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Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Instant PDF downloads. Refine any search. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more.
- read full acrostic explanation with examples
A concise definition of Acrostic along with usage tips, a...
- read full allegory explanation with examples
A concise definition of Allegory along with usage tips, a...
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Alliteration Definition. What is alliteration? Here’s a...
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A concise definition of Anadiplosis along with usage tips,...
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The Dictionary Definition of Analogy: A basic definition and...
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Anaphora Definition. What is anaphora? Here’s a quick and...
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Antagonist Definition. What is an antagonist? Here’s a quick...
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The Wikipedia Page on Antanaclasis: An introduction to...
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Anthropomorphism Definition. What is anthropomorphism?...
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Antimetabole Definition. What is antimetabole? Here’s a...
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Jan 17, 2021 · 5.1: Literary Terms Definition List. Page ID. Table of contents. No headers. To discuss and analyze literature it is important to know some of the basic terms and expressions used within the subject area. The following glossary covers the most widely used terms.
TermDefinitionAllegorySimply put, an allegory is a narrative ...AlliterationAlliteration is when a text (most often ...AllusionIn a literary work there will often be a ...AnalogyAn analogy is a comparison between twot ...- The Basics
- Types of Prose Texts
- Terms For Interpreting Authorial Voice
- Terms For Interpreting Characters
- Terms For Interpreting Word Choice, Dialogue, and Speech
- Terms For Interpreting Plot
- Terms For Interpreting Layers of Meaning
- Works Cited
Characterization: The ways individual characters are represented by the narrator or author of a text. This includes descriptions of the characters’ physical appearances, personalities, actions, int...Dialogue: Spoken exchanges between characters in a dramatic or literary work, usually between two or more speakers.Genre: A kind of literature. For instance, comedy, mystery, tragedy, satire, elegy, romance, and epic are all genres. Texts frequently draw elements from multiple genres to create dynamic narrative...Imagery: A term used to describe an author’s use of vivid descriptions “that evoke sense-impressions by literal or figurative reference to perceptible or ‘concrete’ objects, scenes, actions, or sta...Bildungsroman: This is typically a type of novel that depicts an individual’s coming-of-age through self-discovery and personal knowledge. Such stories often explore the protagonists’ psychological...Epistolary: A novel composed primarily of letters sent and received by its principal characters. This type of novel was particularly popular during the eighteenth century.Essay: According to Baldick, “a short written composition in prose that discusses a subject or proposes an argument without claiming to be a complete or thorough exposition” (Baldick 87). A notable...Novella: An intermediate-length (between a novel and a short story) fictional narrative.Apology: Often at the beginning or conclusion of a text, the term “apology” refers to an instance in which the author or narrator justifies his or her goals in producing the text.Irony: Typically refers to saying one thing and meaning the opposite, often to shock audiences and emphasize the importance of the truth.Satire: A style of writing that mocks, ridicules, or pokes fun at a person, belief, or group of people in order to challenge them. Often, texts employing satire use sarcasm, irony, or exaggeration...Stream of consciousness: A mode of writing in which the author traces his or her thoughts verbatim into the text. Typically, this style offers a representation of the author’s exact thoughts throug...Antagonist: A character in a text who the protagonist opposes. The antagonist is often (though not always) the villain of a story.Anti-hero: A protagonist of a story who embodies none of the qualities typically assigned to traditional heroes and heroines. Not to be confused with the antagonist of a story, the anti-hero is a p...Archetype: “a resonant figure of mythic importance, whether a personality, place, or situation, found in diverse cultures and different historical periods” (Mickics 24). Archetypes differ from alle...Epithet: According to Taafe, “An adjective, noun, or phase expressing some characteristic quality of a thing or person or a descriptive name applied to a person, as Richard the Lion-Hearted” (Taafe...Alliteration: According to Baldick, “The repetition of the same sounds—usually initial consonants of words or of stressed syllabus—in any sequence of neighboring words” (Baldick 6). Alliteration is...Apostrophe: This figure of speech refers to an address to “a dead or absent person, or an abstraction or inanimate object” and is “usually employed for emotional emphasis, can become ridiculous [or...Diction: Word choice, or the specific language an author, narrator, or speaker uses to describe events and interact with other characters.Climax: The height of conflict and intrigue in a narrative. This is when events in the narrative and characters’ destinies are most unclear; the climax often appears as a decision the protagonist m...Denouement: The “falling action” of a narrative, when the climax and central conflicts are resolved and a resolution is found. In a play, this is typically the last act and in a novel it might incl...Deus Ex Machina: According to Taafe, “Literally, in Latin, the ‘god from the machine’; a deity in Greek and Roman drama who was brought in by stage machinery to intervene in the action; hence, any...Exposition: Usually located at the beginning of a text, this is a detailed discussion introducing characters, setting, background information, etc. readers might need to know in order to understand...Allegory: A literary mode that attempts to convert abstract concepts, values, beliefs, or historical events into characters or other tangible elements in a narrative. Examples include, Gulliver’s T...Allusion: When a text references, incorporates, or responds to an earlier piece (including literature, art, music, film, event, etc). T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land(1922) offers an extensive example o...Hyperbole: exaggerated language, description, or speech that is not meant to be taken literally, but is used for emphasis. For instance, “I’ve been waiting here for ages” or “This bag weighs a ton.”Metaphor: a figure of speech that refers to one thing by another in order to identify similarities between the two (and therefore define each in relation to one another).For more information or to read about other literary terms, please see the following texts: Baldick, Chris. Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford University Press, 2001. Mikics, David. A New Handbook of Literary Terms. Yale University Press, 2007. Taafe, James G. A Student’s Guide to Literary Terms. The World Publishing Company, 1967.
This glossary of literary terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in the discussion, classification, analysis, and criticism of all types of literature, such as poetry, novels, and picture books, as well as of grammar, syntax, and language techniques.
Jan 15, 2021 · Metonymy A form of metaphor in which a phrase is understood to represent something more; for example, to use the phrase “sabre rattling” to mean “threatening war.”. Meter A term used to describe the rhythm and measure of a line of poetry. Narrative The storyline in a literary work. Narrator Storyteller.
l. Guide to Literary Devices. Welcome to the wondrous world of literary devices! Here, we will dive deep into the realm of language and explore the many weapons in a writer’s arsenal. From metaphor to alliteration, personification to hyperbole, we’ve got it all. If you’re an aspiring writer, you’ll want to bookmark this page faster than ...
Browse through our list of literary devices and literary terms with definitions, examples, and usage tips. Explore each device in depth through literature.
