Texas—Online Glossary of Literary Terms

Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Writers use alliteration to give emphasis to words, to imitate sounds, and to create musical effects. Alliteration is the basis for tongue twisters: She sells seashells by the seashore.

Anticlimax Like a climax, an anticlimax is the turning point in a story. However, an anticlimax is always a letdown. It's the point at which you learn the story will not turn out as you expected.

Autobiography An autobiography is a form of nonfiction in which a person tells his or her own life story. An autobiography may tell about the person's whole life or only a part of it.

Biography A biography is a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person. Biographies have been written about many famous people, historical and contemporary, but they can also be written about "ordinary" people.

Blank Verse Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter lines. The verse form was widely used by Elizabethan dramatists like William Shakespeare.

Character A character is a person or an animal that takes part in the action of a literary work. The main character, or protagonist, is the most important character in a story. This character often changes in some important way as a result of the story's events. The antagonist is the character who opposes the main character.

Characterization Characterization is the act of creating and developing a character. In direct characterization, the author directly states a character's traits. In indirect characterization, an author tells what a character looks like, does, and says, as well as the way other characters react to him or her. The reader must draw conclusions about the character based on this indirect information.

Climax The climax of a story, novel, or play is the high point of interest or suspense. The events that make up the rising action lead up to the climax. The events that make up the falling action follow the climax.

Conflict A conflict is a struggle between opposing forces. Characters in conflict form the basis of stories, novels, and plays. There are two kinds of conflict: external and internal. In an external conflict, the main character struggles against an outside force, such as another character, the standards of a group, or nature. An internal conflict involves a person in conflict with himself or herself. A story may have more than one conflict.

Dialect Dialect is the form of language spoken by people in a particular region or group. Pronunciation, vocabulary, and sentence structure are affected by dialect.

Dialogue A dialogue is a conversation between characters. It is used to reveal character and to advance action. In a story or novel, quotation marks are generally used to indicate a speaker's exact words. Quotation marks are not used in a script, which is the printed version of a play.

Diction Diction is word choice. To discuss a writer's diction is to consider the vocabulary used, the appropriateness of the words, and the vividness of the language. Diction may be formal or it may be informal and conversational.

Essay An essay is a short nonfiction work about a particular subject. A descriptive essay conveys an impression about a person, place, or object. A narrative essay tells a true story. An expository essay gives information, discusses ideas, or explains a process. A persuasive essay tries to convince readers to do something or to accept a writer's point of view.

Exposition Exposition is writing or speech that explains a process or presents information. In the plot of a story or drama, the exposition is the part of the work that introduces the characters, the setting, and the basic situation.

Fantasy A fantasy is highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found in real life. Examples of fantasy include stories that involve supernatural elements, stories that resemble fairy tales, and stories that deal with imaginary places and creatures.

Figurative Language Figurative language is writing or speech that's used to create vivid impressions by setting up comparisons between dissimilar things. Some frequently used figures of speech are metaphors, similes, and personification.

Foreshadowing Foreshadowing in a literary work is the use of clues that suggest events that have yet to occur. The use of this technique helps to create suspense.

Free Verse Free verse is poetry not written in a regular, rhythmical pattern, or meter. Free verse seeks to capture the rhythms of speech.

Genre A genre is a category, or type, of literature. Literature is commonly divided into three major genres: poetry, prose, and drama. Each major genre can be divided into smaller genres.

Image An image is a word or phrase that appeals to one or more of the five senses. Writers use images to re-create sensory experiences in words.

Imagery Imagery is the descriptive or figurative language used in literature to create word pictures for the reader by details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, or movement.

Irony Irony is the general term for literary techniques that portray differences between appearances and reality, expectation and result, or meaning and intention.

Literal Language Literal language uses words in their ordinary senses. It is the opposite of figurative language.

Lyric Poem A lyric poem is a highly musical verse that expresses the observations and feelings of a single speaker. The musical quality is achieved through rhythm and other devices, such as alliteration and rhyme.

Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things.

Meter The meter of a poem is its rhythmical pattern. This pattern is determined by the number and types of stresses, or beats, in each line.

Monologue A monologue is a speech by one character in a play, story, or poem.

Mood Mood, or atmosphere, is the feeling evoked in the reader by a literary work or passage. The mood is often suggested by descriptive details. Often the mood can be described in a single word, such as lighthearted, frightening, or despairing.

Moral A moral is the lesson taught by a literary work. A fable usually ends with a moral that is directly stated.

Motivation Motivation is a reason that explains or partially explains why a character thinks, feels, acts, or behaves in a certain way.

Myth A myth is a fictional tale that explains the actions of gods or the causes of natural phenomena. Myths have little historical truth and involve supernatural elements. Every culture has its collections of myths.

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