Glossary of literary terms

Allegory Literary work in which characters, events, objects, and ideas have secondary or symbolic meanings.

Alliteration Repetition of consonant sounds. Examples: (1) But now I am c abined, c ribbed, c onfined, bound into saucy doubts and fears.--Shakespeare.

Allusion Reference to a historical event or to a mythical or literary figure. Examples: (1) Sir Lancelot fought with Herculean strength. (Reference to the mythological hero Hercules). (2) "I have met my Waterloo," the mountain climber said after returning from a failed attempt to conquer Everest. (Reference to the Belgian town where Napoleon lost a make-or-break battle). (3) Since my elementary-school days, math has always been my Achilles heel. (Reference to the weak spot of Achilles, the greatest warrior to fight in the Trojan War. When his mother submersed him in the River Styx after he was born, the magical waters made him invulnerable. His flesh was impervious to all harm--except for the heel of a foot. His mother was grasping the heel when she dipped him into the river. Because the river water did not touch his heel, it was the only part of his body that could suffer harm. He died when a poison-tipped arrow lodged in his heel. Hence, writers over the ages have used the term Achilles heel to refer to a person's most pronounced weakness.

Anaphora Repetition of a term at the beginning of word groups occurring one after the other. Examples: (1) Give me wine, give me women and give me song.(2) For everything there is a season... a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted.--Bible, Ecclesiastes. (3) To die, to sleep; to sleep: perchance to dream.--Shakespeare, Hamlet.

Antagonist Character in a story or poem who opposes the main character (protagonist). Sometimes the antagonist is an animal, an idea or a thing. Examples of such antagonists might include illness, oppression, or the serpent in the biblical story of Adam and Eve.

Aphorism Short, often witty statement presenting an observation or a universal truth; an adage. Examples: (1) Fish and visitors smell in three days–Benjamin Franklin. (2) Many hands make light work.–John Heywood. (3) In charity there is no excess–Francis Bacon. (4) Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown–William Shakespeare.

Apostrophe Addressing an abstraction or thing, present or absent, or addressing an absent person or entity. Examples: (1) Frailty, thy name is woman.--William Shakespeare. (2) Hail, Holy Light, offspring of heaven firstborn!--John Milton. (3) God in heaven, please help me.

Archetype (1) Original model or models for persons appearing later in history or characters appearing later in literature; (2) the original model or models for places, things, or ideas appearing later in history or literature; (3) a primordial object, substance, or cycle of nature that always symbolizes or represents the same positive or negative qualities. Explanation of Definition 1: The mythical Hercules is an original model of a strong man. Consequently, he is an archetype. Exceptionally strong men who appear later in history or literature are said to be archetypical Hercules figures because they resemble the original Hercules. Similarly, the biblical Eve is an original model of a woman who tempts a man to commit sin. Thus, she is an archetype. Temptresses who appear later in history or literature are said to be archetypical Eve figures because they resemble the original Eve. Examples of archetypical Eve figures include the housewife who goads her husband to steal from his employer and the prostitute who tempts a married man to have illicit sex. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is an archetypical Eve figure because she, like Eve, urges her husband to commit sin–in the case of Macbeth, to commit murder. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus is an archetypical Judas (the apostle who betrayed Christ) because Brutus betrays Caesar.
Explanation of Definition 2: The biblical Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as Babylon, are original examples of cities corrupted by sin. Thus, they are archetypes. Decadent cities–or cities perceived to be decadent–that appear later in history or literature are said to be archetypical sin cities. Hollywood and Las Vegas are examples. Explanation of Definition 3: Rivers, sunlight, serpents, the color red and green, and winter are examples of primordial things (existing since the beginning of time) that are archetypes because they always symbolize the same positive or negative qualities. Rivers represent the passage of time; sunlight represents happiness, a new beginning, glory, truth, goodness, or God; the color red represents passion, anger, blood, or war; the color green represents new life, a new beginning, or hope; winter represents death, dormancy, or atrophy.

Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds preceded and followed by different consonant sounds. Use of "bite" and "like" in a line of poetry would constitute assonance. Examples: (1) There are no tricks in plain and simple faith. --Shakespeare. (2) But I am pigeon- livered, and lack gall to make oppression bitter. (3) John met his fate by the lake.

Asyndeton Use of words or phrases in a series without connectives such as and or so. Examples (1) One cause, one country, one heart.--Daniel Webster. (2) Veni, vidi, vici (Latin: I came, I saw, I conquered).--Julius Caesar.

Caesura Pause in a line of verse shown, in scansion, by two vertical lines (||).

Character, Flat Character in story who has only one prominent trait, such as greed or cruelty.

Character, Round Character in a story who has many aspects to his or her personality. The character may have a good side and a bad side; he or she may be unpredictable.

Climax High point in a story. In Hamlet, this point occurs when Hamlet and Laertes duel with swords and mortally wound each other. In classic detective stories, this point usually occurs when Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan, Hercules Poirot, etc., lay out the evidence and finger the killer.

Conflict The struggle in a work of literature. This struggle may be between one person and another person or between a person and an animal, an idea or a thing. It may also be between a person and himself or herself. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the conflict is manifold. Hamlet struggles against the villain Claudius, against the unbecoming conduct of his mother, and against his conscience and indecision.

Chiasmus Use of two parallel structures in which the second structure has an inverted order. Examples: (1) Winter is cruel, but kind is the warmth of the hearth. (2) Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike.--Coleridge. (3) John is a good worker, and a good student is Mary.

Dialogue Conversation in a play, short story, or novel. A literary work on a single topic that is presented in the form of a conversation.

Didactic Adjective describing a literary work intended to teach a lesson or a moral principle.

Drama Literary work with dialogue written in verse and/or prose and spoken by actors playing characters experiencing conflict and tension. The English word drama comes from the Greek word "dran," meaning "to do."

Dramatic irony Failure of a character to see or understand what is obvious to the audience. The most notable example of dramatic irony in all of literature occurs in Oedipux Rex, by Sophocles, when Oedipus fails to realize what the audience knows--that he married his own mother.

Epithet One of the hallmarks of the style of the Greek epic poet Homer is the epithet, a combination of a descriptive phrase and a noun. An epithet presents a miniature portrait that identifies a person or thing by highlighting a prominent characteristic of that person or thing. In English, the Homeric epithet usually consists of a noun modified by a compound adjective, such as the following: fleet-footed Achilles, rosy-fingered dawn, wine-dark sea, earth-shaking Poseidon, and gray-eyed Athena. The Homeric epithet is an ancient relative of such later epithets as Richard the Lion-Hearted, Ivan the Terrible, and America the Beautiful. Homer repeated his epithets often, presumably so the listeners of his recited tales could easily remember and picture the person or thing each time it was mentioned. In this respect, the Homeric epithet resembles the leitmotiv of opera composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). The leitmotiv was a repeated musical theme associated with a character, a group of characters, an emotion, or an idea.

Fable Story that teaches a lesson or a rule of living. The characters are usually animals that speak and act like humans.

Flashback Device in which a writer describes significant events of an earlier time or actually returns the plot to an earlier time. Flashback enables the author to inform the reader of significant happenings that influence later action. Vehicles that writers use to return to earlier times include dreams, memories, and stories told by the narrator or a character.

Foreshadowing Device a writer uses to hint at a future course of action. Shirley Jackson also uses foreshadowing in the second paragraph of her outstanding short story “The Lottery” in the following sentence: Bobby Martin had already stuffed his pockets full of stones, and the other boys soon followed his example, selecting the smoothest and roundest stones.... This sentence foreshadows the stoning scene at the end of the story.

