Literary Terms
Literary Terms for AP English
Drama
Note: 1. Terms denoted with an asterisk (*) indicate terms that are applicable to both plays and fiction.
2. An asterisk (*) next to a term in a definition indicates that the term is defined elsewhere.
Act – a major division in the action of the play, comprising one or more *scenes. A break between acts often
coincides with a point at which the plot jumps ahead in time.
*Antagonist – the most prominent of the characters who oppose the *protagonist or hero(ine) in a dramatic or
narrative work. The antagonist is often a villain seeking to frustrate a heroine or hero; but in those works
in which the protagonist is represented as evil, the antagonist will often be a virtuous or sympathetic
character, as Macduff is in Macbeth.
Aside – a short speech or remark spoken by a character in a drama, directed either to the audience or to another
character, which by *convention is supposed to be inaudible to the other characters on stage. See also soliloquy.
*Catastrophe – the final resolution or *denouement of the plot in a *tragedy, usually involving the death of the
*protagonist.
*Catharsis – the effect of purgation or purification achieved by tragic drama, according to Aristotle’s argument in his
Poetics (4th century BC). Aristotle wrote that a *tragedy should succeed “in arousing pity and fear in such a way
as to accomplish a catharsis of such emotions”. There has been much dispute about his meaning, but Aristotle
seems to be rejecting Plato’s hostile view of poetry as an unhealthy emotional stimulant. His metaphor of
emotional cleansing has been read as a solution to the puzzle of audiences’ pleasure or relief in witnessing the
disturbing events enacted in tragedies. Another interpretation is that it is the *protagonist’s guilt that is purged,
rather than the audience’s feeling of terror. Adjective: cathartic.
*Character – (1) any of the persons involved in a story (sense 1). (2) The distinguishing moral qualities and
personal traits of a character (sense 2).
- Flat character – a character (1) whose character (2) is summed up in one or two traits.
- Round character – a character (1) whose character (2) is complex and many-sided.
- Stock character – A stereotyped character: one whose nature is familiar to us from prototypes in previous
fiction.
- Dynamic character – a character that is changed by the actions in which he or she is involved.
- Static character – a character that remains unchanged or little changed throughout the course of the story.
*Climax – the turning point or high point in a plot’s action.
*Comic Relief – the interruption of a serious work, especially a *tragedy, by a short humorous episode that relieves
emotional tension.
*Conflict – A clash of actions, desires, ideas, or goals in the plot of a story. Conflict may exist between the main
character and some other person or persons (man vs. man), between the main character and some external
force – physical nature, society, or “fate” (man vs. nature), or between the main character and some destructive
element in his own nature (man vs. himself).
*Crisis – a decisive point in the plot of a play or story, upon which the outcome of the remaining action depends,
and which ultimately precipitates the *catastrophe or *denouement.
*Denouement – the portion of a plot that reveals the final outcome of its conflicts or the solution of its mysteries.
*Deus ex machina – (“god from the machine”). The resolution of a plot by use of a highly improbable chance,
coincidence or artificial device that solves some difficult problem or crisis.
*Epilogue – a concluding section of any written work during which the characters’ subsequent fates are briefly
outlined.
*Exposition – the setting forth of a systematic explanation of or argument about any subject; or the opening
part of a play or story, in which we are introduced to the characters and their situation, often by reference
to preceding events. Adjective: expository. Verb: expound.
*Falling Action – The segment of the plot that comes between the climax and the conclusion.
*Foil – a character whose qualities or actions serve to emphasize those of the *protagonist (or of some other
character) by providing a strong contrast with them.
*Hamartia – the Greek word for error or failure, used by Aristotle in his Poetics (4th century BC) to designate
the false step that leads the *protagonist in a *tragedy to his or her downfall. The term should not be
confused with ‘tragic flaw’ which is a defect in character. Hamartia is the action that the character takes.
*Hero or Heroine – the main character in a narrative or dramatic work. The term protagonist is preferable since
the leading character may not be morally or otherwise superior. When our expectations of heroic qualities
are strikingly disappointed, the central character may be known as an anti-hero or anti-heroine.
*Hubris – the Greek word for ‘insolence’ or ‘affront’, applied to the arrogance or pride of the *protagonist in a
*tragedy in which he or she defies moral laws or the prohibitions of the gods. The protagonist’s transgression
or *hamartia leads eventually to his or her downfall, which may be understood as divine retribution. In
proverbial terms, hubris is thus the pride that comes before a fall. Adjective: hubristic.
In medias res. – “in the middle of things”; the technique of beginning a story in the middle of the action.
Monologue – an extended speech uttered by one speaker, either to others or as if alone. See also soliloquy.
*Narrator – the teller of a story. See also point of view.
- Reliable narrator – trustworthy
- Unreliable narrator - untrustworthy
- Naïve narrator - is uncomprehending (child, simple-minded adult) who narrates the story without realizing its true implications.
- Intrusive narrator – keeps interrupting the narrative to address the reader
*Plot – The careful arrangement by an author of incidents in a narrative to achieve a desired effect.
*Prologue – an introductory section of a literary work or an introductory speech in a play.
*Protagonist – The central character in a story.
*Rising Action – The part of a plot that leads through a series of events of increasing interest and power to the
climax or turning point. The rising action begins with an inciting moment, an action or event that sets a
conflict of opposing forces into motion, and moves through complication(s), an entangling of the affairs of
the characters in a conflict, toward the climax, the major crisis that brings about a change in the fortunes of
the protagonist.
