Literary Key Terms and Concepts

Question 1

Alussion

Answer 1

A reference in a literary piece to something outside of the work (especially a well known literary or historical event)

Question 2

Allegory

Answer 2

A story in which people, things, and events have another meaning

Question 3

Attitude

Answer 3

A speaker or characters disposition

Question 4

Autobiography

Answer 4

An authors account of his or her own life

Question 5

Biography

Answer 5

An accurate history of a single person

Question 6

Climax

Answer 6

Point of highest interest, where the action reaches the turning point

Question 7

Connotation

Answer 7

The implication of the word or phrase that isn’t its exact meaning

Question 8

Convention

Answer 8

A device subject or style so frequently used that it’s become generally accepted

Question 9

Denotation

Answer 9

The dictionary definition of a word

Question 10

Diction

Answer 10

Word choice

Question 11

Euphemism

Answer 11

A figure of speech using indirection to avoid bluntness

Question 12

Figurative Language

Answer 12

Writing that uses figures of speech (metaphors, smilies, irony, etc)

Question 13

Genre

Answer 13

Literary form such as a novel essay or poem

Question 14

Hyperbole

Answer 14

Deliberate exaggeration, overstatement

Question 15

Imagery

Answer 15

The sensory detail of a work

Question 16

Irony

Answer 16

Intent and actual meaning differ and is actually contradictory or the opposite in the way it poses a discrepancy

Question 17

Jargon

Answer 17

The special language of a profession or group

Question 18

Literal

Answer 18

Not figurative, accurate to the letter

Question 19

Lyrical

Answer 19

Song-like, characterized by emotion subjectivity and imagination

Question 20

Metaphor

Answer 20

A figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without a use of a comparative “as” “like” “than”

Question 21

Narrative Technique

Answer 21

The methods involved in telling a story, the procedure (it’s a general term)

Question 22

Novel

Answer 22

A fictional story in prose of considerable length

Question 23

Omniscient Point of View

Answer 23

All seeing vantage point, God’s eye, narrator can see and hear anything and go anywhere anytime

Question 24

Oxymoron

Answer 24

A combination of opposites the union of contradictory terms

Question 25

Parable

Answer 25

A story designed to suggest a principle or illustrate a moral

Question 26

Paradox

Answer 26

A statement that seems self-contradicting but is actually true

Question 27

Parody

Answer 27

A compositing meant to imitate another composition (usually in a humorous way)

Question 28

Personification

Answer 28

Figurative use of language that gives non-human things or human like qualities

Question 29

Plot

Answer 29

The intercalated actions of a play or novel that moves to the climax and ends at the denouement

Question 30

Point of View

Answer 30

Vantage point

Question 31

Rhetorical Question

Answer 31

A question asked for effect

Question 32

Rhetorical Technique

Answer 32

The devices used in effective or persuasive language (most common are contrasts, repetition, paradoxes, understatement so, sarcasm, and of course rhetorical questions)

Question 33

Satire

Answer 33

Writing that aims at arousing a readers disapproval

Question 34

Setting

Answer 34

Background to a story

Question 35

Similie

Answer 35

A directly expressed comparison usually with “like” “as” or “than”

Question 36

Soliloquy

Answer 36

A speech in which a characters one is alone speaks his or her thoughts

Question 37

Rhetorical Strategy

Answer 37

The management of language. Placing elements of language to produce an effect

Question 38

Structure

Answer 38

The arrangement of materials within a work

Question 39

Style

Answer 39

The mode of expression in language

Question 40

Syllogism

Answer 40

A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them

Question 41

Symbol

Answer 41

Something that is both itself and a sign of something else

Question 42

Theme

Answer 42

The main thought expressed by the work

Question 43

Thesis

Answer 43

The theme, meaning, or position the writer takes

Question 44

Tone

Answer 44

The manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude

Question 45

Tragedy

Answer 45

Now defined as a play with serious content and an unhappy ending