Literary terms
A plain-English glossary of the terms you meet in English class and in book clubs. Each term has a short definition and examples from classics in the library.
A
- AllegoryA story whose characters, places, and events also stand for ideas beyond the story
- AlliterationThe repetition of the same starting consonant sound in nearby words
- AllusionA brief reference to a familiar story, person, event, or work of art
- AmbiguityWhen words, actions, or events allow more than one reasonable meaning
- AnachronismA detail that belongs to a different historical period from the story’s setting
- AnalogyA comparison that explains an idea or supports an argument through shared features
- AnaphoraRepetition of the same word or phrase at the beginnings of nearby clauses or lines
- AnecdoteA short account of a particular incident, often told to amuse or reveal something
- AntagonistA character or force that opposes the main character and creates conflict
- AnthropomorphismGiving animals, objects, or other nonhuman beings human thoughts, feelings, or behavior
- AntithesisA pairing of opposite ideas in balanced phrases that makes their contrast stand out
- AphorismA short, memorable statement that offers a general truth or observation about life
- ApostropheA direct address to someone absent or dead, or to something that cannot answer
- ArchetypeA familiar pattern of character, story, or symbol that appears across many works
- AsideA brief remark the audience hears but some or all other characters do not
- AssonanceThe repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words, especially in stressed syllables
- AtmosphereThe feeling that surrounds a scene, shaped by its setting, details, and language
B
C
- CacophonyA harsh, clashing mixture of word sounds that can suggest noise, tension, or disorder
- CaesuraA pause within a line of verse that briefly breaks its flow
- CatharsisThe release or clearing of strong emotions through experiencing a story, especially a tragedy
- CharacterizationThe ways a story reveals what its characters are like
- ChiasmusA reversal of words, ideas, or sentence patterns in an A-B-B-A order
- ClicheAn expression, character, or situation used so often that it feels stale or predictable
- ClimaxThe turning point where a story’s main conflict reaches its greatest pressure
- ColloquialismAn informal word or expression common in everyday conversation rather than formal language
- ComedyWriting that amuses readers, or a story whose troubles lead to a happy ending
- ConceitA surprising comparison between unlike things, explored through several connected details
- ConflictA struggle between opposing wishes, people, or forces that gives a story tension
- ConnotationThe feelings and associations a word carries beyond its literal meaning
- ConsonanceThe repetition of consonant sounds in nearby words, often within words or at their ends
- CoupletTwo lines of verse that work as a pair, usually joined by rhyme
D
- DenotationThe direct meaning of a word, apart from the feelings or associations it suggests
- DenouementThe closing part of a story, where the main conflict settles and its results become clear
- DialectA form of language with words, grammar, and pronunciation linked to a region or social group
- DialogueConversation between characters that reveals their thoughts, relationships, and differences
- DictionThe choice of words in a text and the effects those words have
- DidacticDescribing literature that aims to teach a lesson or guide readers’ beliefs and behavior
- Dramatic ironyA gap between what readers or audiences know and what a character knows
- DystopiaAn imagined society where harmful systems make life oppressive, frightening, or unjust
E
- ElegyA poem that mourns someone who has died and reflects on loss
- EllipsisThe leaving out of words or events that readers can fill in for themselves
- EpicA long narrative poem about extraordinary deeds that matter to a people or culture
- EpigraphA short quotation before a book or chapter that offers a clue to its meaning
- EpiphanyA sudden realization that changes how a character understands life, others, or themselves
- Epistolary novelA novel told through letters, sometimes alongside diaries and other personal records
- EpithetA descriptive word or phrase attached to someone or something to highlight a quality
- EuphemismA mild or indirect expression used instead of something harsh, embarrassing, or upsetting
- ExpositionBackground information that helps readers understand a story’s characters, setting, and situation
F
- FableA short story that teaches a lesson, often through animals behaving like people
- Falling actionThe part of a plot after the climax, when consequences unfold toward the ending
- Figurative languageLanguage that goes beyond literal meanings through comparison, exaggeration, or other figures of speech
- First personA point of view in which a narrator tells a story using I or we
- FlashbackA shift back to an earlier event before the story’s main action continues
- FoilA character whose differences from another character make particular qualities stand out
- ForeshadowingAn early hint that prepares the reader for something that happens later
- Frame storyAn outer story that gives a setting for one or more stories told within it
- Free versePoetry without a fixed pattern of meter or rhyme, but with its own rhythm
