Literature Key Terms and Concepts

Question 1

allegory

Answer 1

a story in which people, things, and events have another meaning.

Orwell’s “Animal Farm”

Question 2

allusion

Answer 2

a reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well-known historical or literary event, person, or work.

Question 3

attitude

Answer 3

a speaker’s, author’s, or character’s disposition toward or opinion of a subject.

Hamlet’s attitude toward Gertrude is a mixture of affection and revulsion, changing from one to the other within a single scene.

Question 4

autobiography

Answer 4

an author’s account of his or her own life.

Question 5

biography

Answer 5

an accurate history of a single person.

Question 6

climax

Answer 6

normally the point of highest interest in a novel, short story, or play.
the place where the action reaches a turning point, where the rising action (the complication of the plot) ends, and the following action (the resolution of the plot) begins.

Question 7

connotation

Answer 7

the implications of a word or phrase, as opposed to its exact meaning (denotation).

Question 8

convention

Answer 8

a device of style or subject matter so often used that it becomes a recognized means of expression.

a lover observing the literary love conventions cannot eat or sleep and grows pale and lean.

Question 9

denotation

Answer 9

the dictionary meaning of a word, as opposed to connotation.

Question 10

diction

Answer 10

word choice. essay questions on a passage of prose or a poem could ask you to talk about the diction or about “techniques” that include diction.
any word that is important to the meaning and the effect of a passage can be used in your essay.

Question 11

euphemism

Answer 11

a figure of speech using indirection to avoid offensive bluntness, such as, deceased for dead.

Question 12

genre

Answer 12

a literary form, such as an essay, novel, or poem.

within genres like the poem, there are also more specific genres based upon content (love poem, nature poem) or form (sonnet, ode).

Question 13

hyperbole

Answer 13

deliberate exaggeration, overstatement.
rule: hyperbole is self-conscious, without the intention of being accepted literally.

“the strongest man in the world” or “a diamond as big as the Ritz”

Question 14

setting

Answer 14

the background to a story; the physical location of a play, story, or novel. setting of a narrative will normally involve both time and place.

Question 15

simile

Answer 15

a directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects usually with like, as, or than. it is easier to recognize a simile than a metaphor because the comparison is explicit.

“my love is like a fever”

Question 16

soliloquy

Answer 16

a speech in which a character who is alone speaks his or her thoughts aloud.

a monologue also has a single speaker, but the monologuist speaks to others who do not interrupt.

Question 17

syllogism

Answer 17

a form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them.
begins with a major premise (“all tragedies end unhappily”) followed by a minor premise (“Hamlet is a tragedy”) and a conclusion (“therefore, Hamlet ends unhappily”).

Question 18

symbol

Answer 18

something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else.

winter, darkness, and cold are real things; but in lit could be used as symbols for death.

Question 19

theme

Answer 19

the main thought expressed by a work.

Question 20

thesis

Answer 20

the theme, meaning, or position that a writer undertakes to prove or support.

Question 21

tone

Answer 21

the manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning.
described by adjectives; possibilities are nearly endless.
single adjective will be enough, and tone may change from chapter to chapter.
tone may result of allusion, diction, figurative language, imagery, irony, symbol, syntax, or style.

Question 22

tragedy

Answer 22

now defined as a play with a serious content and an unhappy ending.

Question 23

imagery

Answer 23

the images of a literary work; the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work.
the visual, auditory, or tactile images evoked by the words of a literary work and the images that figurative language evokes.

Question 24

figurative language

Answer 24

writing that uses figures of speech (as opposed to literal language or that which is actual or specifically denoted)

Question 25

irony

Answer 25

a figure of speech in which intent and actual meaning differ, characteristically praise for blame or blame for praise; a pattern of words that turns away from direct statement of its own obvious meaning

Question 26

jargon

Answer 26

the special language of a profession or group. usually has pejorative associations, with the implication that jargon is evasive, tedious, and unintelligible to outsiders.

Question 27

literal

Answer 27

not figurative; accurate to the letter; matter of fact or concrete.

Question 28

personification

Answer 28

a figurative use of language that endows nonhumans (ideas, inanimate objects, animals, abstractions) with human characteristics.

Question 29

metaphor

Answer 29

a figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without use of a comparative term like “as”, “like”, or “than”. A simile would say, “Night is like a black bat”; a metaphor would say, “the black bat night.” When Romeo says, “it is the east, and Juliet is the sun,” his metaphors compare her window to the east and Juliet to the sun.

Question 30

paradox

Answer 30

a statement that seems to be self-contradicting but, in fact, is true. the figure in a Donne sonnet that concludes “I never shall be chaste except you ravish me” is a good example of the device.

Question 31

parable

Answer 31

a story designed to suggest a principle, illustrate a moral, or answer a question. parables are allegorical stories.

Question 32

parody

Answer 32

a composition that imitates the style of another composition, normally for comic effect.
a contest for parodies of Hemingway draws hundreds of entries each year.

Question 33

lyrical

Answer 33

songlike; characterized by emotion, subjectivity, and imagination.

Question 34

style

Answer 34

the mode of expression in language; the characteristic manner of expression of an author.

style techniques- can discuss diction, syntax, figurative language, imagery, selection of detail, sound effects, and tone.

Question 35

structure

Answer 35

the arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole, the logical divisions of a work.

series: A, B, C, D, E
contrast: A vs. B, C vs. D, E vs. A
repetition: AA, BB, AB

most common-

play: scene, act
novel: chapter
poem: line, stanza

Question 36

strategy (rhetorical strategy)

Answer 36

management of language for a specific effect.

Question 37

satire

Answer 37

writing that seeks to arouse a reader’s disapproval of an object by ridicule. usually comedy that exposes errors with an eye to correcting vice and folly.

examples of satire found in: Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and Joseph Heller

Question 38

rhetorical techniques

Answer 38

the devices used in effective or persuasive language. most common examples include devices like contrast, repetitions, paradox, understatement, sarcasm, and rhetorical question.

Question 39

rhetorical question

Answer 39

a question asked for effect, not expectation of a reply. no reply is expected because the question presupposes only one possible answer.

Question 40

point of view

Answer 40

any several possible vantage points from which a story is told.
may be omniscient, limited to that of a single character, or limited to that of several characters, as well as other possibilities. teller may use the first person and/or the third person.

Question 41

plot

Answer 41

the interrelated actions of a play or a novel that move to a climax and a final resolution.

Question 42

oxymoron

Answer 42

a combination of opposites; the union of contradictory terms.
ex. jumbo shrimp

Question 43

omniscient point of view

Answer 43

the vantage point of a story in which the narrator can know, see, and report whatever he or she chooses. narrator is free to describe the thoughts of any of the characters, to skip about in time or place to speak directly to the reader.

Question 44

novel

Answer 44

a fictional narrative in prose of considerable length. shorter works are called novellas, even shorter are called short stories.

Question 45

narrative techniques

Answer 45

the methods involved in telling a story; the procedures used by a writer of stories or accounts.
a general term that asks you to discuss the procedures used in the telling of a story.

ex. point of view, manipulation of time, dialogue, or interior monologue.