Literary Analysis Terms

What is a literary device in which sounds, words, or stanzas are repeated for emphasis?

What is a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea?

What is a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works?

What is the specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession?

What is a sustained and formal poem about death or another solemn theme?

What is the insertion of an earlier event into the normal chronological order of a narrative?

What is a continuation of a sentence from one line of a poem to another?

What is a story device that allows thought to flow without strict story form?

What is the central character in a literary work around whom the main conflict revolve?

What is endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics?

What is suited to spoken language or informal writing; conversational (vernacular)

What is the use of humor to emphasize human weaknesses or imperfections in society?

What is a comparison of two things using “like” or “as”?

What is a character’s comments meant to be heard by the audience but not heard by others?

What is it called when the author/narrator makes direct statements about a character’s traits?

What is a humorous imitation of a serious work?

What is a dramatic device in which a character reveals his private thoughts and feelings?

What is a brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event?

What is a play on words through the use of words with similar sounds but different meanings?

What is a term for substituting a mild and indirect term for a harsh, offensive, or blunt one?

What is an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined?

What is a striking or unusual style of content?

What is the central idea of a work?

What is a story within a story?

What is a person or group that bears the blame for another?

What is the literal meaning of a word?

What is a light break or pause in a line of poetry?

What is the implied or associative meaning of a word?

What is a question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer?

What is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of and within a series of words?

What is the manner in which words are arranged into sentences, especially as it affects tone?

What is a term used to point our a characteristic or a person?

What is the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side?

What is a familiar proverb or wise saying? 

What is an intentional exaggeration to create an effect?

What is the literal meaning “in the midst of things," where a novel begins?

What is the reversal of fortune for a protagonist?

What is a simple story that illustrated a moral or religious lesson?

What is giving human characteristics to non-humans?

What is the emotional atmosphere of a work?

What is exalted lyrical verse directed to a single purpose and dealing with one theme?

What is a direct comparison of two different things?

What is the use of figures of speech to create vivid images that appeal to one of the senses?

What is a type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite?

What is an expression that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words?

What is intentionally harsh and inharmonious sounds in music or poetry?

What is a statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced?

What is the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar?

What is a coming of age story?

What is an inference that does not follow logically from the premises?

What is a person or force in society or nature that opposes the central character?

What is an apparently contradictory statement that actually contains some truth?

What is an expression that has been overused to the extent that its freshness has worn off?

What is a character who purposefully contrasts with the protagonist to reveal some truth?

What is a striking or unusual style of content?

What is a universal pattern in literature?

What is a long narrative poem written in elevated style?

What is the use of corresponding grammatical or syntactical forms?

What is it called when the author reveals a character’s personality through words and actions?

What is the same expression that is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines?

What is the presentation of material in a way that the reader is prepared for what is to come?

What is a reference to something in a story that the author assumes the reader will recognize?

What is the attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience?

What is a word formed from the imitation of natural sounds?

What is the repetition of vowel sounds at the beginning of and within a series of words?

What is the repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words?

What is an object that is used to represent something else?

What is the primary position taken by a writer or speaker?

What is excessive pride/arrogance that results in the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy?

What is the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant?

What is a comparison of two different things that are similar in some way?

What is a trope in which a part signifies a whole or the whole signifies the part?

What is a story with two layers: both a literal and metaphorical meaning?

What is a figure of speech in which one directly addresses an absent or imaginary person?

What is a character in the story that is a counterfeit or a copy of a genuine character?

What is the word choices an author uses to create tone and mood and to establish characters?