Glossary of key terms
Act A major division in the action of a play.
Allegory A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor
Alliteration The repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable: "descending dew drops”
Allusion A brief reference to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature.
Ambiguity Allows for two or more simultaneous interpretations of a word, phrase, action, or situation.
Antagonist The character, force, or collection of forces in fiction or drama that opposes the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story.
Assonance The repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same.
Blank verse Unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Catharsis Meaning "purgation," catharsis describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy.
Character A character is a person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, and characterization is the process by which a writer makes that character seem real to the reader.
Cliché An idea or expression that has become tired and trite from overuse.
Colloquial Refers to a type of informal diction that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang expressions.
Comic relief A humorous scene or incident that alleviates tension in an otherwise serious work.
Conflict The struggle within the plot between opposing forces. The protagonist engages in the conflict with the antagonist, which may take the form of a character, society, nature, or an aspect of the protagonist’s personality.
Connotation Associations and implications that go beyond the literal meaning of a word.
Convention A characteristic of a literary genre (often unrealistic) that is understood and accepted by audiences because it has come, through usage and time, to be recognised as a familiar technique.
Couplet Two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter.
Crisis A turning point in the action of a story that has a powerful effect on the protagonist.
Dénouement A French term meaning "unraveling" or "unknotting," used to describe the resolution of the plot following the climax.
Dialogue The verbal exchanges between characters.
Enjambment In poetry, when one line ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its meaning.
Epiphany In fiction, when a character suddenly experiences a deep realisation about himself or herself.
Foreshadowing The introduction early in a story of verbal and dramatic hints that suggest what is to come later.
Form The overall structure or shape of a work, which frequently follows an established design.
Free verse Also called open form poetry, free verse refers to poems characterised by their nonconformity to established patterns of meter, rhyme, and stanza.
Genre A French word meaning kind or type.
Hyperbole A boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true.
Iambic pentameter A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambs per line. (An iamb, or iambic foot, consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)
Irony A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true.
Melodrama A term applied to any literary work that relies on implausible events and sensational action for its effect.
Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, without using the word like or as.
Meter When a rhythmic pattern of stresses recurs in a poem, it is called meter.
Narrator The voice of the person telling the story, not to be confused with the author’s voice.
Onomatopoeia A term referring to the use of a word that resembles the sound it denotes. Buzz, rattle, bang, and sizzle all reflect onomatopoeia
Oxymoron A condensed form of paradox in which two contradictory words are used together, as in "sweet sorrow" or "original copy."
Parody A humorous imitation of another, usually serious, work.
Personification A form of metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things.
Plot An author’s selection and arrangement of incidents in a story to shape the action and give the story a particular focus.
Point of view Refers to who tells us a story and how it is told.
Protagonist The main character of a narrative; its central character who engages the reader’s interest and empathy.
Pun A play on words that relies on a word’s having more than one meaning or sounding like another word.
Resolution The conclusion of a plot’s conflicts and complications. The resolution, also known as the falling action, follows the climax in the plot.
Rhyme The repetition of identical or similar concluding syllables in different words, most often at the ends of lines.
Satire The literary art of ridiculing a folly or vice in order to expose or correct it.
Setting The physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs.
Simile A common figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two things by using words such as like, as, and than.
Soliloquy A dramatic convention by means of which a character, alone onstage, utters his or her thoughts aloud.
Sonnet A fixed form of lyric poetry that consists of fourteen lines, usually written in iambic pentameter.
Stanza In poetry, stanza refers to a grouping of lines, set off by a space.
Subplot The secondary action of a story, complete and interesting in its own right, that reinforces or contrasts with the main plot.
Symbol A person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its literal significance.
Theme The central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work.
Tone The author’s implicit attitude toward the reader or the people, places, and events in a work as revealed by the elements of the author’s style.
Tragedy A story that presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat, and even death.
