LITERARY TERMS & STYLISTIC TECHNIQUES

ChoicesIndividualism & Integrity Unit

Sophomore English

Allegory

A work in which the characters and events are to be understood as representing other things and symbolically expressing a deeper, often spiritual, moral, or political meaning.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

Alliteration

Repeated consonant sounds in neighboring words

generally more than 2 words

It is used to create melody, establish mood, call attention to important words, and point out similarities and contrasts.

We wink when widows wince…

Allusion

A brief reference to a person, event, or place, real or fictitious, or to a work of art

Biblical or historical

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words

"It beats . . . as it sweeps . . . as it cleans!"(Hoover vacuum cleaners, 1950s)

Climax

the moment in a play, novel, short story, or narrative poem at which the crisis comes to its point of greatest intensity and is resolved

the peak of emotional response from a reader or spectator, and it usually represents the turning point in the action.

the most exciting part

Conflict

the opposition between or among characters or forces in a literary work that shapes or motivates the action of the plot.

man vs. man 300 , Rocky man vs. nature Titanic man vs. self Fight Club , Beautiful Mind

man vs. machine Matrix , Terminator

Descriptive Details

allow sensory recreations of experiences, objects, or imaginings.

encourage a more concrete or sensory experience of a subject, one which allows the reader to transport himself or herself into a scene.

"I got a car" "I got a brand new, red car that drove beautifully and got great gas mileage.”

Foreshadowing

An author drops subtle hints about plot developments to come later in the story.

In the opening of The Wizard of Oz, set in Kansas, the transformation of Miss Gulch into a witch on a broomstick

Genre

The term for any category of literature or other forms of art or entertainment

fantasy, mystery, historical fiction, sci-fi, romance…

Gothic Fiction

A genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance.

sometimes referred to as Gothic Horror

Edgar Allan Poe

Grotesque Implies a mutation of the characters,

plants and/or animals. transforms the normal features and/or

behaviors into extremes that are meant to be frightening and/or disturbingly comic

a work in which two separate modes, comedy and tragedy, are mixed.

This is a common device of fairytales, as in Beauty and the Beast.

Hyperbole

A deliberate and obvious exaggeration used for effect

I called you a billion times and you never picked up!

Imagery

Writing or language that evokes one or all of the five senses.

Descriptions of people or objects stated in terms of our senses.

The eerie silence was shattered by her scream.

Inference

a reasonable conclusion (assumption) from the information presented

When you see that the sky is gray, you can assume that it is likely to

rain.

Irony

incongruity between what actually happens and what might be expected to happen

the contrast between what is expected or what appears to be and what actually is

The fireman’s house burnt down.

Macabre

(mah-kob-rah)

quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere.

emphasize the details and symbols of death.

horror stories

Metaphor

An implied comparison between two relatively unlike things using a form of be.

The comparison is not announced by like or as.

The road was a ribbon of moonlight.

Mood

The atmosphere or state of mind of a work

The climate or feeling in a literary work

A feeling of love, doom, fear, pride…

An atmosphere of chaos, peace…

Omniscient Narrator

has a full knowledge of the story's events and of the motives and unspoken thoughts of the various characters.

all‐knowing point of view God-like Perspective

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Pacing

Advancing or developing writing at a particular rate or tempo

walking back and forth nervously

Parable

A story, usually short and simple, that illustrates a lesson.

Bible The Prodigal Son

Point of View

the perspective on events of the narrator or a particular character in a story

the way the author allows one to "see" and "hear" what's going on

1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person limited, omniscient

Prediction

a statement about the way things will happen in the future, often but not always based on experience or knowledge.

a statement that some outcome is expected

forecast

an educated guess

Pseudonym

A fictitious name

A pen name

Samuel Clemens Mark Twain

Repetition

the simple repeating of a word, within a sentence or a poetical line, with no particular placement of the words, in order to emphasize

use word association to convey emotion and mood often in a non-literal sense.

“I Have a Dream” speech – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Romanticism An artistic and intellectual movement

originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened

interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions.

Melville’s Moby Dick, Irving’s works, or Whitman’s Leaves of Grass

Satire

the use of wit, especially irony, sarcasm, and ridicule, to critique politics and society

South Park or The Simpsons

Setting

the time and location in which a story takes place

Friends New York City Cheers Bar in Boston

Suspense

Anxiety or apprehension resulting from an uncertain, undecided, or mysterious

situation

On the edge of one’s seat

Symbol

Representation of something abstract by something concrete.

A person, place or object which has a meaning in itself but suggests other meanings as well

peace dove

Transcendentalism

A philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New

England region of the United States as a protest to the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism

Among the core beliefs was the inherent goodness of both man and nature.

Ralph Waldo Emerson & Henry David Thoreau

Varied Sentence Structure

To make writing more interesting, change sentences in terms of length and

structure

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