Scene – a subdivision of an act or of a play not divided into acts. A scene normally represents actions happening
in one place at one time, and is marked off from the next scene by a curtain, a black-out, or a brief emptying
of the stage.
*Setting – the general locale, time in history, or social milieu in which the action of a literary work takes place.
Soliloquy – a dramatic speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on stage, or while under the
impression of being alone. The soliloquist thus reveals his or her inner thoughts and feelings to the audience,
either in supposed self-communion or in a consciously direct address.
Stage directions – the information provided in addition to the dialogue to help a reader visualize the setting, characters, and
action. Usually in italics, are intended for the director, actors, etc.
*Tragedy – a type of drama in which the protagonist, a person of unusual moral or intellectual stature or outstanding
abilities, suffers a fall in fortune due to some error of judgment or flaw in his or her nature.
*Tragic Flaw – the defect of character that brings about the protagonist’s downfall in a *tragedy.
Turning Point – the point in the plot where the protagonist’s situation changes for the better or the worse; after this the
action begins its movement toward a final resolution.
*Villain – the principal evil character in a play or story. The villain is usually the antagonist opposed to the
protagonist, but in some cases may be the protagonist himself/herself.
Elements of Style (The techniques from which a writer can choose to create a unique style or way of saying things.
Ambiguity – A word, phrase or attitude that has double or even multiple meanings, resulting in multiple interpretations.
Atmosphere – the pervasive *mood or *tone of a literary work – gloom, foreboding, joyful expectation, etc.
Attitude – the author’s viewpoint regarding his subject matter. Attitude can usually be detected in author’s tone.
Colloquialisms – words or phrases that are used in everyday conversation or informal writing which are usually
considered inappropriate for a formal essay.
Connotation – the range of further associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its straightforward
dictionary meaning.
Convention – a device of style or subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expression.
For example, a conventional lover cannot eat or sleep. An author who mocks the convention might create an
overweight lover who sleeps a lot.
Denotation – the precise, literal meaning of a word, without emotional associations or overtones.
Dialect – the version of a language spoken by people of a particular region or social group.
Dialogue – The conversation of two or more people as represented in writing.
Diatribe – violently bitter verbal attack.
Diction – the choice of words used in a literary work.
Digression – A portion of a written work that interrupts or pauses the development of the theme or plot.
Epigraph – the use of a quotation at the beginning of a work that hints at its theme.
Flashback – a way of presenting scenes or incidents that took place before the opening scene.
Framed Narration – the story is told through several people. For example, in Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein tells
his story to a ship’s captain, who writes down the story in letters to his sister, which is how the story is presented to the reader.
Idiom – way of expression natural or peculiar to a language or group of people (idiomatic).
Inference – a conclusion the reader can draw based upon details presented by the author.
Invective – direct denunciation or name-calling.
Irony – in its broadest sense, the incongruity, or difference, between reality (what is) and appearance (what seems
to be).
- Dramatic irony – a situation in which the audience knows more about a character’s situation than the
character does, foreseeing an outcome contrary to the character’s expectations.
- Situational irony – the contrast between what is intended or expected and what actually occurs.
- Verbal irony – a contrast between what is said and what is actually meant.
Jargon – the special language of a profession or group.
Juxtaposition – the “side by side” comparison of two or more objects or ideals for the purpose of highlighting
similarities or differences.
Local Color – the use of the physical setting, dialect, customs and attitudes that typify a particular region.
Malapropism – the comic substitution of one word for another similar in sound, but different in meaning. Functions
to make characters look ignorant or amusingly uneducated. “I would have her instructed in geometry that she might
know of contagious countries.” – The Rivals by Sheridan
Narrative Pace – the speed at which an author tells a story; the movement from one point or section to another.
Mood – the prevailing emotional attitude in a literary work, for example, regret, hopefulness, bitterness, etc.
Pseudonym – pen name, nom de plume, alias; a fictitious name assumed by a writer who wished to remain
anonymous or who chooses not to use her/his real name professionally.
Sarcasm – harsh, cutting, personal remarks to or about someone, not necessarily ironic.
Satire – any form of literature that blends ironic humor and wit with criticism directed at a particular folly, vice
or stupidity. Satire seeks to correct, improve, or reform through ridicule.
Stream-of-consciousness – a technique that allows the reader to see the continuous, chaotic flow of half-formed
and discontinuous thoughts, memories, sense impressions, random associations, images, feelings and re-
flections that constitute a character’s consciousness.
Tone – the reflection in a work of the author’s attitude toward his or her subject. Tone in writing is comparable
to tone of voice in speech, and may be described as brusque, friendly, imperious, insinuating, teasing, etc.
Unity – the quality of oneness in a literary work, in which all parts are related by some principle or organization
so that they form an organic whole, complete and independent in itself.
Voice – the sense a written work conveys to a reader of the writer’s attitude, personality and character.
Wit – ingenuity in connecting amusingly incongruous ideas; intellect, humor.
Literary Periods, Movements and Philosophies
Absurdism – philosophy that views a human being as an isolated existent who is cast into an alien universe,
conceives the universe as possessing no inherent truth, value, or meaning, and represents human life, as it moves from the nothingness whence it came toward the nothingness where it must end, as an existence which is both anguished and absurd.
Aestheticism – reverence for beauty; movement that held beautiful form is to be valued more than instructive
content.
Anglo-Saxon – the period before A.D. 1100. Poetry of this period was sung or chanted to the accompaniment of a
primitive harp; it was not written, but was passed down orally.
