Literary Terms Grade 11

Conflict

A conflict in literature is defined as any struggle between opposing forces. Usually, the main character struggles against some other force. This type of conflict is what drives each and every story. Without it, the story would have no point or purpose.

Dialect

A dialect is the language used by the people of a specific area, class, district, or any other group of people. The term dialect involves the spelling, sounds, grammar and pronunciation used by a particular group of people and it distinguishes them from other people around them.

Dialogue

A dialogue is a literary technique in which writers employ two or more characters to be engaged in conversation with one another. In literature, it is a conversational passage, or a spoken or written exchange of conversation in a group, or between two persons directed towards a particular subject.

Flashback

A literary term used as "an interruption of the chronological sequence (as of a film or literary work) of an event of earlier occurrence." Flashbacks are interruptions that writers do to insert past events, in order to provide background or context to the current events of a narrative.

Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated, but which share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics.

Narrative Poem

A narrative poem in literature is a poem which tells a story. It has a full storyline with all the elements of a traditional story. These elements include characters, plot, conflict and resolution, setting and action. Although a narrative poem does not need a rhyming pattern, it is a metered poem with clear objectives to reach a specific audience.

Narrator

A narrator is the person telling the story, and it determines the point of view that the audience will experience.

Novel

A novel is a long narrative work of fiction with some realism. It is often in prose form and is published as a single book.

Protagonist

A protagonist is the central character or leading figure in poetry, narrative, novel or any other story.

Pun

A pun is a play on words, centering on a word with more than one meaning or words that sound alike. A pun is most often used for humor, but puns can also make you think differently about a subject, particularly if it introduces ambiguity or changes the original meaning of the text.

Quatrain

A quatrain is a stanza in a poem that has exactly four lines. Some quatrains comprise entire poems, while others are part of a larger structure. Quatrains usually use some form of rhyme scheme, especially the following forms: AAAA, AABB, ABAB, and ABBA.

Simile

A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words "like" or "as." Therefore, it is a direct comparison.

Soliloquy

A soliloquy is a speech that a character makes in a work of drama only to him or herself. The soliloquy is presented for the audience to understand the character's inner thoughts and feelings as though they were not being spoken at all.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a literary device where two or more words in a phrase or line of poetry share the same beginning consonant sound. One of the primary purposes of alliteration is to emphasize something important that the writer or speaker would like to highlight.

Allusion

Allusion is a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance.

Allegory

An allegory falls in line with the moral of a story. While an allegory is a story, poem, or picture, it's used to reveal a hidden meaning or message, like the moral.

Analogy

Analogy is a comparison between two things. Analogies function to describe or explain one thing by examining its similarities with another thing. The two things may be very dissimilar and the analogy forces the reader or listener to understand the connection between them. On the other hand, the analogy could provide a comparison between two very similar things, one of which might be more obscure; the analogy provides a way for a reader or listener to understand the more obscure thing by picturing the more common thing.

Hero

As a literary device, a hero can be defined as the principal character of a literary work. The term hero has been applied, not only in the classical sense, but also in modern literature, as the principal character of a story, play or novel.

Irony

As a literary device, irony is a contrast or incongruity between expectations for a situation and what is reality. This can be a difference between the surface meaning of something that is said and the underlying meaning. It can also be a difference between what might be expected to happen and what actually occurs.

Blank Verse

Blank verse is a literary device defined as un-rhyming verse written in iambic pentameter. In poetry and prose, it has a consistent meter with 10 syllables in each line (pentameter); where, unstressed syllables are followed by stressed ones, five of which are stressed but do not rhyme.

Characterization

Characterization is a literary device that is used step-by-step in literature to highlight and explain the details about a character in a story.

Tone

Definition of Tone. Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words, or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.

Dramatic Irony

Dramatic irony occurs in a piece of literature when the audience knows something that some characters in the narrative do not.

Falling Action

Falling action occurs right after the climax, when the main problem of the story resolves. It is one of the elements of the plot of the story, the other elements being exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution. Falling action wraps up the narrative, resolves its loose ends, and leads toward the closure.

Figurative Language

Figurative language uses figures of speech to be more effective, persuasive, and impactful. Figures of speech such as metaphors, similes, and allusions go beyond the literal meanings of the words to give readers new insights. On the other hand, alliterations, imageries, or onomatopoeias are figurative devices that appeal to the senses of the readers.

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is used as a literary device to tease readers about plot turns that will occur later in the story.

Freytag's Pyramid

Freytag's Pyramid is also referred to as a plot diagram or triangle. Regardless, it deals with what is commonly called dramatic structure.

Haiku

Haiku, unrhymed poetic form consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively.

Hyperbole

Hyperbole, derived from a Greek word meaning "over-casting," is a figure of speech that involves an exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis.

Iambic Pentameter

Iambic Pentameter is made up of two words, where pentameter is a combination of 'pent,' which means five, and 'meter,' which means to measure. Iambic, on the other hand, is a metrical foot in poetry in which a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable. It means iambic pentameter is a beat or foot that uses 10 syllables in each line.

Imagery

Imagery means to use figurative language to represent objects, actions, and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds.

Dramatic Monologue

In literature, a dramatic monologue is a poetic form or a poem that presents the speech or conversation of a person in a dramatic manner.

