Literary Terms Page 4

notes included in a drama to describe how the work is to be performed or staged; printed in italics and are not spoken aloud; used to describe sets, lighting, sound effects, and the appearance, personalities, and movements of characters

a lesson taught by a literary work; a fable usually ends with this term that is directly stated

a word's dictionary meaning, independent of other associations that the word may have

a short speech delivered by an actor in a play, which expresses the character's thoughts; traditionally directed to the audience and presumed to be inaudible to the other actors

a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem; in a poem, this is indicated by using different letters of the alphabet for each new rhyme

writing or speech that attempts to convince the reader to adopt a particular opinion or course of action

a long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage

a short nonfiction work about a particular subject

a lyric poem written in three-line stanzas, ending with a four-line stanza; this poem has two refrain lines that appear initially in the first and third lines of the first stanza; then, they appear alternately as the third line of the subsequent stanzas, and finally, as the last two lines of the poem

a brief work of fiction; resembles the longer novel but generally has a simpler plot and setting; tends to reveal character at a crucial moment rather than to develop it through man incidents

a category or type of literature in which is commonly divided into poetry, prose, and drama

a conclusion that violates the expectations of the reader but in a way that is both logical and believable

one of three major types of literature; most will make use of highly concise, musical, and emotionally charaged language; many also make use of imagery, figurative language and special devices of sound such as rhyme

a highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found in real life; some examples include stories that involve supernatural elements, stories that resemble fairy tales, and stories that deal with imaginary places and creatures

a person, an animal, or a thing that takes part in the action of a literary work

a seven-line stanza

a six-line stanza

a four-line stanza

an eight-line stanza

a five-line stanza