Baroque – a grand and exuberantly ornamental style
Beat Generation - movement that began in the early 1950's with a small and tightly connected group of young
writers who demonstrated a care-free, often reckless and unquestionably fresh approach to literature as well as a demonstrative social stance toward what was sometimes referred to as "The Establishment".
Classicism – an adherence to the principals of Greek and Roman literature.
Deism – Philosophy which draws on Newton's description of the universe as a great clock built by the Creator and
then set in motion, the deists among the philosophes argued that everything—physical motion, human physiology, politics, society, economics—had its own set of rational principles established by God which could be understood by human beings solely by means of their reason.
Determinism – philosophy that suggests people’s actions and all other events are determined by forces over
which human beings have no control.
Egoism - In regard to ethics, egoism makes the following claim: the individual self is the motivating moral force
and the end of moral action. This can then be broken down into the positivist and normative ethics. Positivists would claim that egoism is a factual description of human affairs - that people are motivated by their own interests and desires. Normativists take the position that people ought to be motivated in this way.
Elizabethan – the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and is often considered to be
a golden age in English History. It was the height of the Renaissance in England, and saw the flowering of English Literature.
Empiricism – philosophy that suggests that virtually all knowledge is the result of our experiences. We are born
“blank slates” and this theory discounts any role of nature in human behavior.
Enlightenment - believed that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to
build a better world. Their principal targets were religion (embodied in France in the Catholic Church) and the domination of society by a hereditary aristocracy.
Existentialism – a philosophical movement that focuses on the individual human being’s experience of, recognition of, and
triumph over the meaninglessness of existence.
Expressionism – presents life not as it appears on the surface, but as it is passionately felt to be by an author or
character.
Feminism – the view that women are inherently equal to men and deserve equal rights and opportunities.
Gothic – term used to describe literary works that make extensive use of primitive, medieval, wild, mysterious, or
natural elements. Gothic novels, such as Shelley’s Frankenstein, are often set in gloomy castles where horrifying events take place.
Harlem Renaissance - Harlem Renaissance (HR) is the name given to the period from the end of World War I and
through the middle of the 1930s Depression, during which a group of talented African-American writers produced a sizable body of literature in the four prominent genres of poetry, fiction, drama, and essay.
Hedonism – the belief in the pursuit of pleasure above all else.
Machiavellianism – The political doctrine of Machiavelli, which denies the relevance of morality in political affairs
and holds that craft and deceit are justified in pursuing and maintaining political power.
Medieval – The “dark ages” occur when Rome falls and barbarian tribes move into Europe. (445 AD – 799 CE)
Metaphysical – term used to describe poetry of the 17th century filled with far-fetched conceits, intellectual
playfulness, argument, paradoxes, irony, incongruity and the rhythms of ordinary speech.
Modernism – an international movement in the arts of the early 20th century. Modernists rejected old forms and
experimented with the new, which often led to controversy. Often Modernists took on trivial or shocking subject matter – subject matter not traditionally the focus of art.
Naturalism – style of writing that rejects idealized portrayals of life and attempts complete accuracy, disinterested
objectivity, and frankness in depicting life as a brutal struggle for survival.
Neo-Classicism – literary movement of the Restoration and the 18th century in which writers turned to classic Greek
and Roman literary models and standards.
Nihilism - Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is
often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence. A true nihilist would believe in nothing, have no loyalties, and no purpose other than, perhaps, an impulse to destroy.
Pantheism – The identification of God with the universe.
Primitivism – the belief that nature provides a truer and more healthful model than culture; the noble savage.
Realism – an author’s use of accuracy in the portrayal of life or reality.
Regionalism – the tendency in literature to focus on a specific geographical region or locality, re-creating as
accurately as possible its unique setting, speech, customs, manners, beliefs and history.
Relativism – Relativism is sometimes identified (usually by its critics) as the thesis that all points of view are
equally valid. In ethics, this amounts to saying that all moralities are equally good; in epistemology it implies that all beliefs, or belief systems, are equally true.
Romanticism – literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form. Characteristics include: individuality,
subjectivity, spontaneity, freedom from rules, solitary life vs. life in society, the belief that imagination is superior to
reason, devotion to beauty, worship of nature, fascination with the past, etc.
Surrealism – employs illogical, dreamlike images and events to suggest the unconscious.
Transcendentalism – the American version of romanticism; held that there was something in human beings that transcended human nature – a spark of divinity. This philosophy stood in opposition to the pessimism of Puritanism
Fiction Terms
Note: 1. Terms denoted with an asterisk (*) indicate terms that are applicable to both plays and fiction.
*Anticlimax – an effect that spoils a climax. Adjective: Anticlimactic.
*Archetype – A pattern or model of an action, a character type, or an image that recurs consistently enough in
life and literature to be considered universal.
Characterization – the method by which an author creates the appearance and personality of imaginary persons.
The author may choose to tell the reader what a character is like through narration, show what a character is
like through actions and dialogue, or have the character reveal him/herself through inner thoughts.
*Confidant/confidante – someone that the protagonist talks to, enabling the audience or reader to become aware
of the protagonist’s motivation.
Dystopia – an undesirable imaginary society. Orwell’s 1984 or Huxley’s Brave New World.
Explication de texte – the detailed analysis, or close reading of a passage of verse or prose. Such explication
seeks to make meaning clear through a painstaking examination and explanation of style, language,
symbolism, and the relationship of parts to the whole.
*Incident – an event or episode in a work of fiction that moves the plot forward or reveals character.
Motif – a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object or situation that appears in various works or throughout
the same work.
*Motivation – the psychological and moral impulses and external circumstances that cause a character to act,
think, or feel a certain way.
