literary terms and definitions (文学术语).docx

Literary Terms and Definitions1. Allegory – a story illustrating an idea or a moral principle in which objects take on symbolic means.2. Alliteration – used for poetic effect, a repetition of the initial sounds of several words in a group.3. Allusion – a reference in one literary work to a character or theme found in another literary work.4. Ambiguities – a statement which can contain two or more meanings.5. Analogy – the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship.6. Anecdote – a very short tale told by a character in a literary work.7. Antagonist – a person or force that opposes the protagonist in a literary work.8. Anthropomorphism – the describing of gods or goddesses in human forms and possessing human characteristics.9. Aside – a device in which a character in a drama makes a short speech which is heard by the audience but not by other characters in the play.10. Characterization – the method a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character in a literary work.11. Climax – the decisive moment in drama; the turning point of the play in which the rising action leads. 12. Conflict – occurs when the protagonist is opposed by some person or force in the story.13. Connotation – unspoken, emotional or assuming definition.14. Denotation – dictionary definition15. Dialogue – conversation between characters.16. Diction – an author’s choice of words.17. Dramatic irony – the contrast between what the character thinks and what the reader knows.18. Exposition – the presentation of essential information regarding what has occurred prior to the beginning to the piece of literature. 19. Falling action – the series of events which take place after the climax.20. Figurative language – the literature, a way of saying one thing and meaning something else.21. Flashback – a reference to an event which took place prior to the beginning of a story or a play.22. Foil – a character in a play who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison.23. Foreshadowing – a method used to build suspense by providing hints of what is to come.24. Genre – a literary type or form.25. Hyperbole – a figure of speech in which an overstatement or exaggeration occurs.26. Imagery – a word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses.27. Inference – a judgment based on reasoning rather than on direct or explicit statement.28. Metaphor – a figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without the “like” or “as”29. Mood – the atmosphere or feeling created in a literary work, partly by a description of the objects or by the style of the descriptions.30. Onomatopoeia – a literary device where in the sound of a word echoes the sound it represents.31. Personification – a figure of speech in which something nonhumans is given human characteristics.32. Plot – the structure of a story; the sequence in which the author arranges the events of the story.33. Point of view – the perspective used in a piece of work and is referred to either as first person, third person or omniscient.34. Protagonist – hero or central character of a literary work.35. Resolution – the part of the story or drama with occurs after the climax and which establishes a new form, a new state of affairs- the way things are going to be from then on.36. Rhyme scheme – the order in which rhyming words occur in a poem or a song.37. Raising action – follows the exposition and leads up to the climax; a series of events that build suspense.38. Satire – a piece of literature designed to ridicule the subject of the work. 39. Setting – the time and place in which a story unfolds.40. Simile – a comparison between two unlike quantities for which a basis for comparison is found, and which uses the word “like” or “as”. 41. Situational irony – the contrast between what happens and what was expected.42. Soliloquy – a moment when a character is alone and speaks his or her thought aloud.43. Stereotype – an author’s method of treating a character so that the character is immediately identified with a group. 44. Style – how authors create meaning figurative language, diction, sound effects and other literary devices in order to determine this.45. Symbolism – a device in literature where an object represents an idea.46. Synecdoche – when one uses a part to represent the whole.47. Theme – an ingredient of a literary work which gives the work unity; it provides an answer to the question what is the work about.48. Tone – expresses the author’s attitude toward his or her subject.49. Understatement – a statement which lessens or minimizes the importance of what is meant.50. Verbal irony – the contract between what is said and what is meant.。