Act - one of the main sections of a play or other dramatic performance
Alliteration - the repetition of initial (usually) consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables
Example: "bouncing baby blowing bubbles"
Allusion - an implied or indirect reference to something assumed to be known, especially in literature
Antagonist – one person that opposes another, usually the protagonist
Antonym - a word of opposite meaning
Example: "good" is the antonym of "bad"
Archaic - having the characteristics of the language of the past and surviving chiefly in specialized uses
Example: thou which means you
Aside – a character's speech heard by the audience but supposedly not by other characters
Audience - the person or people for whom a piece of writing is intended
Autobiography - the biography of a person written by himself/herself
Ballad – a short, narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain
Bias - the personal opinion of the writer which typically appears in a persuasive work, such as an essay or speech
Bibliography - a list of works referenced by a literary document
Biography – a written history of a person's life
Blank verse – poetry written without rhymes, but with a set metrical pattern, usually iambic pentameter
Character - a participant, usually a person, in a story. A character may be the whole focus of a literary piece, or a mere detail added to create depth to a small scene, for example. In Melville's novel Moby Dick, for example, Captain Ahab, Queequeg, and Starbuck are all characters. Some might even consider the whale (Moby Dick) to be a character.
Characterization - the method by which an author gives a character "life" by depicting the character's personality
Chorus - a group of actors in ancient Greek drama who sing or speak in unison, generally commenting on the significance of the events that take place in the play
Chronological order – a method of arranging things in relation to when they happen in time (sometimes also called chronology)
Cinquain – a five-line stanza with successive lines containing two, four, six, eight and two syllables
Climax - the peak or turning point of the action in a story, just before the main conflict is resolved
Comedy - a literary work in which the central motif is triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion
Compare/contrast essay - a piece of writing that shows similarities and differences among characters, ideas, or other elements
Concrete poetry - poetry in which the poet's intent is conveyed by the shape formed by the letters, words, or symbols that make up the poem rather than by the conventional arrangement of words
Conflict - the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction; it causes the plot
Conventions - recurrent techniques, practices, or devices followed by writers that reflect the time a writer lived in and which was acceptable to the cultural expectations of the public
Couplet – two successive lines of poetry
Denouement - the final unraveling of the plot following the climax (same as resolution)
Dialect - a regional variety of language distinguished by features of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation from other regional varieties
Dialogue - the conversations and words spoken aloud by characters in a book, a film, or a play
Direct characterization
Draft - a preliminary version of something written, such as a speech or report
Drama - a literary work in which the characters experience some sort of internal or external conflict. The term Drama often refers to a "play," a story written to be performed by actors in front of a live audience.
Dramatic foil – a character in a drama that tries to prevent another character, usually the protagonist, from succeeding in something
Dramatic irony - situation where a character is unaware of something the audience knows
Dynamic character – a character that undergoes personal development and change, whether through a gradual process or a crisis
Editing - checking for and correcting errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and usage; proofreading. Editing becomes a concern only after the writer is satisfied that the writing clearly says what he/she wants it to say; editing is the final stage of document preparation.
Editorial - an article in a newspaper or magazine that expresses the opinion of its editor or publisher
End rhyme - the use of rhyme at the ends of lines of poetry
Epic - a long narrative poem recounting actions, travels, adventures, and heroic episodes and written in a high style
Epic hero - the main character or protagonist in an epic that is heroically larger than life, often the source and subject of legend or a national hero
Epilogue - a short chapter or section at the end of a literary work, sometimes detailing the ultimate fate of its characters
Epiphany - a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, typically through an ordinary but striking occurrence or burst of insight
Essay - a persuasive piece written to formally present information, defend a position, or accomplish various other specific tasks. Essays are generally written to demonstrate knowledge and expertise in a subject area. Most essays follow the "standard introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion" format. The topic sentence is clearly stated in the introduction and the main idea is revisited in the conclusion.
Exposition - the part of a literary or dramatic work in which the basic facts of setting and character are made known
External conflict – dispute between the protagonist and another character or nature
Fable - a short story with a moral, often one in which the characters are animals
Facts - things that can be shown to be true, to exist, or to have happened
Falling action – the action in a work after the climax that gives any necessary explanation and ends with resolution
Feature article - a newspaper or magazine article that is written to entertain and inform the reader. It does contain some elements of the short story and is written with a lead to get the reader's attention and then uses conversational tone to present the reader with information to evoke an emotional response.