*Narrative voice – the attitude, personality or character of the narrator as it is revealed through dialogue or
descriptive and narrative commentary.
*Point of View – the vantage point, or stance, from which a story is told; the eye and mind through which the
action is perceived and filtered, sometimes called narrative perspective.
- First person – the story is told by one of its characters, using the first person pronoun “I” which does
not give the reader insight into other characters’ motives or thoughts.
- Third person objective – the author limits him/herself to reporting what the characters say or do; he or
she does not interpret their behavior or tell us their private thoughts or feelings.
- Third person omniscient – the author knows all (godlike) and is free to tell us anything, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and why they act as they do.
- Third person limited – the author limits him/herself to a complete knowledge of one character in the
story and tells us only what that one character feels, thinks, sees or hears.
Reliability – the extent to which a narrator can be trusted or believed. The closer the narrator is to the story, the more his judgment will be influenced by forces in the story.
Stereotype – a character who represents a trait generally attributed to a social or racial group and lacks other
individualizing traits (the nagging wife, the hardboiled detective, the hot-headed Italian, etc.
*Subplot – a secondary series of events that are subordinate to the main story; a story within a story.
Suspense – quality that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events.
Suspension of Disbelief – the demand made of an audience to provide some details with their imagination and
to accept the limitations of reality and staging; also the acceptance of the incidents of a plot by a reader.
Symbol – anything that stands for or represents something else beyond it, usually an idea conventionally associated
with it.
*Theme – an abstract idea that emerges from a literary work’s treatment of its subject matter, or a topic recurring in
a number of literary works.. Themes include love, war, revenge, betrayal, fate, etc.
Utopia – a desirable imaginary society.
Naïve narrator - teller of the story is uncomprehending (child, simple-minded adult) who tells the story without realizing its true implications.
Intrusive narrator - storyteller keeps interrupting the narrative to address the reader.
Stock character - a stereotyped character: one whose nature is familiar to us from prototypes in previous fiction.
Reliable narrator - trustworthy person telling the story.
Flat character - a character whose character is summed up in one or two traits.
Narrative voice - the attitude, personality or character of the narrator as it is revealed through dialogue or descriptive and narrative commentary.
Unreliable narrator - untrustworthy person telling the story.
Round character - a character whose character is complex and many-sided.
Figures of Speech
Allusion – an indirect or passing reference to an event, person, place or artistic work that the author assumes the
reader will understand.
Anachronism – an event, object, custom, person or thing that is out of its natural order of time. A clock strikes
in Julius Caesar.
Analogy – a comparison of similar things, often to explain something unfamiliar with something familiar.
(the branching of a river system is often explained using a tree and its branches.)
Aphorism – A terse statement of a principal or truth; a maxim. (Life is long, reasoning difficult, etc.)
Apostrophe – a rhetorical device in which the speaker addresses a dead or absent person, or an inanimate object
or abstraction.
Cliché – Any expression that has been used so often it has lost its freshness. (Sharp as a tack, the last straw, etc.)
Conundrum – a riddle with a punning answer
Epigram – any terse, witty, pointed saying. For example, “She knows the cost of everything, but the value of
nothing”.
Euphemism – the substitution of a mild term for one more offensive or hurtful.
Figurative language – language that contains figures of speech, such as metaphor, simile, personification, etc.
Hyperbole – exaggeration for the sake of emphasis in a figure of speech not meant literally. “I’ve been waiting
here for ages.”
Kenning – a metaphoric compound word or phrase used as a synonym for a common noun. “Ring-bestower” for
king; “whale-road” for sea; “candle of heaven” for the sun; “war-brand” for a sword.
Litotes – a figure of speech by which an affirmation is made indirectly by saying its opposite, usually with an
effect of understatement. “I’d not be averse to a drink.”
Malapropism – the comic substitution of one word for another similar in sound, but quite different in meaning. “I
would have her instructed in geometry (geography) that she might know of contagious (contiguous) countries.”
Metaphor – the most important and widespread figure of speech in which one thing, idea, or action is referred to
by a word or expression normally denoting another thing, idea or action, so as to suggest some common
quality (qualities) shared by the two. “He is a pig.”
Extended metaphor – an idea sustained throughout the work
Dead metaphor – one that has been used so much it has lost its figurative meaning and is taken literally (eye
of a needle, head of the class)
Mixed metaphor – a combination of two or more inconsistent metaphors in a single expression (He’ll have to
take the bull by the horns to keep the business afloat.)
Metonymy – figure of speech in which a representative term is used for a larger idea. The pen is mightier than the
sword.
Onomatopoeia – the use of words that seem to imitate the sounds they refer to (whack, fizz, crackle, etc.).
Oxymoron – A figure of speech in which two contradictory words or phrases are combined in a single expression.
(wise fool, living death, etc.)
Personification – the technique by which animals, abstract ideas, or inanimate objects are referred to as if they
were human. “The wind howled through the trees.”
Proverb – a short saying that expresses some commonplace truth or bit of folk wisdom. “A stitch in time saves
nine.”
Pun – a form of wit, not necessarily funny, involving a play on a word with two or more meanings.
Simile – a less direct metaphor, using like or as. “He is like a pig.”
Syllogism – A form of logical reasoning, consisting of two premises and a conclusion.
Synaesthesia – The description of one kind of sensation in terms of another. “He is wearing a loud shirt.”
Synecdoche – figure of speech that utilizes a part as representative of the whole. (e.g. ‘hands’ for manual laborers; ‘the law’ for a police officer).
Tautology – repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase or sentence. “With malice toward none, with
charity for all.” Abraham Lincoln.
