D-H
DENOTATION - HYPERBOLE
DENOTATION

The literal
dictionary
definition of a
word
Example:
de·no·ta·tion (denō
táysh'n ) n. 1.
basic meaning: the
most specific or
literal meaning of
a word, as
opposed to its
figurative senses
or connotations
DENOUEMENT

The resolution of
the plot; the point
at which all
mysteries are
solved, tangles
untied, and conflict
resolved
Example: When
Oedipus banishes
himself from Thebes
and asks Creon to bury
Jocasta and care for his
daughters; when Victor
asks Robert Walton to
pursue the creature and
finish the job
DESCRIPTION

Writing that uses
imagery and
figurative language
to show detail and
help the reader
picture scenes,
events, and
characters
Example: “The wild
garden behind the
house contained a
central apple-tree and
a few straggling
bushes under one of
which I found the
rusty bicycle pump.”
DIALECT

Language that
conveys a regional
distinction of a
people group
Example:
“My hand is in my hussyfskap,
Goodman, as ye may see;
An it sould nae be barrd this
hundred year,
It’s no be barrd for me.”
(From “Get Up & Bar the
Door”)
DIALOGUE

Written
conversation
between two or
more characters
Example:
“Merry Christmas, Uncle!”
“Bah humbug!”
DIARY

A writer’s personal
day-to-day account
of his or her
thoughts,
impressions, and
experiences.
Example:
Anne Frank’s main
literary
accomplishment;
anyone’s personal
journal; The Diary of
Samuel Pepys
DICTION

A writer’s specific
choice of words—
both vocabulary and
syntax (word
arrangement and
usage); diction may
be formal, informal,
technical, abstract,
concrete, etc.
Example:
The poet’s choice for
Hrothgar; Shakespeare’s
choices for Hamlet;
Chaucer’s decision to
use the vernacular of the
lower class in his
writing
DRAMA

A form of literature
presented on stage
with actors
speaking dialogue
in front of an
audience
Examples:
Romeo & Juliet; Much
Ado About Nothing;
Once Upon a
Mattress; The
Crucible; Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof
DRAMATIC IRONY

When the audience
knows before the
characters what
will happen
Examples:
The fact that we know
before Oedipus that he
is the murderer of his
own father; the fact that
the reader knows the
plans of the three rioters
to kill each other in “The
Pardoner’s Tale”
DRAMATIC
MONOLOGUE

A narrative poem or
speech in which one
character speaks and
reveals feelings,
personality, or other
information
previously unknown
to the audience
Example:
Juliet’s speech
regarding Romeo; a
newscaster reporting
on the day’s events; to
speak out loud to one’s
self, evaluation a
course of action
ELEGY

A poem or speech
expressing
mourning or loss,
usually over the
death of someone
Examples:
“The Seafarer,” “The
Wanderer,” and “The
Wife’s Lament”; Alfred
Lord Tennyson’s In
Memoriam, written in
memory of his friend;
“On My First Son” by Ben
Jonson after the death of
his child
ELIZABETHAN
(ENGLISH) SONNET

A 14-line poem
made up of 3
quatrains (4-line
stanzas) and a final
couplet
Examples:
“Shall I Compare
Thee to a Summer’s
Day,”; all of
Shakespeare’s
sonnets
END RHYME

When the sounds of
words at the ends
of two or more
lines of poetry are
identical
Example:
“In buying victuals; he
was never rash /
Whether he bought on
credit or paid cash.”
(from Chaucer’s
“Prologue” to
Canterbury Tales)
EPIC

A long, narrative
poem about the
deeds of a hero and
reflecting the
values of the
society from which
it originated
Examples:
Beowulf; The Iliad
& The Odyssey;
Paradise Lost
EPIC SIMILE

A long comparison
that continues for
a number of lines
throughout a long
story-telling poem;
it usually contains
the words like or
as
Example: Conspicuous
as the evening star that
comes, amid the first in
heaven, at full of night,
and stands most lovely in
the west, so shone in
sunlight the fine-pointed
spear Achilles poised in
his right hand…
(from The Iliad)
EPIGRAM