Figurative language – the use of words, phrases, symbols, and ideas in such to evoke mental images and sense impressions by using words in a nonliteral way, giving them a meaning beyond their ordinary one
First person point of view – the narrator may be an observer or a participant, and tells the story by using "I". The first-person observer is not involved in the story's events, but the first-person participant is involved in the story he or she tells, and may be the major character. (Also called subjective point of view.)
Flashback - the presentation of events previous to the current point in the story, using techniques such as characters' conversations, memories, or dreams, or by direct narration from the author
Flat character – a character that is defined by a single quality without much individualizing details
Focus - the writer's main point or idea
Foil – a type of character who sets off or highlights aspects of the protagonist in a play; usually has the opposite traits of the protagonist
Foreshadowing – events or dialogue that provide hints about what will happen later in the story
Framework – a narrative structure that provides a setting and exposition for the main narrative in a novel
Free verse – verse that has neither regular rhyme nor regular meter
Genre - a literary type or class
Examples: novel, short story, biography, poem
Haiku – a 17 syllable form of Japanese poetry that consists of three unrhymed lines of five, seven and five syllables
Heroic couplet - two lines of rhyming iambic pentameter
Historical - a narrative that places fictional characters or events in historically accurate surroundings
Homeric simile - similes in which the comparison is developed and extended, often being sustained through several lines
Hyperbole - a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement
Iambic pentameter - poetry consisting of five parts per line, each part having one short or unstressed syllable and one long or stressed syllable
Imagery - the elements in a literary work used to evoke mental images, not only of the visual sense, but of sensation and emotion as well
Inference - ideas or facts that are implied or suggested rather than stated outright; evidence is usually some "prior knowledge"
Informal essay - a relatively short literary composition in prose, in which a writer discusses a topic, usually restricted in scope, or tries to persuade the reader to accept a particular point of view
Internal conflict - occurs when the protagonist struggles within himself or herself. The protagonist is pulled by two courses of action or by differing emotions, which frequently leads to a dynamic change in the character.
Irony - two separate and contrasting levels of meaning embedded in one message
Journalism - a style of writing for presenting bare facts to describe news events
Limerick - a light or humorous verse form with five lines and a rhyme scheme of a a b b a
Lyric poetry - poems in which the speaker's ardent expression of an emotional element predominates the actual subject of the poem
Memoir - a narrative composed from a personal experience that focuses on the significance of the relationship between the writer and another individual (or thing) and is supported by memories of specific experiences
Metaphor - a concise comparison equating two things that may at first seem unrelated
Mood - the atmosphere created for the reader by a text
Myth - a legend, usually made up in part of historical events, that helps define the beliefs of a people and that often has evolved as an explanation for rituals and natural phenomena
Narrative – a descriptive account of a specific event or series of events
Narrative poem – a detailed poem that provides the narration of an event, stressing details of plot, incident and action
Narrator – the one who narrates, speaks, tells the story or poem
Novel - an extended prose fiction narrative that relates the actions of its characters and the events in their experience
Objective - see Third-person point of view, below
Observation - an act of recognizing and noting a fact or occurrence
Omniscient point of view – a type of third-person point of view with all-knowing narrators that describe not only the action and dialogue, but also what the characters think
One-Act - a type of play, typically short, not broken up into acts
Onomatopoeia - the use of words whose sound resembles what they describe, such as buzz, plop, click, etc.
Opinion - a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in one person's mind about a particular matter
Oral tradition - a community's cultural and historical background preserved and passed on from one generation to the next in spoken stories and song, as distinct from being written down
Paraphrase - a brief rewriting of a work in words different from the original
Pentameter – a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet
Personal essay - a narrative that focuses on a central idea about the writer or the writer's life and is supported by a variety of incidents from the writer's life
Personal expressive writing - includes several types of writing, each of which focuses on the life experiences of the writer. These types include personal narratives, memoirs, and personal essays. The characteristics of the form and the strategies for developing ideas may be different for each kind of writing.