Understatement – a type of verbal irony in which something is purposely represented as being far less important
than it actually is.
Literary Forms
Allegory – a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible
meaning. An allegory may be conceived at a metaphor that is extended into a structured system.
Anecdote – a brief narrative of an entertaining and presumably true incident.
Argument – discourse intended to convince or persuade through appeals to reason or emotion.
Autobiography – an account of all or a part of a person’s life written by that person.
Bildungsroman – translated literally means “development novel”. A coming of age work that follows its protagonist
from youth to experience, or maturity.
Biography – a written account of someone’s life, written by someone else, which focuses on the character and career of the
subject.
Comedy – a literary work written chiefly to amuse its audience. It usually provides a happy ending and emphasizes
human limitations rather than human greatness.
High Comedy – characterized by grace, elegance and wit; intellectual comedy
Low Comedy – crude, boisterous comedy; slapstick and crude jokes; physical comedy
Confessional Literature – autobiographical writing in which the author discusses highly personal and private
experiences normally withheld.
Convention – an accepted or expected style or form. (Wicked step-mothers in fairy tales, happy endings, etc.)
Courtly Love – the emotion that a knight was expected to feel toward a noble lady. A convention of literature
of the Middle Ages.
Didactic – Any text whose main purpose is to teach or instruct.
Dirge – a funeral song of lamentation; a short lyric of mourning.
Discourse – spoken or written language.
- Argument – discourse intended to convince or persuade through appeals to reason or emotion.
- Description – the picturing in words of people, places and activities through detailed observations
of color, sound, smell, touch and motion.
- Exposition – the setting forth of a systematic explanation of or argument about any subject.
- Narration – the process of relation a sequence of events or another term for narrative.
- Rhetoric – the art of persuasion, in speaking or writing
Essay – a short written composition in prose that discusses a subject or proposes an argument without
Claiming to be a complete or thorough exposition. Essays can be formal, informal or humorous.
Epistolary – a novel written in the form of correspondence between characters.
Eulogy – A formal composition or speech in high praise of someone (usually dead, but dead or alive) or something.
Exemplum – brief tale told to illustrate a biblical text or to teach a lesson or moral.
Expose – article exposing scandal or crime.
Fable – a brief tale that conveys a moral lesson, usually by giving human speech and manners to animals
and inanimate things.
Farce – A type of drama related to comedy but emphasizing improbable situations, violent conflicts, physical
action, and coarse wit over characterization or articulated plot.
Genre – a French term for a type, species, or class of composition such as novel, poem, short story, and such
sub-categories as sonnet, science fiction or mystery.
Gothic – a type of novel characterized by mystery, horror, and the supernatural, often with haunted castles,
secret passageways, grisly visions, and all of the paraphernalia of the tale of terror.
Historical Novel – attempts to re-create an historically significant personage or series of events.
Homily – religious sermon or discourse
Melodrama – drama that pits unbelievably good characters against a despicably evil character. The plot includes
dire events and near disasters. Good is always rewarded, and evil punished.
Memoir – an account of a single period in a writer’s life, often one that coincides with important historical events.
Metaphysical poetry – intricate 17th century English poetry employing wit and unexpected images.
Miracle Play – medieval religious drama based on a miraculous event in a saint’s life or a story from the Bible.
Mock Epic – comically or satirically imitates the form and style of the epic, treating a trivial subject in a lofty
manner.
Morality Play – allegory in dramatic form. Hero, who represents all mankind, is surrounded by personifications
of virtues, vices, angels, demons and death, who battle for possession of the hero’s soul.
Myth – an anonymous narrative, originating in the primitive folklore of a race or nation, that explains natural
phenomena, or recounts the deeds of heroes, passed on through oral tradition.
Novel – a lengthy fictional narrative in prose dealing with characters, incidents, and settings that imitate those
found in real life.
Novelette – built on one incident; shorter than a novel, but has more development of character and theme than a
short story.
Novella – a short novel.
Novel of manners – a novel, usually comical and satirical, whose characters and plot emerge from and are limited
by the social customs, values, habits and mores of a particular social class in a particular time and place.
Paean – a song of triumph or thanksgiving.
Parable – a brief tale intended to be understood as an allegory illustrating some lesson or moral.
Parody – A composition that ridicules another composition by imitating and exaggerating aspects of its content.
Pedantic – writing that borders on lecturing. Scholarly, academic, and often overly difficult and distant.
Picaresque novel – a novel whose principal character is a low-born rogue who lives by his/her wits and who becomes
involved in one predicament after another.
Play – a literary work written in dialogue and intended for performance before an audience by actors on stage.
Poetry – literature in its most intense, most imaginative, and most rhythmic form.
Prose – in the broadest sense, all forms of ordinary writing and speech lacking the sustained and regular rhythmic
patterns found in poetry. It resembles closely everyday speech.
Psychological Novel – novel that focuses on the “interior” lives of its characters, their mental states and emotions,
and their psychological motivations of their actions than on the actions themselves.
Romance – any extended work of fiction that deals with adventure, extravagant characters, strange or exotic
places, mysterious or supernatural incidents, heroic or marvelous achievements, or passionate love.
Science Fiction – novels and short stories set either in the future or on some imaginary world.
Short Story – a fictional narrative in prose, short in length (500-15,000 words approx.), usually limited to a few characters, a
single setting, and a single incident.
Sociological Novel – concerned primarily with social issues and problems.
Tract – a formal, religious essay or pamphlet.
Poetic Terms
Alliteration – the repetition of the same sounds, usually initial consonants, in neighboring words.