A short, witty poem
or pointed
statement; often
written in two wellbalanced parts
Examples:
“To err is human, to
forgive, divine.”
“Early bed, early to
rise, makes a man
healthy, wealthy, and
wise.”
EPITAPH

An inscription on a
gravestone or
monument to honor
the memory of the
deceased
Example:
“Here lies one whose
name was writ in
water.”
EPITHET

A descriptive
phrase or
compound word
that functions as an
adjective and is
used to point out
specific traits of a
person or thing
Examples:
“The sin-stained
demon,” “boarheaded helmets,”
“gold-covered
benches”
ESSAY

A brief work of
non-fiction that
offers an opinion
on a subject
Examples:
“Of Studies,” or “Of
Marriage and Single
Life” by Francis Bacon
(Father of the English
essay)
EXAGGERATION

To stretch the truth
for effect;
hyperbole
Example:
“There was no one
greater or stronger
anywhere on the
earth than
Beowulf.”
EXPOSITION

 Example: “Marley was dead: to
The part of a
narrative or drama
in which important
background
information is
revealed
begin with. There is no doubt
whatever about that. The
register of his burial was
signed by the clergyman, the
clerk, the undertaker, and the
chief mourner. Scrooge signed
it: and Scrooge's name was
good upon 'Change, for
anything he chose to put his
hand to. Old Marley was as
dead as a door-nail.” (From A
Christmas Carol)
EXTENDED METAPHOR

A comparison of
two things, not
using like or as,
that goes on
throughout an
entire poem, or
portion of a story
Examples:
When a poet gives a long
description of his love as
a mathematician’s
compass he is using this;
a song describing a
person’s love like a fire
through an entire song
EXTERNAL CONFLICT

Problems that are
outside of the
protagonist rather
than within
Examples:
Scrooge v. fate;
Beowulf v.
Grendel; Victor v.
the Creature; the
three young ritoers
v. Death
FABLE

A brief tale told in
verse or prose for
the purpose of
teaching a moral or
lesson; often
contain animals as
main characters
Examples: “The
Hare & the
Tortoise,” “The Boy
Who Cried Wolf,”
“The Goose Who
Laid the Golden
Egg”
FALLING ACTION

The point within a Example: When
plot following a
Jocasta discovers the
crisis and showing
truth and Oedipus
a reversal of
continues to seek the
fortune for the
truth regarding the
protagonist
murderer; when Victor
decides to go after the
Creature
FANTASY

A work of fiction
that disregards the
restraints of reality;
creatures or events
that are not real are
presented in an
organized fashion
Examples:
Harry Potter, Lord of
the Rings, The
Chronicles of
Narnia
FARCE

Exaggerated
comedy that
features absurd
plot, ridiculous
situations, and
humorous dialogue
Examples: A pie in
the face; a slip on a
banana peel; a mixup of character
identities
FICTION

Imaginative works
of prose, usually
presented in novel
or short story form;
the people and
events of a work of
literature that are
NOT true
Examples:
Frankenstein; A
Christmas Carol; A
Separate Piece; The
Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Language that
Examples: A writer
communicates
using various methods
meaning beyond
to describe a
the literal meaning flower…the flower
of the words;
was as red as dawn;
includes similes,
the flower was a
metaphors,
glowing ember; the
hyperbole,
personification, etc. flower awoke with joy
to the light of sunrise
FIRST PERSON P.O.V.

