Literary and Drama
Terms
The “MUST KNOW” words
ALLEGORY
A narrative (story in prose or poem) in
which the characters and events represent
deeper ideas
EXAMPLE
• Coyote, Fox & Whale
• “Tortoise and the Hare”
• Biblical parables (i.e. Good Samaritan)

ALLITERATION

Repeated consonant sounds at the
beginning of words
EXAMPLES:
“Peter Piper picked a peck
of pickled peppers.”

“Tiptoe through the tulips.”
Tiny Tim
ALLUSION


an indirect reference, usually to a
historical figure or literary character
EXAMPLES:
•“Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”
(Senator Lloyd Bentson to Dan Quayle during
1988 vice-presidential debate)
•“Monica’s love of sweets is her Achilles’ heel.”
APOSTROPHE

When a speaker or writer addresses an
absent person, an idea, or an inanimate
object
EXAMPLE
• Wilson in Castaway
• “Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone/
Without a dream in my heart/ Without a love
of my own” (Lorenz Hart)
ASIDE

A piece of dialogue supposedly not heard
by the other actors on the stage (a.k.a.
“stage whisper”)
EXAMPLES:
Saved by the Bell, Scrubs, Ferris Beuller
ASSONANCE

Repetition of vowel sounds, in stressed
syllables

Examples:
fleet feet sweep by sleeping geeks
That is one pale pear, Sarah!
BEAT

Rhythm and meter in verse

EXAMPLE:
“It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea”
~ “Annabel Lee” by E.A. Poe
BLACKOUT

A scene (in drama) that ends with lights
off for dramatic or comic effect

EXAMPLE
Alien Adventure Ride
Sopranos final episode cuts to black,
leaving it unclear if the main character
lived or died
•
•
CLIMAX

A moment of great intensity,
usually the turning point in a
story

EXAMPLE
~ Horror film-music screeching,
on edge of seat
~ Big fight between the good guy
and bad guy
COMIC RELIEF

Humor used in a serious literary work to
relieve tension or heighten emotional impact

EXAMPLE
Fresh Prince
Han Solo in Star Wars
•
•
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xUpkM2jFhCs/SdB1gXqkk6I/AA
AAAAAAARo/xo5Uk5WLNls/s400/Star-Wars-ChewbacaHans_l.jpg
CONFLICT

Opposition, or struggle, between
characters or forces in a work of drama or
fiction

EXAMPLE
~ Batman versus Joker
~ Characters fighting tornadoes in Twister
~ Simba in The Lion King trying to decide whether to
go back to his pride
CONNOTATION
 Associations
implied by a word
beyond its literal meaning (emotions
or feelings associated with a word)
 EXAMPLE
 Gold=luxury, riches, wealth
 Scrawny = negative;
Thin = positive
CONSONANCE
 Repetition
of consonants or of a
consonant pattern, especially at the
end of words

Example:
I don’t like when you flick my neck, Jack!
COUPLET

unit of verse with two lines in a row that
rhyme and have the same meter
EXAMPLES:

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long as lives this, and this gives life to thee.
SHAKESPEARE
•
“I have the measles and the mumps,/
a gash, a rash, and purple bumps.”
SHEL SILVERSTEIN
DENOTATION
 The
direct (dictionary) meaning of a
word
 Gold=yellow shining substance usually
found in the form of jewelry
 Thin & scrawny mean almost the same
thing
Denouement
 Pronounced:
“Day-new-mah”
 Events after the climax in which the
resolution happens – “unraveling of
the knot”
EXAMPLE
 Law & Order-after high speed chase, get
the crook & get confession
DIALECT
 The
manner or style of expressing
oneself in language
EXAMPLE
 “I reckon we’re fixin’ to go over thar
later.”
 “Eh, Jo, my fren, you like it here, non?”
DIALOGUE

A literary work in the form of a
conversation
EXAMPLES
 Heroes: 2 characters speaking
 Tony: “Hey, man. What’s going on?
Scott: “Not much. We’re on our way
to the movies.”
DRAMA