Assonance – the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words.
Ballad – a form of narrative poetry that presents a single dramatic episode, which is often tragic or violent.
Blank verse – poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter, which must not be confused with free verse.
Cacophony – harsh, clashing, or dissonant sounds, often produced by combinations of words that require a
clipped, explosive delivery, or words that contain a number of plosive consonants.
Cadence – the rising and falling rhythm of speech, especially that of the balanced phrases in free verse or in
prose. Also the fall or rise in pitch at the end of a phrase or sentence.
Caesura – a pause in a line of verse, often coinciding with a break between clauses or sentences.
Conceit – an unusually far-fetched or elaborate metaphor presenting a surprisingly apt parallel between two
apparently dissimilar things or feelings.
Connotation – see pg. 1.
Consonance – the repetition of identical or similar consonants in neighboring words whose vowel sounds are
different (e.g. coming home, hot foot).
Couplet – two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme and that are written to the same meter, or pattern of
stressed and unstressed syllables.
Three be the things I shall have till I die:
Laughter and hope and a sock in the eye.
-Dorothy Parker
Dactyl – metrical foot of three syllables, one accented followed by two unaccented.
Dirge – a funeral song of lamentation; a short lyric of mourning.
Dissonance – harshness of sound and/or rhyme, either inadvertent or deliberate.
Dramatic monologue – a kind of poem in which a single fictional or historical character other than the poet speaks
to a silent audience of one or more persons. Such poems reveal not the poet’s own thoughts, but the mind of
the impersonated character.
Elegy – an elaborately formal lyric poem lamenting the death of a friend or public figure, or serious reflection on
a serious subject.
End-stopped line – a line brought to a pause at which the end of a verse line coincides with the completion of a
sentence, clause, or other independent unit of syntax. It is the opposite of enjambment.
Enjambment – the running over of the sense and grammatical structure from one verse line or couplet to the next
without a punctuated pause.
Epic – a long narrative poem celebrating the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes in a grand style.
Euphony – a pleasing smoothness of sound, perceived by the ease with which the words can be spoken in
combination. Adjective: euphonious.
Extended Metaphor – a metaphor that is sustained for several lines or that becomes the controlling image of an
entire poem.
Foot – the basic unit of rhythmic measurement in a line of poetry.
Free Verse – poetry that is free of rhyme and meter resembling natural speech.
Heroic Couplet – two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc, with the thought usually completed
in the two line unit.
Hexameter – a line containing six feet.
Iamb – a metrical foot consisting of two syllables, an unaccented syllable followed by an accented as in the word
invade.
Image – language referring to something that can be perceived through one or more of the senses.
Imagery – the making of pictures in words.
In medias res – Latin for “the middle of things.” The term describes the narrative practice of beginning a
story in the middle of the action to involve the reader, and then using one or more flashbacks to fill in
what led up to that point.
Lyric – a usually short, personal poem expressing the poet’s emotions and thoughts rather than telling a story.
Measure – an older word for meter. The term is also used to refer to any metrical unit such as a foot.
Meter – the pattern of measured sound-units recurring more or less regularly in lines of verse.
Octave – a group of eight verse lines forming the first part of a sonnet; or a stanza of eight lines.
Ode – an elaborately formal lyric poem, often in the form of a lengthy address to a person or abstract entity, always
serious and elevated in tone.
Pastoral – a poem dealing with shepherds and rural life.
Pentameter – a line of five feet. Iambic pentameter, normally 10 syllables, has had special status as the standard
line in many poetry forms.
Persona – the assumed identity or fictional “I” assumed by a writer in a literary work.
Prosody – the study of sound and rhythm in poetry.
Quatrain – a verse stanza of four lines, rhymed or unrhymed.
Refrain – a line, group of lines, or part of a line repeated at regular or irregular intervals in a poem.
Rhyme – the similarity of sound between two words.
- End rhyme – rhyme that comes at the end of a line of poetry.
- Internal rhyme – rhyme that comes within the line.
- Feminine rhyme – two-syllable rhyme.
- Forced rhyme – meaning in the poem suffers because of the stilted nature of the rhyme
- Masculine rhyme – one-syllable rhyme.
- Exact rhyme – identical rhyme between two words (feature/creature)
- Slant rhyme (proximate, near) – inexact rhyme between two words
- Eye rhyme – rhyme based on spelling rather than sound (bough/though)
Rhythm – the patterned flow of sound in poetry and prose. Sound devices create rhythm.
- Sprung rhythm – measured by counting only the accented syllables and by varying the number of unaccented syllables
Scansion – analyzing the meter in lines of poetry by counting and marking the accented and unaccented syllables,
and dividing the lines into metrical feet.
Sestet – a six-line poem or stanza.
Sonnet – a fourteen-line lyric poem in iambic pentameter.
- English sonnet – rhyme scheme of abab, cdcd, efef, gg (a/k/a Shakespearean sonnet)
- Italian sonnet – rhyme scheme of abba, abba, cde, cde (a/k/a Petrarchan sonnet)
Stanza – a section or division of a poem, resembling paragraphs in prose.
Stress – the emphasis placed on a word or syllable.
Trochee – a metrical foot consisting of two syllables, an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable, as in
the word fortune.
Verse – poetry as distinct from prose. The term is usually more neutral than poetry, indicating that the technical
requirements of rhythm and metre are present, while poetic merit may or may not be present.
Villanelle – a lyric poem made up of five stanzas of three lines, plus a final stanza of four lines.
Volta – the Italian term for the turn in the argument or mood of a sonnet, occurring between the octave and the
sestet in the 9th line.
