Literary Terms & Stylistic Techniques

Literary Terms & Stylistic Techniques Choices Individualism & 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 • 5-10-20

Literary Terms & Stylistic Techniques