A prose or verse composition intended to
be performed by actors
EXAMPLES:
• Titanic, Law & Order
• Romeo and Juliet, The Crucible
DRAMATIC IRONY
 The
dramatic effect in which the
characters in the play are unaware of
something the audience/ reader
knows
EXAMPLES:
•
•
Any horror movie – you know the murder is in the room,
but the character doesn’t
Mean Girls – We know Lindsay Lohan & friends are
setting up The Plastics, but they don’t know it
ELEGY
 A poem or song composed as a lament
(praise/ sadness) for a deceased person
EXAMPLES:
 “Candle in the Wind” – by Elton John to honor
Marilyn Monroe (later used for Princess Diana)
 “One Sweet Day” – Mariah Carey & Boys 2 Men
(about producer David Cole)
END RHYME
 in poetry, a rhyme that occurs in the
last syllables of verses
 Also called external rhyme
EXAMPLE
I do not like green eggs and ham
I do not like them, Sam I am
Seuss
EXTENDED METAPHOR
 A metaphor that continues into the following
sentences. A metaphor developed at great length
 .
EXAMPLE:
 Painting – by Megan Sutter, Laura Young, and Sarah
Peterson
Painting is an untamed bird.
You're free to show how you feel
without consequence.
There's nothing holding you back.
Your emotions fly wildly.
FOIL
 Character contrasted with another to
emphasize distinctive characteristics
EXAMPLES:
• “SpongeBob”-Squidward & Patrick
• Han Solo & Luke Skywalker
http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUM
E06/IMAGES/Queertoons09.JPG
FORESHADOW
 to give a hint or suggestion
beforehand
EXAMPLE
 Grinch=show heart too small in
beginning-predict will grow in end
http://sixmeatbuffet.com/images/his-heart-is-that-big.jpg
FREE VERSE
 Verse with no fixed pattern of rhyme or
meter
EXAMPLE:
 Running through a field of clover,
Stop to pick a daffodil
I play he loves me, loves me not,
The daffy lies, it says he does not love me!
Well, what use a daffy
When Jimmy gives me roses?
-- Flora Launa
HYPERBOLE
 A figure of speech in which exaggeration
is used for emphasis or effect
EXAMPLE:
~ I’ve told you a million times to
take the trash out!
~ “I can’t live, if living is without
you.” - Air Supply
IAMBIC PENTAMETER
 a meter in poetry -- unrhymed line with 5 iambs
(or feet).
 Iambic means the stress is on the 2nd syllable
 Pentameter means a line has 5 feet. When
Iambic pentameter is read aloud it would follow
a beat such as Da-dum Da-dum.
EXAMPLE (stressed syllables are in green):
 “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious
moon” (Romeo and Juliet)
IMAGERY
 Use of vivid (highly descriptive) language
to represent objects, actions or ideas
 EXAMPLE
“The sun rolling high/ Through the
sapphire sky”
INTERNAL RHYME
 Rhymes which occur within a line of verse
EXAMPLE
• “I may be skinny at times but I'm fat for the
rhymes” (Jason Mraz)
• “You can tell your ma I moved to Arkansas”
(Billy Ray Cyrus)
IRONY
• Expressing something different from and
often opposite to what is expected
EXAMPLE
• When Romeo sees Juliet apparently dead
and kills himself, right before she wakes
up
LYRIC
• Category of poetry that expresses
thoughts and feelings, often in a song
EXAMPLE
Words of a song
METAPHOR
• A figure of speech in which two unlike
things are compared; one is used as
a symbol of another
EXAMPLE
A comfortable sofa is fertile soil for the
couch potato.
http://treesflowersbirds.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/couchpotato.png
MONOLOGUE
• A long speech given onstage, within
the hearing of other characters
• EXAMPLE
– Johnny Carson-Tonight Show
– Jay Leno-Late Show
– Saturday Night Live-beginning
http://www.memphisflyer.com/images/blogim
ages/2009/05/04/1241463416-snl_1480_04.jpg
ONOMATOPOEIA
• Use of words to imitate sound
• EXAMPLE
– Buzz, Hum, Click
http://wiw.org/~jess/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/splat1.gif
OXYMORON
• A phrase in which words that seem to
be opposites are used together
EXAMPLE
Jumbo Shrimp,
Sweet sorrow,
Deafening silence
PARADOX
• A statement that seems to contradict
itself but expresses a truth
EXAMPLES:
• “Nobody goes to that restaurant anymore.
It’s too crowded.” ~ Yogi Berra
• “What a pity that youth must be wasted
on the young” - George Bernard Shaw
PARAPHRASE
