ENG2D
ENG2D – Literary Terms – Answer key
For each literary term discussed in class, fill in each chart.
Write the title of the term in the top section (if it isn’t already written). Write a
definition/description in the left column (this is already provided for some of the terms). In the
right column, sketch an image or jot down any kind of connection you can make to the term to help
you remember it. In the bottom row, write an example (optional).
MORE SHORT STORY AND LITERARY TERMS
Literary Term: Protagonist
Image/Connection:
Definition/Description:
The central character; the main character
around which the story revolves.
Example: Spiderman is the protagonist in “Spiderman”.
Literary Term: Antagonist
Definition/Description:
The character or force opposing the protagonist.
Example: In “Batman” the Joker is the antagonist.
Image/Connection:
ENG2D
Literary Term: Setting
Definition/Description:
The where and when of the story.
a) geographical location: the region of the
universe in which the piece is set (ie. country,
city, region).
b) specific location: the exact location of the
action (ie. the bedroom, the street corner).
c) time: this can also be quite general or more
specific. It can include the year, season, and date,
time of the day in which the story takes place.
Image/Connection:
Example:
Literary Term: Mood/Atmosphere
Definition/Description:
- The general feeling of a literary work.
- Atmosphere is usually established at the
beginning and is often closely related to the
setting.
- Mood and setting are so closely related that it
can be considered part of the setting.
Image/Connection:
Example: A scary story that is set during a dark and stormy night.
Literary Term: Character Foil
Definition/Description:
- A secondary or minor character in a literary
work who contrasts or clashes with the main
character or other characters.
- A foil sometimes resembles his/her contrasting
character in many respects, such as age, social
class, and educational background. But he/she is
different in other respects, including personality,
moral outlook, and decisiveness.
Example: Atticus & Bob Ewell
Image/Connection:
ENG2D
Literary Term: Foreshadowing
Definition/Description:
- Occurs when the author gives a hint of what is
to happen.
- It helps build suspense.
Image/Connection:
Example: In TKM, when Bob Ewell threatens Atticus’s family, that foreshadows Bob’s attack on the
children later on in the novel.
Literary Term: Symbolism
Image/Connection:
Definition/Description:
- Representing things by means of symbols or
attributing symbolic significance to objects,
events, or relationships.
- Symbolism is being used when a person, object,
action or word in a story takes on a meaning far
beyond its usual meaning - used to represent an
abstract idea.
Example: A white dove carrying an olive branch symbolizes peace
Literary Term: Motif
Definition/Description:
- recurring structures, symbols, imagery, ideas,
contrasts, or other literary devices that can help
to develop and inform the text’s major themes
Example: Stars in R&J ??
Image/Connection:
ENG2D
Literary Term: Imagery
Definition/Description:
- appeals to one or more of the senses by
creating a vivid impression through the use of
concrete details, adjectives and figures of speech
- may include specific images, sets of images, or
any developed word picture.
Image/Connection:
Example:
Literary Term: Dramatic Irony
Definition/Description:
- The contrast between what the character
thinks to be true and what we (the reader) know
to be true.
- Sometimes as we read we are placed in the
position of knowing more than what one
character knows. Because we know something
the character does not, we read to discover how
the character will react when he or she learns
the truth of the situation.
Image/Connection:
Example: Soap Operas!!!
Literary Term: Situational Irony
Definition/Description:
When there is a contrast between what happens
and what was expected (or what would seem
appropriate).
Example: Life guard drowning
Image/Connection:
ENG2D
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Literary Term: Figurative Language
Image/Connection:
Definition/Description:
- A word or phrase that differs from everyday
usage for the sake of comparison, emphasis or
clarity – not meant to be taken literally.
- Examples include metaphors, similes and
personification.
Example: Metaphors, similes, personification…
Literary Term: Simile
Image/Connection:
Definition/Description:
A direct comparison using “like” or “as”.
Example: His hands were like ice.
Literary Term: Metaphor
Definition/Description:
- A figure of speech in which a word or phrase
that ordinarily designates one thing is used to
designate another;
- An indirect comparison, NOT using “like” or
“as”.
Example: His hands were ice.
Image/Connection:
ENG2D
Literary Term: Hyperbole
Definition/Description:
A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used
for emphasis or effect.
Image/Connection:
Example: She nearly died laughing.
Literary Term: Personification
Definition/Description:
- The attribution of human qualities to animals
or things;
- Giving humanlike qualities or human form to
objects and abstractions.
- Personification is a form of metaphor.
Image/Connection:
Example: The flowers danced in the whistling wind.
Literary Term: Euphemism
Definition/Description:
- a polite, vague word or phrase that is used in
place of word or phrase that might be
considered offensive, harsh, unpleasant or
inappropriate to say
Example: She had to put her dog down last night.
Image/Connection:
ENG2D
ENG2D – Literary Terms. – Answer key
For each literary term discussed in class, fill in each chart.
Write the title of the term in the top section (if it isn’t already written). Write a
definition/description in the left column (this is already provided for some of the terms). In the
right column, sketch an image or jot down any kind of connection you can make to the term to help
you remember it. In the bottom row, write an example (optional).
