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Lit. Crit. Terms
Literary Terminology
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Abstract | Word or idea referring to a generality, state of being, or quality that cannot be reached by the five senses. |
Allegory | Writing that has a deeper meaning hidden beneath the obvious one. |
Alliteration | Repetition of sounds at the beginning of words. |
Allusion | Reference, without explanation, to previous, well-known literature, character, or common knowledge, assuming reader is familiar with its implications. |
Anadiplosis | Repetition of an important word in a phrase or clause (often ending word) in the next phrase or clause. |
Analogy | Comparison of two dissimilar things that alike is some way, often using simile or metaphor. |
Antagonist | Person who opposes or competes with the main character, hero, or heroine; often the villain. |
Antihero | Character, usually the protagonist, who faces a series of problems and events in a story, but often is going against traditional societal standards. |
Antithesis | Opposing view, view contrasted with thesis (main idea). |
Aphorism | Wise saying, usually short and written, reflecting a general truth. |
Author | Writer of the work. |
Autobiography | Story of someone's life written by that person. |
Bibliography | List of written works or sources on a particular subject. |
Bildungsroman | Fiction centering around idealistic protagonist's coming of age, and used for education and guidance of others. |
Biography | Book about someone's life written by another person. |
Blurb | Short publicity article on book jacket or brochure to promote book. |
Bowdlerize | To cull obscenity from a piece of writing. |
Burlesque | Literary form which ridicules or mocks. |
Catharsis | Therapeutic release of emotion upon identifying with and being moved by a piece of literature. |
Catastrophe | Final event, usually death. |
Character | Person or animal who appears in a work of fiction. |
Characterization | The process which is used to develop a character in a narrative or drama, often through the conflict of the plot. |
Circumlocution | Writing or speaking that goes around the subject instead of getting directly to the point. |
Classicism | Literature (and other arts) movements of ancient Greece and Rome, using strict forms, accenting reason, and characterized by restraint. Opposite of Romanticism. |
Cliche | Trite, overused idea or statement. |
Climax | High point in the plot where the reader is most intrigued and does not yet know the outcome. |
Coherence | Clearness in connecting ideas. |
Comedy | Fictional writing that has a happy ending for its major characters and contains humor. |
Conciseness | "Tight" writing; use of only the necessary words to express thoughts. |
Concrete | Opposite of abstract; refers to specific people and things that can be perceived with the five senses. |
Conflict | Opposing elements or characters in a plot. |
Connotation | Surrounding feelings and associations added to word meaning. |
Consonance | Repetition of similar consonant sounds, with changes in intervening vowel sounds. |
Convention | Accepted literary form of the past. |
Copyright | Legal rights to published works which stop anyone else from using the work without permission. |
Critic | Person who evaluates literature or other art. |
Criticism | Essays and critiques evaluating a writer or his work, based on set standards, according to philosophy of critic. |
Denotation | Dictionary meaning of word. |
Denouement | Outcome, resolution, solution of a plot. |
Dialogue/Dialog | Speaking and conversation between characters in stories, plays, and in person. |
Didactic | Describes literary works meant to teach a moral or lesson. |
Doppelganger | Personification of the personality of a character's darker side; ghost. |
Double-entendre | Double meaning of word, phrase, or sentence, often raucous or sexual in implication. |
Editorial | Newspaper or magazine article expressing opinion of an editor or publisher. |
Ellipsis | Three dots (...) to show words have been left out of a quotation or to indicate the passage of time. |
Envoy/Envoi | Brief postscript to book, essay, or poem; often the concluding stanza to a ballade, summarizing the poem. |
Epigram | Witty, often paradoxical, saying or brief poem. |
Epitaph | Inscription on tombstone or marker of the dead. |
Eponym | Person whose name is the source of a new word. |
Essay | Short prose work expressing author's views on a subject. |
Euphemism | More palatable word for less pleasant subject. |
Fable | Story with moral or lesson about life, often with animal characters with human characteristics. |
Fabliau | Short, metrical tale told by minstrels in twelfth and thirteenth centuries, often spicy and satiric. |
Fiction | Any literature about imaginary events or people. |
Fiction, Interactive | Stories that give the reader choices in the way the plot develops by making certain decisions along the way. |
Fiction, Popular | Fiction aimed at the mainstream of the population. |
Fiction, Science | Fiction concerning advanced technology, usually imagined, not actual scientific advancements. |
First-Person Narrative | Story told from first-person point of view, usually using "I." |
Flashback | Jumping backward in the chronology of a narrative, often through a dream or musing sequence. |
Foil | Character opposite or different from the protagonist, used to highlight the protagonist's traits; incidents or settings may also be used as foils. |
Folklore/Folktales | Stories and legends transmitted by word of mouth, rather in writing. |
Foreshadow | Hints during the narrative about what will happen later; can be literal hints or symbolic hints. |
Genre, Literary | Kind or type of literature; literary classification. |
Hero | Character, usually the protagonist, who rises above and conquers the series of problems and events in the story. |
Homonyms | Words that sound alike, are spelled alike, but have different meanings. |
Homophones | Words that sound alike (including homonyms and also words that have different spellings). |
Hyperbole | Use of extreme exaggeration for effect. |
i.e. | That is (followed usually by explanatory matter). |
