Literary Terminology

To be used in Literary Essays and Commentaries

Allegory a narrative style in which characters and events
representing things or ideas are used to convey a
message or teach a lesson. E.g. Animal Farm, is an
allegory of the rise of totalitarian political structures.
Alliteration the repetition of a consonant sound for particular
effect. NOTE: it is the sound that is relevant, not the
spelling. E.g. ..hung bells bow swung finds tongue
to fling out broad
Allusion a reference to a well-known literary, historical, or
cultural person or event to convey an idea. E.g.
referring to a young man as a Romeo, is an allusion
to the play Romeo and Juliet, and conveys the idea
of a young lover.
Ambiguity the use of language in a way that allows more than
one interpretation. Amiguity is usually accidental.
!ompare polysemy.
Analogy a comparison of two things used to e"plain
something unfamiliar. Similies and metaphors are
types of analogy. E.g. An appeal to the Supreme
Court would be like omplaining to your mother!in!
law about your wife" a waste of time.
Antagonist a main character in a te"t, who opposes the hero or
protagonist.
Anthropomorphism The representation of animals or things as
having human characteristics. E.g. The raits and
ird in #atership $own are represented
anthropomorphially" they reason, form friendships,
e"press a range of emotions, etc.
Assonance the repetition of a vowel sound for particular effect.
NOTE: it is the sound that is relevant, not the
spelling. E.g. #she threw the blue shoe through the
window
Caesura a pause in a line of poetry. $t is marked y
punctuation.
Catharsis the release of unwanted, or negative emotions
through e"posure to art.
Character an imaginary identity created through
representations of speech, thought, actions,
appearance, etc.
Climax the turning point of a te"t. The point at which the
conflict is at its most intense.
Conceit a cleverly constructed, e"tended metaphor. E.g.
%onne uses a flea as a oneit for se"ual intercourse
in his poem %he Flea.
Connotation the impression that a word, phrase, symol or action
gives eyond its defined meaning. E.g. skull denotes
the ony part of the head, ut its onnotations are
death, poison, fear, pirates, et.
Consonant a speech sound involving significant disruption of the
airflow. !onsonants are descried as: stops,
fricatives, nasals, laterals.
Couplet two ad&oining lines of verse, having the same rhyme
and metre.
Denotation the defined meaning of a word, e"pression or
symol, apart from its onnotations.
Diction a. $n written te"ts, this refers to the arrangement of
the language to create different levels of formality.
. $n speech, refers to the clarity of speech.
Dissonance the use of harsh or &arring sounds for particular
effect.
Dramatic irony occurs when the reader of a te"t knows something
that a character in the te"t does not. The irony
occurs when there is a contrast etween what the
character says or does, and what the reader knows.
Electra complex a female's tendency to e se"ually attracted to her
father and to try to displace her mother in his
affections. The female counterpart to the &edipus
omple'.
End-stop the positioning of a full-stop, comma, or other pause
at the end of a line of verse.
Enjambement the continuation of a sentence from one stan(a to
the ne"t in verse, or from one line of verse to
another without end-stopping.
Epiphany a sudden revelation of truth or self-awareness
rought aout y a seemingly trivial incident.
Foot in poetry, the smallest unit of rhythm. $n English,
usually a stressed syllale, comined with one or two
unstressed syllales.
Foreshadowing a device used to set up an e"pectation, or to e"plain,
some later event in a te"t.
Genre a. $n literature, a category of writing or performance.
E.g. drama, novel, comedy, science-fiction, etc.
. a category of te"t defined in terms of its structure
and purpose. E.g. e"planation, description,
narrative, procedure, etc.
Gothic a literary style concerned with the moridly
attractive or mediaeval elements. E.g. )any of the
stories of Edgar Allan *oe are +othic in style.
yperbole delierate overstatement, or e"aggeration, for
rhetorical effect. E.g. %he okroahes were so big
you needed a gun to kill them. The opposite of
meiosis.
!magery the concrete representation of some thing, or of
some sensory or emotional e"perience. E.g. ,ohn
%onne sometimes uses se"ual imagery to represent
his relationship with +od.
!rony the use of language to create an effect opposite to
the literal meaning of the words. E.g. -wift wrote an
essay entitled a (odest )roposal, which proposed
cannialism as a way of helping the poor: not e"actly
a modest proposal in any sense of the word.
"uxtaposition The positioning of two contrastive elements ne"t to
each other in a te"t. e.g. %he ribald wit of *en+olio
is ,u'taposed to the romanti dialogue between
Romeo and Juliet in the ne't sene.
