Lit Terms 6-30

Analogy: a comparison made between two things to show the similarities.

Analysis: a method in which a worker or idea is separated into its parts, and those parts are given rigorous and detailed scrutiny.

Anaphora: a device or repetition in which a word or words are repeated at the beginning of two or more lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences.

Anecdote: a short story used to illustrate a point.


Antagonist: a person or force opposing the protagonist in a drama or narrative.

Antithesis: a balancing of one term against another for emphasis or stylistic effectiveness.

Aphorism: a terse, pointed statement expressing some wise or clever observation about life.

Apologia: a defense or justification for some doctrine , piece of writing, or action; also apology.

Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or nonhuman is addressed directly.

Argument(ation): the process of convincing a reader by either the truth or falsity of an idea or proposition; also, the thesis or proposition itself.

Assumption: the act of supposing, or taking for granted a thing one does.

Audience: the intended listener or listeners.

Characterization: the means by which a writer reveals a character's personality.

Chiasmus: a reversal in the order of words so that the second half or the statement balances the first half in reverse order.

Circumlocution: a roundabout or evasive speech or writing, in which many words are used but a few would have sufficed.

Classicism: art, literature, and music reflecting the principles of ancient Greece and Rome; tradition, reason, clarity, order, and balance.

Cliche: a phrase or situation overused within society.

Climax: the decisive point in a narrative or drama; the point of greatest intensity or interest at which plot question is answered or resolved.

Colloquialism: folksy speech, slang words, or phrases usually used in informal conversation.

Comedy: originally a nondramatic literary piece of work that was marked by a happy ending now a term to describe a ludicrous, farcical, or amusing event designed to provide enjoyment or produce smiles and laughter.

Conflict: struggle or problem in a story causing tension.

Connotation: implicit meaning, going beyond dictionary definition.

Contrast: a rhetorical device by which one element (idea or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake of emphasis or clarity.

Denotation: plain dictionary definition.

Denouement (day-new-mahn): loose ends tied up in the story after the climax, closure, conclusion.