Keystone Lit Vocab Terms

An organizational device used in literature to expectation or to set up an explanation of later developments

The range of associations that a word or phrase suggests in addition to its dictionary meaning

The center of interest or attention

A regional variety of language distinct from the standard variety in pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary

A struggle or clash in opposing characters, forces, or emotions

A character that symbolically embodies well known meanings and basic human experiences regardless of time period

One or more letters occurring as a bound form attached to the beginning, end, or base of a word or phrase

To give reasons through an explanation to convey and represent the meaning or understanding of a text

A literary approach that ridicules or examines human vice or weakness

A conclusion drawn from specific information that is used to make a broad statement about a topic or person

A recurring subject, theme, or idea in a literary work

The process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and the relationship to one another

The attitude of the author toward the audience, characters, subject, or the work itself

Writing that forms a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language arranged to create emotional response

The comparison of two unlike things in which now words of comparison (like or as) are used

The part of the story where the plot becomes increasingly complicated

The repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words

A playwright’s written instructions provided in the text of a play about the setting or how the actors are to behave

A topic of discussion or work; a major idea broad enough to cover the entire scope of a literary work

A category used to classify literary works, usually by form, technique or content

Ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause

A form of extended metaphor in which objects and persons in a narrative are equal to meanings that lie outside the text

The subtle presence of a positive or negative approach toward a topic

Groups of letters placed before a word to alter its meaning

Words and phrases in a sentence, paragraph, and/or whole text which help reason out the meaning of an unfamiliar word

The ordering of words into meaningful verbal patterns such as phrases, clauses and sentences

An author’s choice of words, phrases, sentence structure as figurative language which combine to create meaning and tone

An implied or indirect reference in literature to a familiar person, place, or event

To capture the most important parts of the original text, but express them in a shorter space, and in the reader’s words

An author’s choice in words in regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness. Enunciation and pronunciation.

The author’s central thought; the chief topic of a text expressed or implied in a word or phrase; the topic sentence

Clearly expressed or fully stated in the actual text

An organizational device used in literature to present action that occurred before current time in history

Specific word choices in a text that strongly support the tone, mood, or meaning of the text

The fluency, rhythm, and liveliness in a text that make it unique to the author

The use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or usual meaning

The voice used by the author to tell or narrate a story or poem

A piece of information provided objectively, presented as true

The turning point in a narrative; the moment when a conflict is at its most intense

A perspective in literature, the POV that presents the events of the story from outside of any character’s perception