Literary Terms Flashcards
Repetition of the same or very similar consonant sounds; usually in a poem
Alliteration
Story told on a symbolic level
Allegory
Certain amount of uncertainty, not sure what’s going on in text
Ambiguity
Comparison of two things that are alike in some ways
Analogy
A really short story that makes a point, can be a couple of sentences
Anecdote
Opposes the protagonist
Antagonist
Repetition of vowel sounds
Assonance
Writer of a literary work
Author
A story, written by a person, of his or her life
Autobiography
Account of someone’s life written by someone else
Biography
Not rhymed poetry
Blank verse
A person in a literary work
Character
Moment of emotional intensity or suspense
Climax
Story ends happy
Comedy
Struggle between opposing characters or forces
Conflict
How you feel when you hear a word
Connotation
Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme
Couplet
Literal meaning; dictionary definition
Denotation
The way people speak in a certain region
Dialect
Conversation between characters in a story or play
Dialogue
Meant to be acted in front of an audience; is not a comedy or a tragedy
Drama
Long story, usually a poem, that talks about great deeds of a hero
Epic
Short piece of nonfiction with a limited point of view
Essay
A very brief story that teaches a moral or lesson
Fable
A word or phrase that describes something but is not meant to be understood literally
Figure of speech
A scene that interrupts the present and shows the FUTURE
Flash forward
A scene that interrupts the present and shows the PAST
Flashback
A character that’s a contrast to another
Foil
Has no known author but is passed from generation to generation
Folk tale
A hint about what’s coming in the plot
Foreshadowing
Poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme
Free verse
Category that a work of literature is classified
Genre
A Japanese form of poetry, 3 lines, first and last are 5 syllables and 7 in the middle. Generally about nature.
Haiku
Exaggeration, to express strong emotion or comic relief
Hyperbole
Language that appeals to the senses
Imagery
A contrast between what’s expected and what’s real
Irony
Comparison not using like or as
Metaphor
Storie’s atmosphere or feeling it generates
Mood
A traditional story that was rooted in your society
Myth
Someone who talks about a series of events in a story
Narrator
Prose that deals with real things
Nonfiction
A word that’s meaning is a sound
Onomatopoeia
The voice type of the writer
Persona
Taking something nonhuman and giving it human qualities
Personification
Related events that make up a story
Plot
Rhythmic compressed language that uses figures of speech and imagery
Poetry
Main person in a story
Protagonist
A repetition of accented vowel sounds
Rhyme
Writing that ridicules something
Satire
