Literary Terms Defined
Objective: Students will copy the short definitions and come up with
example(s) and picture(s) to represent each literary term in a picture
dictionary flashcard style.
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Alliteration: starts with same letter or same sound
Allusion: symbolic reference
Antagonist: bad character (rivals protagonist)
Character: a person/animal in a fictional work
Static: stays the same
Dynamic: changes character
5. Connotation: meaning beyond literal (feeling based)
6. Denotation: dictionary definition
7. Digression: off topic
8. Euphemism: nice way of saying something
9. Figurative Language: not literal; deeper meaning (i.e. metaphor,
simile, personification, allegory, irony, connotation, idiom, symbolism,
allusion, etc.)
10. Flashback: prior event is mentioned
11. Foreshadowing: information about a future event
12. Genre: categories of literature
13. Hyperbole: obvious exaggeration
14. Idiom: group of words is different than the words in isolation (i.e.
if you looked each one up in the dictionary it would mean something
different)
15. Imagery: creates a mental picture
16. Irony: opposite of what is intended
17. Literal Language: true; factual; definition based
18. Metaphor: comparison (often uses “is/are/am”)
19. Mood: feeling
20. Onomatopoeia: sound effect
21. Oxymoron: contradictory/opposite words
22. Personification: human like qualities to non-humans
23. Plot: sequence of events
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-Exposition: setting, characters, conflict
-Rising Action: conflict is developed
-Climax: high point of interest/suspense
-Falling Action: conflict is decreasing
-Resolution: conflict is resolved/outcome
Poetry: prose with poetic qualities
-Lyric: having rhythm, rhyme, feeling
-Ballad: song like
Poetry: prose with poetic qualities
-Couplet: two lines that rhyme
-Rhyme Scheme: pattern in a poem
1st line = A
Following lines are given a letter (rhyme = repeat letter,
not rhyming = next letter)
i.e. AABBCC (dark/park, miss/kiss, judge/pledge)
-Stanza: poetry paragraphs
Poetry: prose with poetic qualities
-Epic: long story (with hero)
-Sonnet: fourteen lines; rhyming structure
Poetry: prose with poetic qualities
-Elegy: sad; mournful; think funeral
-Ode: shows a lot of emotion (expressive and enthusiastic)
Proposition: a proposal; a plan suggested for acceptance
Protagonist: good character
Setting: when and where
Simile: comparison using like or as
Symbolism: reference to something beyond the literal symbol
Theme: message/purpose of literary work
Thesis: topic + three reasons
Tone: person’s attitude (used to create mood of the reader)