Literary Terms

a story with two or more levels of meaning

a reference to a literary work

a brief story to entertain

a character that is against the main character

the way an author reveals characters (direct or indirect)

the high point of interest or suspense

a struggle between opposing forces (internal of external)

the language of a particular region or group

information from the past

a hint or clue about what is going to happen

a type of literature

a deliberate exaggeration to make a point

words or phrases that appeal to the senses

means the opposite of what you say

where the audience knows something that the characters don't

when what happens is the opposite of what is expected

a direct comparison

the feeling created in the reader

when nonhuman subjects are given human characteristics

the sequence of events

the author's position in the story (1st person participant, 3rd person observer, omniscient or restricted)

the main character

a literary work that ridicules

the time and place of the story

the author's way of writting

stands for something else

the main idea or central message

the writers attitude toward the subject

repetition of consonant sounds

repetition of vowel sounds

songlike poem that tells a story

pair of rhyming lines

rhyming words at the end of lines

long narrative poem

writing that's not literal

conclusion drawn from hints or clues

rhyme within a line

direct comparison

speaker or character who tells the story

words that imitate sounds

paired opposites

literature written in lines

a pattern rhyming words

poetry without regular rhyme

pattern of beats

a comparison using like or as

grouping of two or more lines

a fourteen line poem

comparison between two similar things

a speech directly to the audience in a play

a writer's reason for writing

a character that changes in the story

a character that stays the same in a story

something humorous to break the tension

a word's meaning in a certain situation

a word's dictionary meaning

an overused expression

a sudden understanding of something

an essay that explains something

an essay that tells a story

a good word instead of an inappropriate word

short story with a moral

a character who contrasts with another character

a play on words

writing in sentences and paragraphs

the rhythmical pattern in a peom

an old story about gods and goddesses

a contradiction

character that is not fully described

character that is fully described

conversation between two characters

an actors technique or actions

an elaborate comparison of unlike subjects

phrase or poem at the beginning of a document

term used to characterize someone or something

writing done to convince someone

comparison lasting several lines or a whole poem

feeling of uncertainty about the outcome

three line nature poem

a saying characteristic of a region

words asking for help or support

means just what it says

musical verse expressing the thoughts of a person

long speech from a character that is alone on the stage

poetry that tells a story

a work created to mock something

a question that doesn't expect an answer

a hero experiencing great misfortune