Analyzing & Interpreting Literature

A twelve-syllable line written in iambic hexameter.

Stressed rhythmic structure of poetic lines

A narrative that is an extended metaphor: the elements of the narrative carry significance on a literal and a figurative level.

Repetition of initial consonants in consecutive words or in words close to each other.

In a literary work, a reference to a person, place, or thing from another literary work or from history.

Metrical foot used in poetry consisting of two short syllables followed by a long syllable.  
U U /

The one who struggles against or contends with the protagonist; may be another individual or an obstacle or challenge, such as fear or death.

Direct address to someone or something not present, such as an imaginary person or an abstract quality; often introduced by the exclamation, "O".

Describes writing - usually an essay - that establishes a position and supports it with evidence.

Repetition of vowel sounds; more common in verse than in prose.

A morning love song; opposite of a serenade; literally, a song to a sleeping woman; also refers to a song-evoking daybreak.

A narrative fold song or a narrative set of music.

Four-line stanza (quatrain) consisting of alternating four- and three- stress lines; usually second and fourth lines rhyme (abcb).

Abrupt change in style going from exalted to mundane, producing a ludicrous effect.

Unrhymed iambic pentameter.

A complete pause in a line of poetry.

Final resolution in a poem or narrative that unravels the plot and concludes the work; misfortune experienced by tragic hero.

From Greek, meaning "cleansing" or "purging"; in tragedy, a moment for purging or relieving of emotions for the audience.

Turning point in a story; the point where the main character experiences a change and the action stops building and begins falling.

Poetry conforming to pre-specified requirements of rhyme, meter, line length, and number of lines; two examples are haiku and sonnet.

Element introduced into the plot to alter its course.

Extended metaphor governing an entire passage or poem.

Final division of a discourse or literary work that brings the work to a close; fifth part of plot structure.

Emotional association that accompanies a certain work of phrase; often described as positive or negative depending on the emotional connection.

Repetition of a consonant sound in short succession.

Following accepted standards; a well understood interpretation.

Two consecutive lines in poetry, usually with the same meter and often rhyming.

Turning point in a story; culmination of the events of the plot.

A foot in meter in poetry; in Greek or Latin verse, it is a long syllable followed by two short syllables; in English verse, it is a stressed syllable followed by two stressed syllables.

Literal meaning, found in dictionary.

The conclusion of a story; includes the events between the falling action and the last scene of a narrative or drama.

Work choice.

A line containing only two metrical feet.

Derogatory term for verse with little literary value.

Speech delivered by a single character who addresses the reader or an internal listener and reveals his or her innermost thoughts and feelings.

A character whose personality changes over the course of a narrative or who has the ability for such change.

A sorrowful, melancholic poem, such as a funeral song or lament for the dead.

Repetition or similar sounds in two or more words, found in the final syllable(s) of the lines of poetry.

A line having no end punctuation so the meaning continues uninterrupted to the next line(s).

A long, narrative poem written in elevated language and style about the exploits of a hero or heroine.

An inscription on a building or tomb or a short verse appearing at the beginning of a longer work (novel, chapter, or poem) to set mood or reveal theme.

The author's explanation of background information about characters and setting at the beginning of the plot; writing with a primary purpose of informing, clarifying, or explaining.

Writing or discourse with the primary purpose of informing clarifying, or explaining; background information shared by the author.

Subjective depiction of the real world through imagination, the abstract, and symbols.

Moment following the climax where the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist is resolved.

Comedy that entertains the audience through absurdity, improbabilities, exaggeration, and verbal humor.

Tow or more syllables match in the rhyming words; the final syllable or syllables are unstressed.

Deviation from usual meaning of a word or group of words resulting in a special effect or meaning.

Picture painted by the writer, usually a poet.

Any one of three four- tenth- and fifteenth-century French poetic forms: the ballad, the virelai, and rondeau.

A character who highlights through contract opposite characteristics in another character.

Basic unit of meter consisting of a set number of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Pattern or design of a poem.

Poetry using natural rhythms of words and phrases instead of required metrical feet.

A tragic flaw within a character; in Greek, means "to miss the mark."

Line with seven metrical feet.

Two successive lines of iambic pentameter with the second lines usually ending with a stop.

Line with six metrical feet.

Comedy carried out by characters that are true to life, realistic.

Author's style incorporating choices in dictation, syntax, point of view, description, narration, and dialogue.

Excessive pride adversely affecting the protagonist's judgement; most common tragic flaw.

Exaggeration or overstatement.

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Line of five feet, each with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Rising and falling rhythm in poetry from alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.

Word picture painted by a writer.

Term coined by Ezra Pound for free imagery, open to many interpretations.

Subjective or personal literary style that relies on associations; style adapter to writing from nineteenth-century school of painters, including Monet and Renoir.

A word rhyming at the end of the line with a word in the middle of the line.

First stage in plot in which the author establishes the situation and shared background information.

Writing that attacks a person or idea trough emotional language.

Doing or saying the opposite or unexpected; used in irony.

Discrepancy between what is said or done and what is meant.

A five-line humorous or non-sensical poem in which the first two lines are anapestic trimeter, the next two are anapestic dimeter, and the last line is trimeter; rhyme scheme is aabba.

Four rhyming lines, abcb, with lines 1 and 3 having eight syllables and lines 2 and 4 having six.