Genre Type or kind, as applied to literature and film. Examples of genres are romance, horror, tragedy, adventure, suspense, science fiction, epic poem, elegy, novel, historical novel, short story, and detective story.

Hyperbole Exaggeration; overstatement. Examples: (1)Ten thousand oceans cannot wash away my guilt. (2) Oscar has the appetite of a starving lion.

Irony (1) Saying the opposite of what is meant; (2) result or ending that is the opposite of what is expected; (3) situation in which the audience attending a dramatic presentation grasps the incongruity of a situation before the actors do. Examples: (1) "What a beautiful day," Maxine said, opening her umbrella. (2) In the movie Planet of the Apes, an astronaut who lands on another planet where intelligent apes rule discovers a startling irony at the end of the movie: When looking over a vast wasteland, he sees the head of the Statue of Liberty and realizes he was on earth all the time. Apparently, a nuclear war had destroyed humankind while he was time-traveling. While in his Einsteinian time warp, the apes had evolved to an almost human level. (3) In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus is unaware that he has married his own mother even though the audience is well aware of the incestuous union.

Kenning Compound expression, often hyphenated, representing a single noun. For example, the Old English epic Beowulf uses the two-word term whale-road to refer to the sea or ocean. Other examples of kennings include devil's helper for sinner and widow-maker for gun.

Litotes Creation of a positive or opposite idea through negation. Examples: (1) I am not unaware of your predicament. (2) This is no small problem. (3) I'm not forgetful that you served me well.--John Milton.

Malapropism Unintentional use of an inappropriate word similar in sound to the appropriate word, often with humorous effect. The word derives from the name Mrs. Malaprop, a character in The Rivals, a 1775 play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Mrs. Malaprop has the habit of using near-miss words. For example, she observes that she does not have much affluence over her niece and refers to contiguous countries as contagious countries.

Melodrama Literary work or film that uses maudlin sentimentality and stereotypical characters.

Metaphor Comparing one thing to an unlike thing without using like, as or than. Examples: (1) The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve.--Shakespeare. (The striker or clapper of the bell is being compared to the tongue of a speaking human being.) (2) The sea being smooth, how many shallow bauble boats dare sail upon her patient breast.--Shakespeare. (The sea is being compared to a woman with a "patient breast.") (3) I am a man whom Fortune hath cruelly scratched.--Shakespeare. (Fortune is being compared to an entity that can be cruel.) (4) In battle, the soldier is a tiger. (5) Michael Casey's face is a map of Ireland.

Metonymy Substitution of one word or phrase to stand for a word or phrase similar in meaning. Examples: (1) In Shakespeare's time, the crown was anti-Catholic. ("Crown" stands for Queen Elizabeth I.) (2) The White House was severely criticized for its opposition to the tax increase. ("White House" stands for the president or the president and his advisers.) (3) Wall Street welcomes the reduction in interest rates. ("Wall Street" represents investors.) (4) Sweat, not wealth, earned her the respect of her peers. ("Sweat" stands for hard work.)

Motif Recurring theme in a literary work; recurring theme in literature in general.

Neologism New word or phrase–or a new meaning for an existing word or phrase–that is accepted into a dictionary. For example, the word sandwich was a neologism in 1762 when John Montagu–a British nobleman who had served as First Lord of the Admiralty–placed slabs of meat between two pieces of bread as a snack to sustain him while he was seated at a table in a 24-hour gambling marathon. His snack caught on and, because he held the rank of Earl of Sandwich, it was named after him. The English word robot became a neologism in 1920 after Czech writer Karel Capek used the Czech word robota (meaning forced labor) in a play about a society that had become dependent on machine workers rather than humans.

Oxymoron Combining contradictory words to reveal a truth. Oxymoron is a form of paradox. However, unlike paradox, oxymoron places opposing words side by side. Examples: (1) Parting is such sweet sorrow. --Shakespeare. (2) Working in a coal mine is living death. (3) The hurricane turned the lush island retreat into a hellish paradise.

