Anecdote
A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature
Perspective
A character's view of the situation or events in the story
Aphorism
A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief.
Contradiction
A direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency
Apostrophe
A figure of speech in which a person, thing, or abstract quality is addressed as if present;
Oxymoron
A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements.
Allusion
A figure of speech which makes brief, even casual reference to a historical or literaryfigure, event, or object to create a resonance in the reader or to apply a symbolic meaning
Syllogism
A form of deduction. An extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument
Satire
A literary style used to make fun of or ridicule an idea or human vice or weakness
Bildungsroman
A novel or story whose theme is the moral or psychological growth of the main character.
Devices
A particular word pattern or combination of words used in a literary work to evoke a desired effect or arouse a desired reaction in the reader
Foil
A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast
Epistolary
A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters
Epitaph
A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person
Parody
A satirical imitation of a work of art for purpose of ridiculing its style or subject.
Delayed sentence
A sentence that withholds its main idea until the end. For example: Just as he bent to tie his shoe a car hit him
Sarcasm
A sharp caustic remark. A form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually bitterly or harshly critical
Expletive
A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words. Commonly, set of by commas
Irony
A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected
or understood and what actually happens or is meant.
Eulogy
A speech or writing in praise of a person or thing an oration in honor of a deceased
person
Paradox
A statement that seems contradictory, but is actually true.
Epiphany
A sudden or intuitive insight or perception into the reality or essential meaning of
something usually brought on by a simple or common occurrence or experience
Onomatopoeia
A word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes, such as buzz or hiss.
Diction
An author's choice of words to convey a tone or effect
Utopia
An imaginary place of ideal perfection.
Hyperbole
An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language
Deus ex machina
As in Greek theater, use of an artificial device or contrived solution to solve a difficult
situation
Antagonist
Character or force in a literary work that opposes the main character, or protagonist
Analogy
Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects. Metaphors and similes are both
types of analogy
Inductive
Conclusion or type of reasoning whereby observation or information about a part of a
class is applied to the class as a whole. Contrast with deductive.
Nostalgia
Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time
Chiasmus
Figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of parallel clauses is reversed
in the second. "Has the Church failed mankind, or has mankind failed the Church?"-- T.
S. Eliot,
Thesis
Focus statement of an essay
Litote
Form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis
and intensity
Doppelganger
Ghostly counterpart of a living person or an alter ego
Zeugma
Grammatically correct linkage of one subject with two or more verbs or a verb with two
or more direct objects.
Ethos
In dramatic literature, the moral element that determines a character's actions
Propaganda
Information or rumor deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution
Didactic
Intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson
Formal Language
Language that is lofty, dignified, or impersonal
Allegory
Narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves
Abstract
Not related to the concrete properties of an object, pertaining to ideas, concepts, or
qualities, as opposed to physical attributes
In medias res
Opening a story in the middle of the action, requiring filling in past details by exposition
or flashback.
Colloquial
Ordinary language, the vernacular. For example, depending on where in the United States
you live, a sandwich is called a sub, a grinder, or a hero.
Isocolon
Parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical
structure, but also in length. For example, "An envious heart makes a treacherous ear"
(Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston).
Aesthetic
Pertaining to the value of art for its own sake or for form
Juxtaposition
Placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or
accomplish some other purpose
Elegy
Poem or prose lamenting the death of a particular person. Perhaps the most famous elegy
is Thomas Grey's poem, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
Antihero
Protagonist of a literary work who does not embody the traditional qualities of a hero
(e.g., honor, bravery, kindness, intelligence)
Catharsis
Purification or cleansing of the spirit through the emotions of pity and terror as a witness
to a tragedy.
Epigraph
Quote set at the beginning of a literary work or at its divisions to set the tone or suggest a
theme.