Allegory A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor
Alliteration The repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable: "descending dew drops”
Allusion A brief reference to a person, place, thing, event, or idea in history or literature.
Ambiguity Allows for two or more simultaneous interpretations of a word, phrase, action, or situation.
Antagonist The character, force, or collection of forces in fiction or drama that opposes the protagonist and gives rise to the conflict of the story.
Assonance The repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same.
Blank verse Unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Catharsis Meaning "purgation," catharsis describes the release of the emotions of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy.
Character A character is a person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, and characterization is the process by which a writer makes that character seem real to the reader.
Cliché An idea or expression that has become tired and trite from overuse.
Colloquial Refers to a type of informal diction that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang expressions.
Comic relief A humorous scene or incident that alleviates tension in an otherwise serious work.
Conflict The struggle within the plot between opposing forces. The protagonist engages in the conflict with the antagonist, which may take the form of a character, society, nature, or an aspect of the protagonist’s personality.
Connotation Associations and implications that go beyond the literal meaning of a word.
Convention A characteristic of a literary genre (often unrealistic) that is understood and accepted by audiences because it has come, through usage and time, to be recognised as a familiar technique.
Couplet Two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter.
Crisis A turning point in the action of a story that has a powerful effect on the protagonist.
Dénouement A French term meaning "unraveling" or "unknotting," used to describe the resolution of the plot following the climax.
Dialogue The verbal exchanges between characters.
Enjambment In poetry, when one line ends without a pause and continues into the next line for its meaning.
Epiphany In fiction, when a character suddenly experiences a deep realisation about himself or herself.
Foreshadowing The introduction early in a story of verbal and dramatic hints that suggest what is to come later.
Form The overall structure or shape of a work, which frequently follows an established design.
Free verse Also called open form poetry, free verse refers to poems characterised by their nonconformity to established patterns of meter, rhyme, and stanza.
Genre A French word meaning kind or type.
Hyperbole A boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true.
Iambic pentameter A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambs per line. (An iamb, or iambic foot, consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)
Irony A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true.
Melodrama A term applied to any literary work that relies on implausible events and sensational action for its effect.
Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, without using the word like or as.
Meter When a rhythmic pattern of stresses recurs in a poem, it is called meter.
Narrator The voice of the person telling the story, not to be confused with the author’s voice.
Onomatopoeia A term referring to the use of a word that resembles the sound it denotes. Buzz, rattle, bang, and sizzle all reflect onomatopoeia
Oxymoron A condensed form of paradox in which two contradictory words are used together, as in "sweet sorrow" or "original copy."
Parody A humorous imitation of another, usually serious, work.
Personification A form of metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things.
Plot An author’s selection and arrangement of incidents in a story to shape the action and give the story a particular focus.
Point of view Refers to who tells us a story and how it is told.
Protagonist The main character of a narrative; its central character who engages the reader’s interest and empathy.
Pun A play on words that relies on a word’s having more than one meaning or sounding like another word.
Resolution The conclusion of a plot’s conflicts and complications. The resolution, also known as the falling action, follows the climax in the plot.
Rhyme The repetition of identical or similar concluding syllables in different words, most often at the ends of lines.
Satire The literary art of ridiculing a folly or vice in order to expose or correct it.
Setting The physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs.
Simile A common figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two things by using words such as like, as, and than.
Soliloquy A dramatic convention by means of which a character, alone onstage, utters his or her thoughts aloud.
Sonnet A fixed form of lyric poetry that consists of fourteen lines, usually written in iambic pentameter.
Stanza In poetry, stanza refers to a grouping of lines, set off by a space.
Subplot The secondary action of a story, complete and interesting in its own right, that reinforces or contrasts with the main plot.
Symbol A person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its literal significance.
Theme The central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work.
Tone The author’s implicit attitude toward the reader or the people, places, and events in a work as revealed by the elements of the author’s style.
Tragedy A story that presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of failure, defeat, and even death.