OTHER LITERARY TERMS/DEVICES
(used in poetry, essays, short stories, speeches, etc.)
Literary Term: Allusion
Definition/Description:
An instance of indirect casual reference – can
be a reference to a person, event, place,
literary piece, or work of art. It can be drawn
from history, geography, literature, or
religion.
Image/Connection:
Examples: Comparing the strength of a character to that of Hercules (A god in Greek mythology)
Literary Term: Analogy
Definition/Description:
A comparison of an unfamiliar object or idea to a
familiar one in an attempt to explain or
illuminate the unfamiliar.
Image/Connection:
Example: The classic analogy between the heart and a pump.
ENG2D
Literary Term: Anecdote
Definition/Description:
Image/Connection:
- A very brief story or tale told by a character in a
piece of literature.
- A short narrative of an interesting or funny
event.
- A little story, often amusing, inserted in an
essay or a speech to help reinforce the thesis.
Example: Weddings!
Literary Term: Onomatopoeia (pronounce “onomatapeea”)
Definition/Description:
- Imitative harmony  the sound that a word
makes imitates the sound it describes.
- Words that sound like the objects they name or
the sounds those objects make.
Image/Connection:
Example: Buzz, zip
Literary Term: Oxymoron
Definition/Description:
Consists of two words which, together, appear to
contradict one another.
Example: fiery ice, sweet sorry, pretty ugly
Image/Connection:
ENG2D
Literary Term: Pun
Definition/Description:
A play on words wherein a word is used to
convey two meanings at the same time.
Image/Connection:
Example: An egg in the morning is hard to beat.
Literary Term: Satire
Definition/Description:
- ridicule, irony, or sarcasm in speech or writing
(or media)
- a novel, play, etc. that ridicules people’s
hypocrisy or foolishness in this way
Image/Connection:
Example: Saturday Night Live often uses satire to expose follies (foolishness) of celebrities,
politicians, etc.
Literary Term: Alliteration
Definition/Description:
- the repetition of consonant sounds at the
beginnings of words
Image/Connection:
Example: “Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.”
Literary Term: Assonance
Definition/Description:
- the repetition of vowel sounds within words (a,
e, i, o, u, and sometimes y)
Image/Connection:
Example: “Because of his fleet feet and a quick sweep, the Greek easily won the martial arts meet.”
ENG2D
Literary Term: Juxtaposition
Definition/Description:
- putting two contrasting ideas side by side
- the arrangement of two or more ideas,
characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words
side-by-side or in similar narrative moments for
the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical
effect, suspense, or character development
Image/Connection:
Example:
DICTION  The words chosen by an author
Literary Term: Tone
Definition/Description:
- The author’s attitude toward his/her subject
matter. It is often created by diction and style.
- It is most often described with the same words
one would use to characterize a person’s
emotional state, e.g., "pensive" "lighthearted"
"angry".
- One way to identify the tone of a piece is to ask
the following: What is the mood of the author?
What does the author think about this character,
this society, or this aspect of life
Image/Connection:
Example: An “letter to the editor” written about young delinquents would probably have a negative
tone to it  the language would be negative!
Literary Term: Denotation
Definition/Description:
Refers to the dictionary definition of a word. All
words have denotations.
Image/Connection:
Example: The denotation of “home” is “a place where one lives”.
ENG2D
Literary Term: Connotation
Definition/Description:
Image/Connection:
- Refers to an additional idea or feeling that a
reader may attach to a word beyond its literal
meaning.
- Words may have positive, negative, or neutral
connotations.
Example: Connotation of “home” is comfort, family…
ENG2D – Literary Terms. – Answer key
Sentence Structure  The composition of a sentence has a significant impact on how a reader/listener is affected
Parallel Structure (Parallelism): refers to the use of the
same form for words, phrases, or clauses that have equal value
and function.
- the similarity of structure may convey equality of ideas, or
emphasize contrast, or set up climactic order, or create aesthetic
form and balance and rhythm, or pile up evidence, or create a
memorable beginning or end to a work—or all of these.
Sentence Fragment: A sentence that is incomplete (it is
missing either a subject or a verb); places emphasis on key words
to create an overall effect, such as humour or suspense
Short Sentences: A complete sentence that is very short; used
to present strong feelings, create dramatic effect, or for
emphasis.
Example #1: Abraham Lincoln’s “government of the people, by
the people, for the people” (preposition, definite article, and noun
are repeated in a series)
Example #2: “Let us consider the origin and development of
medicine.”
Example #3: Her voice was low, soft, and pleasant.”
Long Sentences: used to develop suspense, show contrast,
provide description, create mood, etc.
Example: “The marvelous new militancy which has
engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a
distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers,
as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to
realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They
have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our
freedom. We cannot walk alone.” (Martin Luther King Jr.)
Example: “A cold room. A lonely room. A bare room. No place
to spend twenty years of a life.”
Example: “The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the
Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people,
for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence
here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with
our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is
inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.”
(Martin Luther King Jr.)