• restatement of text in other words
EXAMPLE
• Read textbook, put meaning in your
own words
• Most of the definitions on these slides
PARTIAL RHYME
• a.k.a. Slant Rhyme, off rhyme, half rhyme, near
•
rhyme, approximate rhyme
A partial or imperfect rhyme, often using
assonance or consonance only.
EXAMPLES:
• “I eat filet mignon, and I’m nice and young.” ~ Ciara
• “All those teenage dreams of rapping,
Writing rhymes on napkins,
Was really visualization, making this here actually
happen”
~ Talib Kweli
PERSONIFICATION
• Figure of speech in which inanimate
objects or ideas are given human qualities
EXAMPLE:
• “The wind stood up and gave a shout. He
whistled on his two fingers.”
JAMES STEVENS
PLOT
 pattern of events or main story in a
narrative or drama
 Includes: exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action, resolution
http://s.spachman.tripod.com/images/storymap.jpg
REFRAIN
 a phrase or verse repeated throughout a song
or poem (in song, it’s called a chorus)
EXAMPLE:
• "All the lonely people, where do they all come
from?
All the lonely people, where do they all belong?"
~ Beatles, “Eleanor Rigby”
REPETITION
 Use of repeated words or phrases for literary
effect
EXAMPLE:
T. S. Eliot's "Ash-Wednesday":
Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn....
RHYME
 Similarity of ending sounds of words or lines
of verse
EXAMPLE:
“Today was good. Today was
fun. Tomorrow is another one.”
~ Dr. Seuss
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/seuss
-big.jpg
RISING ACTION
 Series of events that lead to the climax,
usually conflicts or struggles of the
protagonist (main character)
EXAMPLE
Police shows – evidence is being collected
* Most of the story happens in the rising
action*
SETTING
 Time & place in which a
narrative, drama, or film
takes place
EXAMPLE
Sound of Music –Austria
during WWII
SIMILE
 Figure of speech in which two unlike things
are compared using “like” or “as” or “than”
EXAMPLES:
•Ms. Harris’ English class is as fun as going to
my favorite concert.
• “I want a girl . . ./ With fingernails that shine
like justice/ And a voice that is dark like tinted
glass.” ~ Cake, “Short Skirt, Long Jacket”
http://images.inmagine.com/i
mg/inspirestock/ispc016/ispc0
16006.jpg
SOLILOQUY
 Speech given onstage in which a character
reveals his or her thoughts when alone or
unaware of the presence of other characters.
 EXAMPLE
To be or not to be, that is the question —
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep …
Shakespeare (Hamlet)
SONNET
 A 14 line form having a specific meter and
rhyme schemes
EXAMPLE
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all to short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d:
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimm’d.
By thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wandered in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
SHAKESPEARE
SPEAKER
 One who delivers a public address
 Also, the narrator of a poem or story
EXAMPLE:
Martin Luther King, Jr.
STAGE DIRECTION
 Part
of the script of a play that
tells actors how they are to
move or to speak their lines.
EXAMPLES:
• Enter, exit, and exeunt
• [sadly], [with conviction]
STANZA
A
division of a poem or song
(called a verse in song)
 Similar
writing
to paragraphs in prose
SYMBOL
 Something
that represents
something else (often a
physical object representing a
person or idea)
EXAMPLES:
• Lion = courage
• Owl = wisdom
THEME
 The
central meaning or
strongest idea in a work of
literature
EXAMPLES:
• “All is not what it seems to be”
• Isolation from others
TONE
 Manner
of expression in speech or
writing – reveals the author’s
attitudes toward his/her subject
EXAMPLES:
•
•
Respectful (or not)
Sympathetic (or not)
VERNACULAR
 Standard
language spoken of a
country or locality, a.k.a. slang,
“everyday” language
EXAMPLE:
“They’ve gone up the road a piece.”
“You want I should do it for you?”
123mycodes.com
VOICE

Distinctive style of an author
or of character in a book –
what makes an author or
speaker unique
EXAMPLE:
• An author may use short
sentences, description,
everyday language, or figures
of speech
http://www.applegazette.com/wpcontent/uploads/voice.jpg