Personification - a figure of speech in which human traits are given to non-human things or abstractions
Persuasive writing - writing with the intent to alter the reader's opinion about a subject
Plagiarism - the use of another writer's exact words, unique idea, or compositional patterns without crediting the original writer
Play - a traditional piece of drama in which an actor or group of actors perform a scripted story on stage in front of a live audience, often using makeup or costumes to more closely resemble the characters they portray
Plot - the sequence of a story's events that follow the pattern of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution; in most novels, short stories, dramas, and narrative poems, the plot involves two basic elements - characters and conflict
Poetry - a literary expression in which words are used in a concentrated blend of sound and imagery to create an emotional response
Point of view - the perspective from which a story is told
Primary Source - the person who experienced the event(s) described in a literary work
Prologue - an introductory passage or speech before the main action of a novel, play, or long poem
Prose - the ordinary language people use in speaking or writing
Protagonist - the major character in a work that is involved in some sort of conflict
Pun - a word play suggesting, with humorous intent, the different meanings of one word or the use of two or more words similar in sound but different in meaning
Purpose - the reason, or justification, behind a piece of writing
Realism - the attempt to portray an accurate representation of nature and real life without idealization
Refrain - a phrase or line, generally about the central topic, which is repeated, usually at regular intervals throughout a poem
Resolution - the last stage of plot development in which remaining conflicts may be resolved and problems are solved (also known as the denouement)
Revision - the process of looking again at a draft to ask, "Does this writing clearly say what I want it to say, and if it does not, what changes do I need to make?" Revision is centered on audience and purpose, based on the writer's need to communicate with the reader, but it is a different process than editing.
Rhyme - the repetition of concluding sounds in different words, usually at the ends of lines or stanzas
Rhythm - the recurrence of stresses and pauses in a poem
Rising action - The events in a story or play before the climax
Round character - a character in a work who has many fully developed, individual, and dynamic traits
Saga - a long story or novel, or a series of stories or novels, often following the lives of a family or community over several generations
Satire - a literary tone or work used to make fun of human vice or weakness often with the hope or intent of changing or correcting the behavior of the subject of the satiric attack
Scene - any of the divisions of an act of a play or opera, presenting continuous action in one place
Secondary source - someone other than the person that experienced the event(s) described in a literary work
Sensory language – words that make a connection between the ideas that they convey and the physical senses of touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight
Setting - the place and time in which a poem, play or narrative fiction takes place (as well as details such as time of day, weather, etc.)
Short story - a piece of fictional writing usually less than 5000 words that contains these basic elements: characters, setting, plot, conflict, resolution, climax, dialogue, protagonist, and antagonist
Simile - a direct comparison between two things essentially unlike each other, but resembling each other in at least one way, usually using the words like or as.
Soliloquy - a speech often used to reveal thoughts or feelings that is delivered by a character in a play to him or herself, or directly to the audience
Speech - a formal piece of writing that is composed for a specific audience for a specific time. The writer of a speech has a certain body of information to present to the audience and does so in a formal manner. Speeches are generally memorized, but a written copy is produced for the writer's use when delivering the speech.
Stanza – a part of a poem made by arranging the lines into units separated by a space, usually of a corresponding number of lines and a recurrent pattern of meter and rhyme
Static character - a character that remains unchanged throughout a work
Subjective - see First-person point of view, above
Subplot - a second and less prominent story within a book, play, or movie
Summary - the most important parts of a body of literature reduced to a smaller, less detailed form
Surrealism - an early 20th-century movement in art and literature that tried to represent the subconscious mind by creating fantastic imagery and juxtaposing elements that seem to contradict each other
Suspense - a reader's anxious uncertainty about a decision or event in a literary work
Symbol - a person, object, action or idea that points beyond its own meaning toward greater and more complex meaning(s)
Synonym - one of two or more words that have the same meaning
Theme - the central idea, concern, or view that a literary work explores
Thesis statement - a brief sentence presenting the main point of a persuasive writing, usually in the introductory paragraph
Third person/limited point of view – a point of view in which the narrator uses "he," "she," or "it" and is telling the thoughts and feelings of only one character (sometimes, but very seldom, of two or three characters; also called objective point of view)
Tone - a method writers use to convey and control the attitude toward the subject itself, or about the audience
Tragedy - a literary work that begins in prosperity and happiness and ends in adversity or misery
Verse - a line of words arranged in a metrical pattern
Voice - the feature of writing that has unique personality and conveys a sense of sincere investment from the writer. This quality reveals an authentic sound, rhythm, and natural language. Writing with strong voice is honest and written with conviction, not just clever language. The reader feels a strong sense of interaction with the writer.