Paradox Contradictory statement that may actually be true. Paradox is similar to oxymoron in that both figures of speech use contradictions to state a truth. However, paradox does not place opposing words side by side, as oxymoron does. Examples: (1) They called him a lion. But in the boxing ring, the lion was a lamb. (2) For slaves, life was death, and death was life.

Parody Imitation of a literary work or film–or the style used by a writer or filmmaker–in order to ridicule the work and its writer or producer. The Austin Powers movies are parodies of spy films.

Personification Giving humanlike qualities or human form to objects and abstractions. Personification is a form of metaphor. Examples: (1) Thou has done a deed whereat valor will weep. --Shakespeare. (Notice that valor, an abstraction, weeps.) (2) Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered--Shakespeare. (3) Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me --Emily Dickinson. (4) The house pleaded for a new coat of paint.

Plot The events that unfold in a story; the action and direction of a story; the story line.

Pun Play on words; using a word that sounds like another word but has a different meaning. Example: (1) Marriage is a wife sentence.

Refrain Group of words repeated at key intervals in a poem.

Satire Literary work that attacks or pokes fun at vices and imperfections; political cartoon that does the same. Satire may make the reader laugh at or feel disgust for the person or thing satirized

Setting Time, place, and cultural background of a story.

Simile Comparing one thing to an unlike thing by using like, as, or than. Examples: (1)The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, burned on the water.--Shakespeare. (2) And the muscles of his brawny arms are strong as iron bands--Longfellow. (3) His hand was small and cold; it felt like wax.--Margaret Truman. (4) In the morning the dust hung like fog, and the sun was as red as ripe new blood--John Steinbeck.

Soliloquy Recitation in a play in which a character reveals his thoughts to the audience but not to other characters in the play.

Spoonerism Slip of the tongue in which a speaker transposes the letters of words. Pee little thrigs is a spoonerism for three little pigs.

Stanza Lines that form a division or unit of a poem. Stanzas generally have four lines.

Stereotype Character in a literary work or film who thinks or acts according to certain unvarying patterns simply because of his or her racial, ethnic, religious, or social background. A stereotype is usually an image that society projects or imposes on every member of a group as a result of prejudice or faulty information. Examples of stereotypes are the Irish drunk, the Italian mobster, the dishonest car salesman, the plain-Jane librarian, the shyster lawyer, the Machiavellian politician, and the dumb blonde.

Subplot Secondary or minor plot in a story that is usually related to the main plot.

Symbol In a literary work or film, a symbol is a person, place, thing or idea that represents something else. Writers often use a snake as a symbol for evil. Commonly used symbols include the eagle (strength), a flag (patriotism), and the sea (life).

Syncope Omitting letters or sounds within a word. The word bos'n as a shortened version of boatswain (a naval officer) is an example of syncope.

Synecdoche Substitution of a part to stand for the whole, or the whole to stand for a part. Examples: (1) The Confederates have eyes in Lincoln's government. (The word "eyes" stands for spies.) (2) Jack bought a new set of wheels. ("Wheels" stands for a car.) (3) The law pursued the bank robbers from Maine to Florida. ("Law" stands for police.)

Theme Main idea of a literary work; the thesis.

Verisimilitude Having the appearance of truth. In a fictional work, a writer creates unreal characters and situations and asks the reader to pretend that they are real. To help the reader in this task, the writer tells his tale in such a way that he makes it seem credible–that is, he gives it “verisimilitude.” Verisimilitude is derived from the Latin words veritas (truth) and similis (similar). Thus, verisimilitude in a literary work confers on it the quality of appearing true or similar to the truth.

Zeugma Use of one word (usually an adjective or a verb) to serve two or more other words with more than one meaning. Example: The dance floor was square, and so was the bandleader’s personality. Explanation: Square describes the dance floor and the bandleader’s personality with different meanings.

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