Saturday, 18 June 2016

Essential English Literary Terms and Devices

Allegory: It is a symbolism device where the meaning of a greater, often abstract, concept is conveyed with the aid of a more corporeal object or idea being used as an example. 

Alliteration: r
epetition of the initial consonant sounds of words: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”

Allusion: a reference to something well-known that exists outside the literary work

Antagonist: character that is the source of conflict in a literary work

Aside : a dramatic device in which a character makes a short speech intended for the audience but not heard by the other characters on stage

Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds: “Anna’s apples,” “the pond is long gone”

Characterization: The manner in which an author develops characters and their personalities

Conflict: struggle between two or more opposing forces (person vs. person; nature; society; self; fate/God)

Dialogue: direct speech between characters in a literary work

Diction: word choice to create a specific effect

Figurative Language: The language that represents one thing in terms of something dissimilar (non-literal language). Includes simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbol)

Flashback: the method of returning to an earlier point in time for the purpose of making the present clearer

Foreshadowing: hint of what is to come in a literary work


Genre: type or category to which a literary work belongs

Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration to add meaning

Imagery: language that appeals to the five senses

Irony: The use of irony in literature refers to playing around with words such that the meaning implied by a sentence or word is actually different from the literal meaning. Often irony is used to suggest the stark contrast of the literal meaning being put forth.

Metaphor: an implied comparison between dissimilar objects: “Her talents blossomed”

Motif: a recurring feature of a literary work that is related to the theme

Onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound imitates its meaning: “hiss”

Oxymoron: phrase that consists of two words that are contradictory: “living dead” or “Microsoft works”

Personification: figure of speech in which non-human things are given human characteristics

Plot: The sequence of events in a literary work

Protagonist: the main character in a literary work
Rhyme: repetition of similar or identical sounds: “look and crook”

Rhyme Scheme: pattern of rhyme among lines of poetry [denoted using letters, as in ABAB CDCD EE]

Setting: The time and place of a literary work

Simile: a direct comparison of dissimilar objects, usually using like or as: “I wandered lonely as a cloud”

Soliloquy: a dramatic device in which a character is alone and speaks his or her thoughts aloud

Speaker: voice in a poem; the person or thing that is speaking

Stanza: group of lines forming a unit in a poem

Stereotype: standardized, conventional ideas about characters, plots and settings

Suspense: technique that keeps the reader guessing what will happen next

Symbol/symbolism: one thing (object, person, place) used to represent something else

Theme: the underlying main idea of a literary work. Theme differs from the subject of a literary work in that it involves a statement or opinion about the subject.

Tone: the author’s attitude toward the subject of a work.

Tragedy: the concept of tragedy refer to a series of unfortunate events by which one or more of the literary characters in the story undergo several misfortunes, which finally culminate into a disaster of ‘epic proportions’.

Verse: The literary term ‘verse’ is used to refer to any single, lone line of a poetry composition. A metrical writing line is known as verse. The word can however, also refer to a stanza or any other part of the poetry.


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