Humor with absurdities, horseplay, and exaggerations, depicting an unrefined life.

A poem sharing personal emotions; in Classical poetry, accompanied by a lyre.

A rhyme that matches just one syllable, often a stressed syllable found at the end of the lines.

Comparison of two unlike items.

Basic rhythmic structure for lines in poetic verse.

A figure of speech in which an idea or a thing is referenced by a name closely associated with it; literally means "a change of name."

In Greek, "imitation"; mimetic theory from Aristotle held that successful imitation in art portrayed reality as closely as possible.

Satire or parody that mocks the Classical stereotype of a hero or heroic literature, usually through exaggeration or absurdity.

A broad literary method not tied to one specific form or genre, such as irony or satire.

A line of verse with one foot.

An object, concept, or structure repeated in a literary work, thereby giving it symbolic significance in the story.

The events that tell the story.

An individual who tells or speaks the story.

Literary movement that depicts life as accurately as possible, illustrating transformation in society through environment and hereditary.

A style of prose and poetry from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, reviving a classical style from Greek and Roman cultures.

An extended fictional narrative written in prose that includes characters, plot, and setting.

A line in poetry of eight metrical feet.

Poetic verse of eight lines of iambic pentameter, usually with a rhyme scheme of abba abba.

Lyrical verse or poem with a serious topic and tone.

Use of a word that suggests or mimics its meaning through sound, such as roar or whistle.

Poetry that does not follow a predetermined form; freedom in the form of a poem.

A figure of speech where two words opposite in meaning are placed next to each other, such as bittersweet.

A statement that seems absurd or contradictory but is true; juxtaposition of incongruous ideas to invoke insight.

A work that mocks an original work, character, or style through humorous imitation.

Figure of speech that attributes human characteristics to inanimate objects or animals.

The series of events that make up the story.

The perspective or vantage point from which the author chooses to tell the story.

The most common form of written language following natural speech patterns and grammatical structure.

Main character in a literary work; literally, one who struggles toward or from something.

A play on the meaning of a word or of similar-sounding words for an intended effect; usually humorous.

Four lines of verse making up a stanza or a poem.

Delivering subject from third-person objective point of view with no added interpretation or elaboration.

Point of final conflict in the plot between the protagonist and antagonist where one emerges as the categorical winner.

Doing or saying the opposite or unexpected; used in irony.

Pattern of repetition of rhyme within a poem designated by aabb or abab, where the letter a marks the first line and all other lines rhyming with it.

Introduction of conflict into the plot, bringing tension that continues throughout the storyline.

From the French, "novel with a key."  A narrative that depicts historical figures and events in the form of fiction.

Longer prose narrative, originally associated with the legendary, imaginative, and poetic.

An artistic and literary movement originating in the second half of the eighteenth century in Europe, emphasizing emotions, idealism, adventure, and chivalry.

Harsh or biting verbal irony.

Literary form that ridicules human vices or shortcomings.

Poetic verse of six lines.

Poem of six, six-line stanzas with six end words that are repeated in a closing tercet.

The time, place, and circumstances in which a story occurs.

Comparison of two unlike items using like, as, or as if.

Repetition of final consonant only in two words; also referred to as "near rhyme" or "off rhyme"; it is consonance in the final consonants of the rhyming words, such as all and bell or mirth and hearth.

Specified poetic pattern of fourteen lines arranged in a set rhyme scheme; two common sonnets are Italian or Petrarchan, with a rhyme scheme of abba, abba, cdecde, and English or Shakespearean, with abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

Writing or discourse that explores ideas.

In poetry, a group of lines set off by space; also referred to as a verse.

A character who stays the same throughout a literary work.

A popularly held belief about a specific group or type of individuals.

A well-understood and accepted interpretation of an image, symbol, or character; a character who exists for necessity of plot.

Organization of a literary work.

How an author writes; incorporates diction, syntax, use of narration and dialogue, choice of point of view, and description.

An object, image, word or feeling that represents something greater.

Specific type of metaphor in which a part is used to represent the whole or the whole for the part.

Sentence construction or sentence structure.

Three lines of poetry that form a stanza or a complete poem.

A line of four metrical feet.

Statement summarizing the message or big idea of a story.

Idea the essayist is conveying.

The attitude toward the subject conveyed by the author.

Phrase stating subject or them of a work or speech.

Noble, good protagonist in a tragedy who experiences adversity or misfortune.

Fictional work combining characteristics of tragedy and comedy, such as a somber play with a happy ending.

In poetry, a line with three metrical feet.

Metrical foot in poetry of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.

Fact or reality that transcends genres.

Expression of an idea with less force or strength than expected for the sake of humor.

A line of poetry (versus); often used to refer to section or stanza of a poem.

A poem consisting of nineteen lines:  five tercets followed by one quatrain.

The speaker.  In non-fiction, the author; in fiction, the narrator; may also refer to the style chosen by the writer, such as formal or informal.

Setting of story within time.

Physical setting of the story.

Characters in the story.

Theme or main idea of the story.

Intellectual humor; in poetry, wit works through word play to emphasize concepts.

The use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same, or similar in their construction, sound, meaning or meter.

A comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it.  It aims at explaining that idea or thing by comparing it to something that is familiar.

A story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.