Key+Literary+Terms

Key Literary Terms

Allegory Allusion Analogy Anecdote Aphorism Aside Audience Author’s Craft / Motivation / Perspective / Stance / Viewpoint Author’s Purpose Caesura Catastrophe Cause / Effect Comic Relief Comparing Texts Conclusions, Drawing Description Dialect Dialogue Diction/Word Choice Dramatic Exposition Epic Hero Epigram Epithet Euphemism Fact / Opinion Figurative Language Flashback Foil Foreshadowing Generalization Graphics Hyperbole Humor Idioms Imagery Inference Irony Situational Logic / Inductive Reasoning Main Idea / Supporting Details Metaphor Mood Moral Non-Fiction Elements Paradox Paraphrasing Personification Persuasion Poetic Elements: Alliteration Apostrophe Assonance / Consonance Blank Verse Couplet/Heroic Couplet Dramatic Monologue Epic Simile Extended Metaphor Figurative Language Foot / Meter Form / Structure Free Verse Iambic Pentameter Imagery Kenning Octave / Sestet Onomatopoeia Parallelism Quatrain Repetition Rhyme Rhythm Sensory Details Sound Devices Speaker Stanza Point of View, Narrative First Person Third Person Limited Omniscient Pun Purpose for Reading Rhetorical Devices Satire Simile Soliloquy Sources, Primary / Secondary Stage Directions Stereotype Story Elements: Character Antagonist / Protagonist Characterization Conflict Narrator Plot: Circular Plot Structure Chronological Order Exposition Rising Action Climax Resolution Setting Theme Stream of Consciousness Style Suspense Symbol Text Organization / Organizers Determining Organization Tone Tragic Hero Understatement Vocabulary, Specialized Voice