Common Literary Terms
Moore Public Schools
Term
alliteration
Definition
Repetition of beginning consonant sounds. Ex: While
I pondered weak and weary….
allusion
A reference to a well-known person, place, event,
character, or other literary work.
analogy
A comparison of two different things that are alike in
some way.
antithesis
A direct juxtaposition of structurally parallel words,
phrases, or clauses for the purpose of contrast: e.g.,
“Sink or swim.”
antagonist
The character or force who opposes the hero
(protagonist) in a story.
apostrophe
A form of personification in which the absent or dead
are spoken to as if present and the inanimate, as if
animate. These are all addressed directly: e.g.,
“Milton! Thou shoulds’t be living at this hour.”
archetype
Character, setting, theme, or symbol that
demonstrates a universal human experience. Ex:
hero’s journey.
 character archetype: mentor, hero, outcast
 situational archetype: the task, the quest
 symbol archetypes: water, fire, desert, serpent
assonance
Repetition of a vowel sound in a series of words.
characterization The development of a character through actions and
dialogue.
Authors use two methods:
 direct – author is “directly” telling audience
information about character
 indirect – reader must infer character traits
through speech, thoughts, effect on others,
actions, and looks
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Common Literary Terms
Moore Public Schools
conflict
connotation
consonance
denotation
details
dialect
dialogue
diction
Term
euphemism
figurative
language
Character types:
 flat – one characteristic developed
 round – many characteristics developed
 dynamic – characters change
 static – characters stay the same
 foil – contrasting characters used to highlight a
characteristic of protagonist
The struggle between opposing forces.
Types of conflict:
 internal – struggle within (man vs. himself)
 external – struggle outside of character (man vs.
man, man vs. nature, man vs. society, man vs.
supernatural)
The feelings and emotions associated with the
meaning of a word.
The repetition of consonant sounds in a series of
words.
The dictionary definition of a word.
Specific, descriptive information in a literary work.
The facts revealed by the author or speaker that
support the attitude or tone in a piece of poetry or
prose.
Speech characteristics of a particular region or culture.
Conversation between characters.
Word choice intended to convey a certain effect.
Definition
Substituted word or phrase to create a softer tone or to
deceive. Ex: The dog passed away.
Words/phrases that describe one thing in terms of
something else, not to be taken literally. (Types of
figurative language include analogy, hyperbole,
imagery, metaphor, personification, and simile.)
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Common Literary Terms
Moore Public Schools
flashback
foreshadowing
hyperbole
idiom
imagery
irony
metaphor
meter
A scene that interrupts the action of a work to show a
previous event.
The use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest
future action.
An over exaggeration for effect.
Ex: I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
A common expression that has a meaning particular to
a language or region.
Ex: It’s raining cats and dogs.
Text that creates a mental picture and appeals to the
five senses.
Ex: “Blood red were his spurs in the golden noon;
wine-red was his velvet coat.”
When the opposite of what you expect happens.
Types of irony include:
 verbal irony – occurs when a speaker or narrator
says one thing while meaning the opposite. Ex: It
is easy to stop smoking. I’ve done it many times.
 situational irony – occurs when a situation turns
out differently from what one would normally
expect, though often the twist is oddly
appropriate: e.g., a deep sea diver drowning in a
bathtub is ironic.
 dramatic irony – character(s) and audience have
insight about something other characters do not.
Ex: In a scary movie, the audience knows the
murderer is behind the door but character
doesn’t.
A comparison of two unlike things not using “like” or
“as.” Ex: “Time is money.”
The pattern of stressed & unstressed syllables in a
poem.
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Common Literary Terms
Moore Public Schools
monologue
mood
motivation
narration
narrator
onomatopoeia
oxymoron
paradox
personification
A long uninterrupted speech performed by a single
character.
Atmosphere or emotion in a literary work. Ex: the
suspenseful mood of a mystery
The reasons for a character’s behaviors or actions.
The telling of a story in writing or speaking.