ibid. | Used in footnotes and bibliographies to refer to the source mentioned directly above. |
idiom | Phrase in common use that does not literally mean what it says. |
imagery | Creation of mental pictures by pertinent word choice and heightened description. |
in medias res | Beginning in the middle of events. |
irony | Phrases or words with meanings quite different from what is actually stated. |
jargon | Words peculiar to any particular occupation. |
juvenilia, literary | Literature produced during youth; or literture suited to young readers. |
kenning | Short metaphorical expresssion referring to something without naming it, primarily used in Old English and Norse poetry. |
legend | Story handed down, generation to generation, often thought to be at least partially true historically. |
liotes | Understatement, where a positive is expressed as a negative. |
malapropism | Confusion of similar-sounding words which often ends up sounding humorous. |
metaphor | Comparison of unlike things without using the words like or as. |
moral | A lesson the literature is teaching; fables usually teach a lessson about life. |
motif, literary | Recurrent words or phrases. |
Mythology | Traditional tales about goddesses, gods, heroes and other characters, often telling about the creation of the universe, talking about death, or otherwise philosophically explaining human existence. |
Narration | Telling a story. |
Narrator | Person telling the story or narrative. |
N.B. | Note well (followed by important point to remember) |
Nom De Plume | Pen name or pseudonym used by author. |
Novel | Long, fictional prose story. |
Novella | Short novel with fewer characters than novel. |
Novel, Gothic | Novel with medieval setting suggesting mystery and/or horror. |
Novel, Historical | Full length fiction book, using historical facts as its basis for plot or setting, but including imaginary characters and dialogue. |
Novel, Picaresque | Novel characterized by young hero of lower-class, unrespectable background, who leaves home and is faced with a harsh, cruel world, and eventually conforms to its realities. |
Naunce | Slight shade of meaning or detail. |
Op. Cit. | Used in footnotes/bibliographies to refer to work previously cited or quoted. |
Oxymoron | Use of paradoxical or opposite words for effect. |
Paradox | Contradictory statement that makes sense. |
Paraphrase | Restatement of writing, keeping the basic meaning, but telling it in one's own words. |
Parody, Literary | Satire imitating, but mocking an author or work. |
Passage, Purple | Writing that contains flowery, ornate language, often in the midst of otherwise dull passages. |
Personification | Literary device where writer attributes human qualities to objects or ideas. |
Plagiarism | Using other people's work as one's own without crediting the true author. |
Play | Story written to be acted out by actors on a stage; directions; drama. |
Play, Miracle | Early drama based on religious stories; saint play. |
Play, Morality | Early drama involving teaching and preaching of moral principles, usually by allegorical characters. |
Play, Mystery | Early dramatizations of the Old and New Testaments. |
Plot | Structure of the literature; the way it is put together; the unfolding or sequence of the events. |
Poetry | Poem collection; genre characterized by rhythm, rhyme(sometimes), and stanzas, as opposed to prose. |
Point of View | Perspective from which the story is written; can be omniscient (all-knowing), first person("I"), shifting between characters, or other. |
Prose | Literature written in sentences and paragraphs, as opposed to poetry or verse. |
Protagonist | Main character, hero, or heroine in a written work. |
Proverb | Saying, adage, or maxim, usually short and generally believed to be true. |
Pseudonym | Name author uses instead of his/her real name; nom de plume. |
Pun | Play on words; words put together in such a way as to be humorous. |
Question, Rhetorical | Question asked without expecting an answer; used for effect. |
Realism, Literary | Literature reflecting real life, rather than imaginary or idealistic life. |
Redundancy | Repetition that is unnecessary and and awkward, as contrasted with intentional repetition for a particular effect. |
Resolution | Clarification, solution, or outcome of the conflict in a story. |
Rhetoric | Persuasive writing. |
Roman A Clef | Novel based on actual people and places, but written as fiction instead of fact. |
Romance | Story about heroic deeds, mysterious settings, or love. |
Romanticism | Literary movement characterized by emotion, imagination, and goodness of people; little emphasis on reason. Opposite of classicism. |
Sarcasm | Form of irony which seems to praise, but really criticizes. |
Satire | Literature that makes fun of social conditions or conventions, often for the purpose of creating change. |
Sequel | A subsequent writing similar to an original, often with the same characters. |
Setting | Time and place of a story. |
Simile | Comparison of one thing to another using the words like or as. |
Spoonerism | Sound reversal in words to produce a humorous effect. Named after William Spooner, English Preacher. |
Story, Short | Fiction story shorter than a novel, often having a surprise ending. |
Style | The way an author characteristically expresses him- or herself ( short sentences, flowery language, etc.) |
Symbol | A word or object that stands for something else. |
Synonym | Words meaning the same. |
Synopsis | Summary or condensed statement of a literary work. |
Tale, Fairy | Fanciful, imaginary story about a hero or heroine overcoming a problem, often involving mystical creatures, supernatural power, or magic; often a type of folktale. |
Theme/Thesis | Main idea in a piece of literature; topic or subject. |
Thriller | Story or movie filled with suspense. |
Tone | Mood brought forth by story or poem. |
Tragedy | Literature, often drama, ending in catastrophe for the protagonists after dealing with a series of problems. |
Understatement | Form of irony where the author intentionally understates the facts (says it less than it is). |
Verse | Writing with rhyme and meter, as opposed to prose; often verse refers to poetry of a less serious nature. |
Villain | Character in a story or play who opposes the protagonist; the "bad guy". |