Syntax & Grammatical Terms
Anaphora – the regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses.
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds.
We shall fight in the fields and in the streets…….
Anastrophe – a rhetorical term for the inversion of the normal order of the parts of a sentence.
After great pain a formal feeling comes –
The nerves sit ceremonious like tombs.
Emily Dickinson
Antecedent – the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers.
Antithesis – a figure of speech in which opposing or contrasting ideas are balanced against each other using
grammatically parallel syntax.
There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors,
And no slave who has not had a king among his.
Helen Keller
Asyndenton – conjunctions are omitted, producing a fast-paced and rapid prose.
I came. I saw. I conquered.
Chiasmus – grammatical structure in which the first clause or phrase is reversed in the second, sometimes
Repeating the same words.
“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can
do for you: ask what you can do for your country.”
John F. Kennedy
Clause – a group of words containing a subject and verb that may or may not be a complete sentence.
Gerund – a noun formed from a verb. (Living)
Imperative – sentence structure that gives a command. “Eat your spinach.”
Inversion – reversing the normal order of sentence parts for poetic effect.
Loose sentences – modifiers follow the SVC pattern allowing the strength of the sentence to come first.
A car hit him just as he bent over to tie his shoelace.
Paradox – a statement or expression so surprisingly self-contradictory as to provoke us into seeking another
sense in which it would be true.
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
-Emily Dickinson
Parallelism – expressing similar or related ideas in similar grammatical structure.
He tried to make the law clear, precise and equitable.
Periodic sentences – the main idea comes last in the sentence, leaving the reader with a more powerful last
Impression.
Just as he bent over to tie his shoelace, a car hit him.
Polysyndenton – the opposite of asyndenton. The use of many conjunctions has a slowing effect.
Rhetorical question – questions that do not require an answer.
Logical Fallacies (Errors in Reasoning) in Argumentation
Ad Hominem – “against the man;” attacking the arguer rather than the argument or issue.
Ad Populum – “to the crowd;” the misconception that because a great number of people do something, it is
therefore correct. The parents of Sylvia’s friends allow their daughters to stay out until 2:00 am, therefore
Sylvia’s parents should let Sylvia stay out until 2:00 am as well.
Appeal to Authority – Person A is (or claims to be) an authority on subject S. Person A makes claim C about
subject S. Therefore, C is true.
Appeal to Belief – Most people believe that X is true, therefore X is true.
Appeal to Emotion – when the arguer manipulates emotions in order to get people to accept a claim as being
true.
Appeal to Popularity: “The new UltraSkinny diet will make you feel great. No longer be troubled by your weight. Enjoy the admiring stares of the opposite sex. Revel in your new freedom from fat.
Appeal to Fear: You must believe that God exists. After all, if you don’t accept the existence of God, you’ll face the horrors of hell.
Appeal to Flattery: Might I say that this is the best class I’ve ever taken. By the way, about those two points I need to get an A. ..
Appeal to Novelty: Our company has to be on the cutting edge. That means new ideas and new techniques have to be used. The GK method is new, so it will do better than the old method.
Appeal to Pity: I’m positive that my work will meet your requirements. I really need the job since my grandmother is very sick.
Appeal to Ridicule: Support the ERA? Sure, when the women start paying for the drinks!
Appeal to Spite: You can’t be serious about nominating John for president. Remember what he pulled last year?
Appeal to Tradition: I believe in God. People have believed in God for generations, so God must exist.
Bandwagon – Threat of rejection from one’s peers replaces evidence in an argument. “I realize prejudice is wrong,
but we don’t allow African Americans or Women in our group. You understand.
Begging the Question – taking for granted something that needs proving. ‘Free all political prisoners.”
Biased Sample – drawing a conclusion about a population based on a sample that is biased or prejudiced. In
determining the population’s stance on gun control, polling only NRA members would be a biased sample.
Circular Reasoning – trying to prove one idea with another idea that is too similar to the first. “A writer is a person
who writes.
Confusing Cause & Effect – A and B regularly occur together. Therefore A is the cause of B.
False Dilemma – when too few of the available alternatives are considered, and all but one are assessed and deemed impossible or unacceptable; e.g. a father says to his son, “Are you going to go to college and make something of yourself, or are you going to end up being an unemployable bum?” The dilemma is false because the alternative of not going to college but still being employable has not been considered.
Hasty Generalization – drawing a general and premature conclusion on the basis of only one or two cases. “All
dogs should be muzzled because a golden retriever disturbed the peace in the park.
Middle Ground – Position A and B are too extreme. C rests in between A and B. Therefore C is the correct one.
Motivational Appeal – an attempt to reach an audience by recognizing their needs and values and how these
contribute to their decision-making.
Non Sequitur – “It does not follow;” an inference or conclusion that does not follow established evidence or
premises. “He’s the most popular; therefore he should be president.”
Poisoning the Well – Unfavorable information about person A is presented (true or false). Therefore, any claims
made by person A will be false.
Post Hoc – “After this, therefore because of this;” assuming that an incident that precedes another is the cause of
the second. “Andy worked on his science paper longer than his English paper, therefore he felt he should earn
an A.
Propaganda – writing or images that seek to persuade through emotional appeal rather than through logical proof;
written or visual texts that describe or depict using highly connotative words or images without justification.
Red Herring (Or Wild Goose Chase) - diverting attention from the issue by introducing a new point
Reductio ad Absurdum – “to reduce to the absurd.” It reduces an argument to an either/or choice. “The possession
of firearms should be completely banned or completely legal.