G
H
I
- Iambic pentameterA verse rhythm with five pairs of syllables, each usually moving from unstressed to stressed
- IdiomA familiar expression whose meaning differs from the literal meaning of its words
- ImageryLanguage that appeals to the senses and helps readers picture or feel a scene
- In medias resA story opening that begins amid events rather than at their beginning
- IronyA gap between what seems true and what is meant, known, or actually happens
J
L
M
- MalapropismA mistaken use of a similar-sounding word, often with a funny result
- MelodramaA story or scene that uses heightened emotion, clear moral contrasts, and sensational events
- MetaphorA comparison that describes one thing as another to bring out a shared quality
- MeterA regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in lines of verse
- MetonymyA figure of speech that names something through another thing closely connected with it
- MonologueA long speech by one character, spoken to others or to themselves
- MoodThe feeling a passage brings to a reader, such as unease, joy, or sadness
- MotifA recurring detail, image, or situation that helps develop a work’s larger meaning
- MythA traditional story about gods, origins, or extraordinary deeds that carries meaning for a culture
N
O
- OdeA lyric poem that celebrates or deeply reflects on a person, object, experience, or idea
- Omniscient narratorA storyteller who can know any character’s thoughts and events beyond any single character’s view
- OnomatopoeiaWords whose sounds imitate the noises they describe, such as buzz, hiss, or clang
- OxymoronA figure of speech that brings contradictory words together in a short phrase
P
- ParableA short story that uses a concrete situation to explore a moral or spiritual lesson
- ParadoxA statement or situation that seems contradictory but may reveal a truth
- ParallelismThe use of matching sentence patterns to connect ideas or set them against each other
- ParodyA comic imitation of a particular work, writer’s style, or type of literature
- Pathetic fallacyGiving human feelings to nature, often so that the surroundings reflect a character’s mood
- PersonificationA description that gives human feelings, actions, or qualities to something nonhuman
- PlotThe connected events of a story, arranged so that actions lead to consequences
- Point of viewThe perspective through which a story’s events and characters are presented to the reader
- ProtagonistThe central character whose goals, choices, and struggles shape the main story
- PunWordplay that links different meanings through the same word or similar sounds
Q
R
- RealismA way of writing that presents ordinary people and everyday life in believable detail
- Red herringA misleading clue or detail that draws attention away from the truth
- RefrainA word, phrase, or group of lines that returns at intervals in a poem or song
- RepetitionThe return of words, phrases, sounds, or patterns to give them emphasis
- Rhetorical questionA question asked to make a point rather than get an answer
- RhymeThe repetition of matching or similar sounds in words, often at the ends of verse lines
- Rhyme schemeThe pattern of rhyming sounds at the ends of lines in a poem
- RhythmThe movement of language through patterns of stress, pauses, and sounds
- RomanticismA literary movement that values strong feeling, imagination, nature, and the freedom of the individual
S
- SatireWriting that uses ridicule, irony, or exaggeration to expose faults in people or society
- ScansionThe practice of marking stressed and unstressed syllables to understand a poem’s meter
- SettingThe place, time, and social surroundings in which a story happens
- SimileA comparison using like or as to show a shared quality between different things
- SoliloquyA speech in a play that lets the audience hear a character’s private thoughts
- SonnetA fourteen-line poem with a patterned structure, often exploring love, time, faith, or loss
- StanzaA group of lines in a poem, usually separated from other groups by space
- Stream of consciousnessWriting that follows a character’s flowing thoughts, feelings, memories, and impressions
- StyleThe distinctive way a writer uses words, sentences, and patterns to tell or describe
- SubplotA smaller storyline that develops alongside and connects with the main plot
- SuspenseA feeling of tense expectation about what will happen next in a story
- SymbolA thing in a story or poem that suggests a meaning beyond itself
- SymbolismThe use of concrete things in a story to suggest meanings beyond themselves
- SynecdocheA figure of speech in which a part stands for a whole, or the reverse
- SyntaxThe arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses within a sentence
T
- ThemeA central idea or question that a story explores through characters and events
- Third personA viewpoint that describes characters as he, she, or they rather than as the storyteller
- ToneThe attitude toward a subject or audience that comes through in a text
- TragedyA serious story in which conflict leads to suffering, downfall, or lasting loss
- Tragic flawA character trait that helps bring about a tragic hero’s downfall
- Tragic heroA central character whose choices help bring about a downfall that stirs pity or fear
U
V
Z
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