Foil

In literature, a foil is a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of another character. The objective is to highlight the traits of the other character.

Mood/Atmosphere

In literature, atmosphere refers to the feeling, emotion, or mood a writer conveys to a reader through the description of setting and objects.

Scansion

In literature, scansion means to divide the poetry or a poetic form into feet by pointing out different syllables based on their lengths. Scansion is also known as "scanning," which is, in fact, a description of rhythms of poetry through break up of its lines or verses into feet, pointing the locations of accented and unaccented syllables, working out on meter, as well as counting the syllables.

Symbolism

In literature, symbolism can take many forms, including: A figure of speech where an object, person, or situation has another meaning other than its literal meaning. The actions of a character, word, action, or event that have a deeper meaning in the context of the whole story.

Stanza

In poetry, a stanza is a division of four or more lines having a fixed length, meter, or rhyming scheme. Stanzas in poetry are similar to paragraphs in prose. Both stanzas and paragraphs include connected thoughts, and are set off by a space. The number of lines varies in different kinds of stanzas, but it is uncommon for a stanza to have more than twelve lines. The pattern of a stanza is determined by the number of feet in each line, and by its metrical or rhyming scheme.

Gothic

In the most general terms, ​Gothic literature can be defined as writing that employs dark and picturesque scenery, startling and melodramatic narrative devices, and an overall atmosphere of exoticism, mystery, fear, and dread.

Lyric

Lyric is a collection of verses making up a short and non-narrative poem. A lyric uses a single speaker, who expresses personal emotions or thoughts.

Meter

Meter is a stressed and unstressed syllabic pattern in a verse, or within the lines of a poem. Stressed syllables tend to be longer, and unstressed shorter. In simple language, meter is a poetic device that serves as a linguistic sound pattern for the verses, as it gives poetry a rhythmical and melodious sound.

Apostrophe

More commonly known as a punctuation mark, apostrophe can also refer to an exclamatory figure of speech. The definition of apostrophe as a literary device is when a speaker breaks off from addressing one party and instead addresses a third party. This third party may be an individual, either present or absent in the scene. It can also be an inanimate object, like a dagger, or an abstract concept, such as death or the sun. Because there is a clear speaker and change of addressee, apostrophe is most commonly found in plays. It does, however, sometimes occur in poetry and prose.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is defined as a word which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting.

Parable

Parable is a figure of speech, which presents a short story, typically with a moral lesson at the end.

Parody

Parody is an imitation of a particular writer, artist, or genre, exaggerating it deliberately to produce a comic effect. The humorous effect in parody is achieved by imitating and over-stressing noticeable features of a famous piece of literature, as in caricatures, where certain peculiarities of a person are highlighted to achieve a humorous effect.

Personification

Personification is a form of figurative language in which something that is not human is given human characteristics.

Plot

Plot is a literary term used to describe the events that make up a story, or the main part of a story.

Point of View

Point of view is the perspective from which a story is narrated.

Repitition

Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer and more memorable.

Rhyme

Rhyme is a popular literary device in which the repetition of the same or similar sounds occurs in two or more words, usually at the end of lines in poems.

Rising Action

Rising action in a plot is a series of relevant incidents that create suspense, interest, and tension in a narrative. In literary works, a rising action includes all decisions, characters' flaws, and background circumstances that together create turns and twists leading to a climax.

Satire

Satire is a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society, by using humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule.

Situational Irony

Situational irony is a literary device that you can easily identify in literary works. Simply, it occurs when incongruity appears between expectations of something to happen, and what actually happens instead.

Antagonist

The antagonist is the opposing force that brings conflict and is instrumental in the development of the protagonist, or main character.

Climax

The climax (from the Greek word κλῖμαξ, meaning "staircase" and "ladder") or turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama.

Stereotype

The definition of a stereotype is any commonly known public belief about a certain social group or a type of individual. Stereotypes are often confused with prejudices, because, like prejudices, a stereotype is based on a prior assumption.

Universality

The quality, state, or instance of being universal.

Setting

The setting of a piece of literature is the time and place in which the story takes place. The definition of setting can also include social statuses, weather, historical period, and details about immediate surroundings.

Rhythm

The word rhythm is derived from rhythmos (Greek) which means, "measured motion." Rhythm is a literary device that demonstrates the long and short patterns through stressed and unstressed syllables, particularly in verse form.

Sonnet

The word sonnet is derived from the Italian word "sonetto," which means a "little song" or small lyric. In poetry, a sonnet has 14 lines, and is written in iambic pentameter. Each line has 10 syllables. It has a specific rhyme scheme, and a volta, or a specific turn.

Theme

Theme is defined as a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work, which may be stated directly or indirectly.

Tragedy

Tragedy is a type of drama that presents a serious subject matter about human suffering and corresponding terrible events in a dignified manner.

Verbal Irony

Verbal irony occurs when a character uses a statement with underlying meanings that contrast with its literal meaning; it shows that the writer has used verbal irony.

Paradox

When used as a literary device, a paradox is the juxtaposition of a set of seemingly contradictory concepts that reveal a hidden and/or unexpected truth. The paradox may be hard or even impossible to believe, yet usually the contradiction can be reconciled if the reader thinks about the juxtaposition more deeply. In literature, paradoxes can usually be classified either as situational or rhetorical.