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Definitions and explanations for various literary terms and devices, including allegory, alliteration, analogy, allusion, antagonist, apostrophe, ballad, characterization, climax, connotation, denotation, denouement, diction, didactic, epiphany, fable, fairy tale, farce, foreshadowing, genre, hyperbole, imagery, irony, melodrama, metaphor, mood, moral, naturalism, omniscient, paradox, persona, personification, plot, point of view, protagonist, quatrain, realism, regionalism, romanticism, satire, setting, simile, sonnet, stream of consciousness, surrealism, symbolism, tall tale, theme, tone, and syntact. Useful for students preparing for literature exams, quizzes, or assignments.
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Allegory is a figurative mode of representation conveying meaning other than the literal. TERM 2
DEFINITION 2 In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of a series of words and/or phrases. 1. the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either with the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration), as in from stem to stern, or with a vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration), as in each to all. Compare consonance ( def. 4a ). 2. the commencement of two or more words of a word group with the same letter, as in apt alliteration's artful aid. TERM 3
DEFINITION 3 Analogy (from Greek "-" - analogia, "proportion") is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. 1. Comparison between members of different classes TERM 4
DEFINITION 4 An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, a place, event, literary work, myth, or work of art, either directly or by implication. M. H. 1. Indirect reference to outside of the work TERM 5
DEFINITION 5 An antagonist (from Greek - - antagonistes, "opponent, competitor, rival") is a character, group of characters, or an institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend 2. a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary. 3. the adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work: Iago is the antagonist of Othello.
a digression in the form of an address to someone not present, or to a personified object or idea, as O Death, where is thy sting? TERM 7
DEFINITION 7 A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. a narrative song with a recurrent refrain TERM 8
DEFINITION 8 Characterisation or characterization is the process of conveying information about characters in narrative or dramatic works of art or everyday conversation. 1. The way someone is portrayed TERM 9
DEFINITION 9 In general, a climax (from the Greek word -- (klimax) meaning -staircase- and -ladder-) is a point of greatest intensity or force in an ascending series; i.e., a culmination.
DEFINITION 10 A connotation is a commonly understood, subjective cultural and/or emotional association that some word or phrase carries, in addition to the word or phrase's explicit or literal meaning. 1. An association called up by word, beyond its dictionary definition
A fable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities), and that illustrates a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim. 1.a short tale to teach a moral lesson, often with animals or inanimate objects as characters; apologue: the fable of the tortoise and the hare; Aesop's fables. TERM 17
DEFINITION 17 a story, usually for children, about elves, hobgoblins, dragons, fairies, or other magical creatures. TERM 18
DEFINITION 18 In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include sexual innuendo and word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending which often involves an elaborate chase scene. 1. a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character. TERM 19
DEFINITION 19 Clues in writing to what is coming up TERM 20
DEFINITION 20 Catagory under which the literature will fall
deliberate exaggeration TERM 22
DEFINITION 22 Words to create a picture for the reader TERM 23
DEFINITION 23 Least to expect to occur, does occur. TERM 24
DEFINITION 24 The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work which exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. 1.a dramatic form that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization. TERM 25
DEFINITION 25 indirect comparison
Take on characteristics; adopting TERM 32
DEFINITION 32 Inaniment objects or living objects life-like characteristics TERM 33
DEFINITION 33 Patterns of events in a work of literature TERM 34
DEFINITION 34 Perspective the story is told in TERM 35
DEFINITION 35 is the main character (the central or primary personal figure) of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to share the most empathy.
A quatrain is a stanza or poem consisting of four lines. TERM 37
DEFINITION 37
DEFINITION 38 In literature, regionalism or local color fictionality refers to fiction or poetry that focuses on specific features - including characters, dialects, customs, history, and topography - of a particular region. TERM 39
DEFINITION 39 A movement in literature and the fine arts, beginning in the early nineteenth century, that stressed personal emotion, free play of the imagination, and freedom from rules of form. TERM 40
DEFINITION 40 humor
the use of concrete things to suggest something larger and more abstract TERM 47
DEFINITION 47 A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. 1.An exaggerated, unreliable story TERM 48
DEFINITION 48 Lesson learned; point being made TERM 49
DEFINITION 49 1.Expression or attitude about literature 2. Establishes mood TERM 50
DEFINITION 50 Way you manipulate your words