.
prologue = opening section of a work, a kind of
introduction which is part of the work.
prose = ordinary speech or writing; not verse.
proverb = short, pithy saying in frequent and widespread
use that expresses a basic truth or practical precept.
A stitch in time saves nine.
pseudonym = name other than his/her own taken by the
author. For example, George Sand was the
pseudonym of Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin; Mark
Twain was the the pseudonym of Samuel Clemens.
pun = play on words, sometimes on different senses of
the same word and sometimes on the similar sense
or sound of different words. Hamlet says to Claudius,
I am too much in the sun, playing on the word son.
realism = the documenting of life with bare truth, not
idealism; focus on gritty, truthful scenes of people and
their (usually difficult) lives. As a Movement, it was a
reaction against romanticism which put an emphasis
on the imagination and emotions.
refrain = phrase or lines repeated at intervals in a poem.
rhetoric = art or study of using language effectively and
persuasively.
rhyme (perfect or exact or full) = the repetition of the
accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds in
important or importantly positioned words, assuming
that the accented vowel sounds involved are
preceded by differing consonant sounds; e.g.
old/cold; vane/reign; dear/sneer; light/night.
*approximate or near rhyme = words with any kind
of sound similarity, from close to fairly remote.
*identical or end rhyme = rhymes in which the
preceding consonant sound is the same (e.g.
manse/romance), in which there is no preceding
consonant sound in either word (e.g. aisle/isle), or in
3
which the same word is repeated in the rhyming
position (e.g. hill/hill).
*internal rhyme refers to sounds that repeat within a
line of poetry.
*eye rhyme = rhyme which gives the impression of
exact rhyme but does not have identical sounds; e.g.
come/home, forth/worth.
*slant rhyme = rhyme that is not true, usually
deliberately so; e.g. other/powder.
*rhyme scheme = arrangement of rhyme in a poem.
rhythm = patterned, recurring alternations of contrasting
elements of sound or speech.
sarcasm = form of wit that is marked by the use of an
ironical, often mocking tone and is intended to make
its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.
satire = literary work in which human vice or folly is
attacked through irony, derision, or wit.
scansion = analysis of verse into metrical patterns.
science fiction = an imagination-stretching narrative
often concerned with technological change, scientific
experiment, geological and ecological change,
including trips to other worlds, quests, the exploration
of space, and interplanetary warfare.
sentimentality = romantic or nostalgic emotion, usually
about an aspect of the past.
setting = time, place, and circumstances in which a
narrative, drama, or film takes place.
short story = short, fictional narrative usually concerned
with a small number of characters, limited setting,
single incident, single focus, a ‘twist’, and written to
elicit a single emotional response in the reader.
slang = common, informal language of the street.
sibilance = repetition of the ‘s’ sound.
sonnet = 14-line verse form usually having one of
several conventional rhyme schemes. The two most
common types are the Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet
and the Elizabethan (Shakespearean) sonnet.
stanza = group of lines in poetry.
couplet = two consecutive lines of verse that rhyme
(the heroic couplet is in iambic pentameter):
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
triplet = 3-line stanza.
sestet = 6-line stanza
quatrain = 4-line stanza.
septet = 7-line stanza
quintet = 5-line stanza
octave = 8-line stanza
stereotype = conventional, formulaic, oversimplified
conception, opinion, or image; e.g. Westerners are
trendy, Midwesterners are dull, Northeasterners are
brainy, and Southerners are lazy.
stream-of-consciousness = literary technique that
presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as
they develop; e.g. from Joyce’s Ulysses: Yes.
Thought so. Sloping into the Empire. Gone.
structure = the form or organization a writer uses.
*exposition = part of a story that provides the
background information to understand the characters
and the action; it also refers to any type of writing
that intends to make clear or explain something.
*rising action = part of a drama or story which
comes before the climax; also known as
complication.
*climax = moment of great or culminating intensity in
a narrative or drama, especially the conclusion of a
crisis; also known as crisis.
*falling action = part of a narrative after the climax.
*dénouement = the events which conclude a
narrative, tying together loose ends, solving
mysteries, and settling the fate of all the characters;
the “unknotting;” aka the resolution.
style = particular way in which something is said, done,
expressed, or performed.
subjectivity = personal experience and feeling; the
opposite of objectivity where the writer is unbiased,
outside the work and detached from it.
subtext = what is implied but not written.
suspense = anxiety or apprehension resulting from an
uncertain, undecided situation; it compels the reader
to read on to find out what happens next.
symbol = something that represents something else by
association, resemblance, or convention, especially a
material object used to represent something invisible;
e.g. Eiffel Tower = France.
synesthesia = description of one kind of sense
impression by using words that usually describe
another, as in I heard a blinding roar.
syntax = sentence construction; ellipsis is word
elimination without effecting meaning, as in I must to
Coventry; transposition is word relocation, as in And
never shall it more be gracious.
theme = a central idea of a work that notes a generality
or tendency of human nature; e.g. Man tends to need
reassurances before deciding his course of action
when faced with a dilemma; a leitmotif or motif is a
dominant or recurring thematic element in a work,
often consisting of a recurrent image or symbol; e.g.
the rose motif runs through love poetry and ill-fitting
clothes appear throughout Macbeth.
thesis = the main idea of a paper to be argued.
tone = the writer’s attitude (especially toward the subject
of his work), revealed by his manner, diction or voice.
topic sentence = main, focusing idea of a paragraph.
tragedy = drama in which the main character is brought
to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a
consequence of a tragic flaw, a moral weakness, or
an inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.
transition = word, phrase, sentence, or series of
sentences connecting two parts of a discourse.
turning point = observable moment when in a narrative
there is a definite change in direction and one
becomes aware that it will now move towards its end.
utopia = Greek for “no place;” a pun on eutopia, “a place
where all is well;” used by Sir Thomas More to entitle
his book about an imaginary republic; its converse is
dystopia or anti-utopia
vernacular = standard native language of a country or
locality; everyday language spoken by a people.
verse = line of metrical writing; stanza; poetry in general.
vignette = sketch or short composition.
voice = distinctive style or manner of expression of an
author or a character in a book.
zeugma = figure of speech in which a word stands in the
same relation to two other terms, but with a different
meaning; a common device in satire; e.g. I lost pride
and my wallet at the carnival or After a hard day at
work she gave me love and a plate of warm cookies.
4