Slippery Slope – predicting without justification that one step in a process will lead unavoidably to a second,
generally undesirable step.
Straw Man – disputing a view similar to, but not the same as, that of the arguer’s opponent
Two Wrongs Make a Right – Bill has borrowed Jane’s pen, but found he didn’t return it. He tells himself that it is
okay to keep it, since she would have done the same.
Rhetorical Terms. Devices, Techniques & Strategies
Antithesis – “Against the thesis”; the statement of the opposing viewpoint
Argument – a single assertion or a series of assertions presented and defended by the writer.
Audience - those to whom a communication is addressed; those who will hear (read) an argument.
Authority - A respectable, reliable source of evidence.
Claim - the conclusion of an argument; what the arguer is trying to prove.
Claim of fact (substantiation) – something exists or is true based on data
Claim of policy (recommendation) – specific courses of action should be undertaken as solutions to problems
Claim of value (evaluation) – asserts that something is good or bad, right or wrong, effective or ineffective; some things are more or less desirable than others.
Concession – an admission in an argument that the opposing side has points; to grant, allow or yield to a point.
Credibility – the audience’s belief in the arguer’s trustworthiness.
Deduction – the process of moving from a general rule to a specific example.
Details – facts that support the thesis or assertion in a piece of writing.
Enthymeme - a syllogism in which one of the premises is implicit.
Ethos – appeal to the credentials of the person speaking; character, goodwill, trustworthiness, intelligence, etc.
Induction – the process of moving from a given series of specifics to a generalization.
Logic – the process of reasoning.
Logos – appeal to logic.
Pathos – appeal to emotion.
Persuasion – type of argument that has as its goal an action on the part of the audience.
Qualifier – a restriction placed on the claim to state that it may not always be true as stated.
Refutation – an attack on an opposing view in order to weaken it, invalidate it, or make it less credible.
Repetition - the deliberate use of any element of language more than once; repeating words or phrases for effect
Rhetoric – the entire process of effective written communication.
Rhetorical shift – a change or movement in a piece from one point, idea, concept, etc. to another; signaled by words
such as but, then, however, etc.
Support – any material that serves to prove an issue or claim; in addition to evidence, it includes appeals to the
needs and values of the audience.
Syllogism – a form of reasoning in which two statements or premises are made and a logical conclusion is drawn from them; a form of deductive reasoning.
Major premise: J and G Construction builds unsafe buildings.
Minor premise: J and G Construction built the Tower Hotel.
Conclusion: The Tower Hotel is an unsafe building.
Thesis – the main idea of a piece of writing.
Warrant – a general principle or assumption that establishes a connection between the support and the claim.
Modes of Rhetorical Discourse
Cause and Effect – reasoning that proposes one event or condition can bring about another.
Classification – identifies the subject as part of a larger group with shared features.
Compare/Contrast – showing a subject more clearly by pointing out ways that it is similar, or unlike, something
else.
Definition – places a subject into an appropriate group and then differentiates the subject from the other sections
of the group.
Description – a mode of writing that conveys the evidence of the senses; sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
Division – breaking the subject into smaller segments.
Example – illustration of a premise by citation of examples.
Narration – the classification of discourse that tells a story or relates an event.
Persuasion – a mode of writing intended to influence people’s actions by engaging their beliefs and feelings.
Process Analysis – a method of development that most often explains step by step how something is done or how
to do something.
Analysis Terminology
Analyze Concrete Details – look for nouns that are tangible as opposed to abstract details that describe concepts.
Analyze Descriptive Details – look for the writer’s sensory description.
Analyze Devices – look for the figures of speech, syntax, diction, and other stylistic elements that collectively
produce a particular artistic effect.
Analyze the Author’s Language – concentrate on how the elements of language combine to form a whole – how
diction, syntax, figurative language and sentence structure create a cumulative effect.
Analyze the Author’s Narrative Technique/Devices – look at the author’s ordering of events, building of
suspense, climax, withholding of information, revelation of information, and pacing.
Analyze the Author’s Persuasive Devices – look for the words in the passage that have strong connotations, words
that intensify the emotional effect. Analyze how these words complement the writer’s argument as it builds
logically.
Analyze Resources of Language – look for diction, syntax, sentence structure and figures of speech. The
cumulative effect of a work is produced by the resources of language a writer chooses.
Analyze Rhetorical Features – the tools of rhetoric; tone, diction, imagery, etc.
Analyze Rhetorical Structure – look at how the passage is constructed; organization, images, details or argument.
Analyze Sentence Structure – look at basic sentence structure; simple, compound, and complex. Consider
variation or lack of it, any unusual devices such as repetition or inverted word order, and any unusual word
or phrase placement. Look at the effect of the structure. For example, a series of short, terse sentences can
produce a feeling of speed and choppiness, which may suit the author’s purpose.
Analyze Stylistic Devices – look at diction, syntax, tone, attitude, figures of speech, connotations and repetition.
The Five Canons of Rhetoric
Invention – Selection of the best pattern for one’s creative purpose (analogy, cause and effect, classification or division, comparison and contract, etc.)
Arrangement – Organization of writing or speech (chronological, flashback, flash forward, general to specific, specific to general, spatial, etc.)
Style – Artful expression of ideas (detail, diction, tone, figures of speech, imagery, syntax, etc.)
Memory – Devices that make a speech or writing memorable to the listener or reader (acronyms, pattern of three, parallel structure, anaphora, etc.)
Delivery – Conscious use of gesture, expression and pacing in speech and visual presentation and graphic effects in writing for the purpose of influencing the listener or viewer.