Literary Terms (Personification - Vernacular)

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

One of the characters tells the story.

An omniscient or all knowing narrator tells the story, using third person pronouns. Often tells about many characters rather than focusing on a single one.

An impersonal and objective narrator tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events.

A sentence in which uses conjunctions with no commas to separate the items in a series (The opposite of Asyndeton).

The central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action.

A "play on words" based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words that sound alike but mean different things.

A poem consisting of four lines, or four lines of a poem that can be considered as a unit.

A word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a poem.

A rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language.

A question asked for an effect and not actually requiring an answer.

In general, a story in which an idealized hero or heroine undertakes a quest and is successful.

A type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an attempt to bring about a change.

A comparison using like, as, than, or resembles.

A long speech made by a character in a ply while no other characters are on stage.

A something that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself.

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole.

An authors choice of words.

The insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.

The attitude a writer takes toward something, revealed through diction, figurative language, and word choice.

A story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some other unhappy end.

A statement that says less than what is meant.

The language spoken by the people who line in a particular locality.