The speaker or character who tells a story.
The use of words that mimic the sounds they describe.
Ex: hiss, buzz, bang
A pair of opposite terms placed together in a single
expression.
Ex: bittersweet; jumbo shrimp
A contradiction of ideas in the same statement that
reveals a hidden truth and may appear illogical,
impossible, or absurd.
Ex: It’s a love hate relationship.
A kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or
abstract ideas human characteristics. Ex: “The wind
cried in the dark.”
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Common Literary Terms
Moore Public Schools
Term
plot
Definition
The sequence of events or actions in a short story, novel,
play, or narrative poem.
The parts of plot include:
 exposition – the introduction of the plot (characters,
setting, and conflict).
 rising action – the suspense building up to the climax
 climax – turning point in plot marking highest
emotional intensity
 falling action – events following the climax in a
narrative
 resolution – the final outcome
point of
The perspective from which a narrative is told.
view
 1st person – told from the perspective of a character in
story using pronouns (I or me). Audience is limited to
the viewpoint of that character.
 3rd person omniscient – told from the perspective of an
“all knowing” narrator who is not a character.
 3rd person limited – told from the perspective of a
narrator revealing the thoughts and knowledge of
some but not all characters.
protagonist The main character in a literary work.
pun
A play on words that are identical or similar in sound but
have different meanings. Puns can have serious as well as
humorous uses: e.g., when Mercutio is bleeding to death in
Romeo and Juliet, he says to his friends, “Ask for me
tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.”
repetition The deliberate use of any element of language more than
once – sound, word, phrase, sentence, grammatical pattern,
or rhythmical pattern.
rhyme
The repetition of sounds in two or more words or phrases
that appear close to each other in a poem.
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Common Literary Terms
Moore Public Schools
rhythm
sarcasm
satire
setting
shift or
turn
simile
Term
sound
devices
structure
Types of rhyme include:
 end rhyme occurs at the ends of lines.
 internal rhyme occurs within a line.
 slant rhyme is approximate rhyme.
 exact rhyme is when two words sound the same.
 A rhyme scheme is a pattern of end rhyme.
 blank verse is unrhymed verse having a regular meter,
usually of iambic pentameter.
Pattern of beats within a poem.
The use of verbal irony in which a person appears to be
praising something but is actually insulting it. Ex: “As I fell
down the stairs headfirst, I heard her say, ‘Look at that
coordination.’”
Exaggeration or ridicule for the purpose of social change.
The time and place in which events in a short story, novel,
play, or narrative poem take place.
Refers to a change or movement in a piece resulting from
an epiphany, realization, or insight gained by the speaker,
a character, or the reader.
Comparison of two unlike things/ideas using “like” or “as”.
Ex: the classroom was like a warzone.
Definition
Techniques used to convey meaning through sound.
(Types of sound devices include rhyme, assonance,
consonance, alliteration, and onomatopoeia).
The framework or organization of a literary work.
Types of structure may include:
 fiction – plot and chapter division
 drama – acts, scenes, dialogue
 essay – purposeful arrangement of ideas
 poetry – determined by rhyme scheme and stanza form
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Common Literary Terms
Moore Public Schools
style
suspense
Each writer’s distinctive use of language.
Elements that make the reader uncertain or tense about
the outcome.
symbol
Any object, person, place, or action that has both a meaning
in itself and that stands for something larger than itself.
Ex: A crown is a symbol of a king’s status and authority.
synecdoche A form of a metaphor where part is used to represent the
whole. Ex: Bob got a new set of wheels.
syntax
The arrangement of words and the order of grammatical
elements in a sentence.
theme
The central message in a literary work; the author’s
intended message (AIM).
tone
The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject,
character, or audience, and it is conveyed through the
author’s choice of words and detail. Tone can be serious,
humorous, sarcastic, indignant, objective, etc.
understate The opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony that
ment
deliberately represents something as being much less than
it really is: e.g., “I could probably manage to survive on a
salary of two million dollars per years.”
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