#eiosis delierate understatement for rhetorical effect.
E.g. %here are a few Chinese in the world. The
opposite of hyperole.
#etaphor the use of one item to represent another. E.g. She
was a rok of resistane to her ausers.
#etre The rhythmic pattern of a line or section.
!onventionally descried as:
-pondee ..
Trochee .-
$am -.
%actyl .--
Anapest --.
Amphirachys -.-
Amphimacer .-.
/0here .1 a stressed syllale and -1 an unstressed.2
Trochee trips from long to short;
From long to long in solemn sort
Slow Spondee stalks; strong foot! yet ill able
Ever to come up with Dactyl trisyllable
Iambics march from short to long; -
With a leap and a bound the swift Anapaests throng;
One syllable long with one short at each side
Amphibrachys hastes with a stately stride; -
First and last being long middle short Amphimacer
Strikes his thundering hoofs like a proud high-bred racer!
"#oleridge$
#etric $eet 3nits of the rhythmic pattern which make up the
metre. E.g. in the poem aove, #ith a leap
constitutes a foot of Anapest metre.
%adir the low point of action in a te"t.
&edipus complex a psychoanalytical term referring to the
tendency of a oy to e attracted to his mother, and
to seek to displace his father in the mother's
affections. The masculine e4uivalent of the -letra
omple'.
&xymoron a word, or phrase, used with a contradictory 4ualifier
for rhetorical effect.
e.g. Surprisingly, it was as we e'peted.
Sad laughter
(iserably happy
A poor billionaire
'aradox the use of mutually contradictory terms to create a
particular, often confronting, effect. E.g. And death
shall be no more,death thou shalt die. *eautiful
tyrant. Fiend angelial.
'ersoni$ication the treatment of an inanimate thing as though it
were human5 the attriution of human characteristics
to something which is inanimate.
e.g. %he tree stood guard outside the house. %he
trees wept as she passed.
'olysemy the delierate use of language which allows multiple
meanings. E.g. Old !otter in ,oyce's %he Sisters,
says #there was something /ueerabout him, the
word /ueer is delierately polysemous. $t can mean
unusual, ut it can also mean homose'ual, which fits
the story as well as the first meaning.
'rotagonist the main character in a te"t, or situation. Opposes
the antagonist.
(eduplication a. To repeat over and over again for effect.
. To form a new word y repeating the word, a
sound, or syllale, to create a new word. E.g. bye!
bye0 flim!flam.
(epetition &ust what it says 6 something repeated.
(hyme the repetition of a syllaic sound. E.g. sing, ring,
fling.
End-rhyme ) rhyme which occurs etween words
appearing at the end of lines of verse.
Eye-rhyme ) words, usually at the end of lines of
verse, which look as though they should rhyme, ut
do not. E.g. boughthrough.
#id-rhyme ) rhyme which occurs etween a word,
or words, within a line and a word at the end.
E.g. 1ot spared not one
%hat dandled a sandaled
...
'art-rhyme - 0ords, usually at the end of lines of
verse, which almost rhyme. This is a device much
used y -ylvia *lath in her poetry.
E.g. airwere, smilewill, goldlulled, blood
blade.
(hythm The metric pattern, or pattern of sound stresses.
*ibilance the effect produced y the use of voiceless 7s8, 7sh8
and 7tch8 sounds. Typically, siilance contriutes to
a tran4uil or threatening atmosphere. 9owever,
students should e careful to look at the conte"t
efore deciding on the effect. e.g. %he swishing
snow hased the hildren aross the ie. %he hissing
serpent swi+eled its glossy head.
*imile a direct comparison to emphasise likeness. E.g. She
stood like a rok against her ausers. 2e was as
silly as a wheel.
*tress emphasis placed upon a given syllale. English is a
stress timed language, and stresses are placed upon
particular syllales, depending on the numer of
syllales in the word, and the word class invoved.
*yllable a sound unit, usually comprised of a vowel sound
and one or more consonant sounds, although a lone
vowel may e a syllale.
e.g. 3 is a syllale.
Rhyme is one syllale
Rhythm is two syllales rhy and thm.
*ymbolism The use of one o&ect to represent another. E.g. a
rose is often symboli of love or passion5 a skull of
death.
+owel a speech sound produced without significant
restriction of the airflow. :owels may e written y
letters we normally think of as consonants, or may
not e written at all. E.g. Fly, spasm 6 /this is a ;-
syllale word.2