When the narrator
in a work of
literature tells the
story as he or she
perceives it—from
the perspective of I,
me, mine, we, etc.
Example:
When we arrived to
the scene, the first
thing I noticed
were the shards of
glass throughout
the room.
FLASHBACK

An account of an
event that
happened before
the beginning of
the story
The narrator
explains that a character
used to love dance as a
child and gives a long
explanation of a scene
from that character’s
childhood, then jumps
back to the present scene
where the character is
despising dance.
 Example:
FOIL

A character who
provides a striking
contrast to another
character
Example: Scrooge’s
nephew, Fred, is one
to Scrooge; Elizabeth
is one to Victor
Frankenstein; Darth
Vader is one to Yoda.
FOLK BALLAD

An anonymous
poem or song
handed down from
generation to
generation
Examples: “Get Up
and Bar the Door,”
“Sir Patrick Spens,”
and “Barbara
Allan” are all
examples of this
form.
FOLK TALE

A story handed
down by work of
mouth from
generation to
generation
Examples:
“Little Red Riding
Hood,” “The Three
Little Pigs,”
“Rumplestiltskin,”
“Paul Bunyan”
FORESHADOWING

A writer’s clues or
hints about events
that will occur later
within the work
Examples: Teiresias’
predictions of
Oedipus’ loss of sight;
Frankenstein’s sense
of doom before a
loved one dies
FORM

All the principles of
arrangement in a
poem—the ways in
which the words and
images are organized
and pattered. Form
includes rhythm,
rhyme, alliteration,
consonance, and
assonance.
Examples:
A sonnet, a haiku, a
dramatic monologue, a
free verse poem, a
narrative poem, an
elegy—all are
examples of this
literary device.
FRAME STORY

A story within
another story
Examples: “The
Canterbury Tales,”
“Federigo’s
Falcon,” and the
tales from The
Decameron;
Frankenstein
FREE VERSE

Verse that contains
no particular
pattern of rhythm
or rhyme
Example:
“I have met them at
the close of day/
coming with vivid
faces / from counter
or desk…
(a stanza from a
poem)
HAIKU

A poem of three
lines and 17
syllables and
arranged in lines of
5 syllables (first
line), 7 syllables
(second line), and 5
syllables (third
line)
Example:
“Purple crocuses
Rise up to meet the
dawn
Stems of royalty”
(a poem)
HERO

The protagonist or
central character in
a work of fiction, a
drama, or epic
poem
Examples:
Oedipus, Beowulf,
Victor Frankenstein,
Ebeneezer Scrooge,
and Hamlet are all
examples of this.
HEROIC COUPLET

Two rhymed lines
written in iambic
pentameter (10
beats per line)
Example:
Love looks not with the
eyes, but with the
mind
And therefore is
winged Cupid
painted blind.
HISTORICAL WRITING

The narrative or
systematic telling
of real past events
Example:
A work of literature
retelling the real
events of Lewis and
Clark; a work that
retells the accounts of
several lives involved
in the Civil War
HUMOR

Literature that
includes sarcasm,
irony, exaggeration,
puns, and
characters in
ridiculous
situations
Example:
Dave Barry’s use of satire
to show the ridiculous
side of recent news
events; Chaucer’s use of
mockery to poke fun at
the Miller; when you
are sarcastic to make
people laugh
HYPERBOLE

Exaggeration for
the sake of
emphasis
Example:
There was no one
greater or stronger
than Beowulf
anywhere on the
earth.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS

“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this
blood / Clean from my hand?” with the
meaning that the bit of blood on Macbeth’s
hand will turn the entire ocean red.
A: Hyperbole/Exaggeration
SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Teiresias’ predictions to Odysseus as to how
to get home; the eclipse of the moon, the
horses running wild, the winds blowing
trees down—all before Duncan’s actual
murder; Frankenstein’s feeling of dread and
doom as he listens to Justine’s last words in
her cell
A: Foreshadowing
SAMPLE QUESTIONS

The conversation between the three rioters
in “The Pardoner’s Tale”; the conversation
between Anansi and his daughter; words
spoken by Macbeth to Lady Macbeth
A: Dialogue
SAMPLE QUESTIONS

The Odyssey; The Iliad; Beowulf; Paradise
Lost; Lord of the Rings
A: Epic
SAMPLE QUESTIONS

A pie in the face; a slip on a banana peel; a
falling safe hits someone on the head; some
of Shakespeare’s mixed identity plays;
Saturday Night Live’s various skits,
especially those of cheerleaders, politicians,
nerds, etc.
A: Farce