Assonance: The close repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds in stressed syllables. Alred, Lord Tennyson’s Ulysses complains of those “That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.”

Alliteration: The close recurrence of consonants for poetic effect, especially at the beginning of works and in stressed syllables. See Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “The Windhover” (“ dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon,” etc.)

Allusion: A reference in a literary work to something (a person, place, work of art, statement, or object of any kind) that is external to the text. Earle Birney alludes to the opening lines of a SONNET by William Wodsworth (“Milton thou shouldst/be living etc”) in “Way to the West.”

Characterization: the means an author employs in presenting and developing CHARACTERS. Writers may either describe the qualities of characters directly of present them through ACTION and DIALOUGUE. Caricature: Ludicrously exaggerated CHARCTERIZATION.

Conflict: In literary NARRATIVE, the struggle between opposing forces embodied either in the interaction between CHARACTERS or in the mind of the central figure.

Dialogue: The conversational language spoken by the CHARACTERS in a literary work. Dialogue may appear to resemble actual speech but at best is always a stylized version or what a character might actually say in a situation. Good dialogue attempts to record the idiom of characters as psychologically and socially observed.

Hyperbole : Exaggeration or overstatement frequently employed for humorous purposes.

Imagery: a verbal representation of a sense impression Imagery: a verbal representation of a sense impression. While images are most obviously recognized as visual, they may also be auditory, olfactory, tactile, and even taste- oriented. Depending on the work or context, images may be either literal or figurative, and they may be either frequently or sparsely employed. They are often an essential part in defining the emotional content, and meaning of a literary work.

Irony (a) Verbal irony occurs when a statement contradicts its literal meaning. An example of extended verbal irony occurs when events are interpreted through a naïve pr unreliable NARRATOR who fails to recognize or admit the significance of what is described. (b) situational irony occurs when events develop in a pattern opposite to what is expected. (c) Dramatic irony occurs when CHARACTERS in a literary work are proceeding without being aware of factors affecting their fate that are known to the audience.

Metaphor: An implied comparison of dissimilar objects Metaphor: An implied comparison of dissimilar objects. As such, it contrasts with SIMILE, which is an explicit comparison. Metaphors apply words to objects where there is no normal, literal, or expected association (“Life’s but a walking shadow”)

Motif: One of the unifying elements in a work or a frequently recurring element in a number of works by the same author. It may be a phrase, IMAGE, SYMBOL, citation, or some other narrative detail that recurs and helps to elaborate a THEME.

Oxymoron: A statement with two apparently contradictory components (W Oxymoron: A statement with two apparently contradictory components (W.B. Yeat’s “terrible beauty”), which is effective as a result of its incongruity.

Personification: The attribution of human qualities to non-human objects.

Setting: setting involves the place, historical period, and social circumstances of the ACTION. The setting has significant implications for atmosphere, CHARACTER, PLOT, and THEME.

Symbol: In a literary work, and CHARACTER, ACTION, situation, SETTING, or object can be a symbol if, in addition to having a clear literal function, it represents something beyond itself. Flora, the horse in Alive Munro’s “Boys and Girls,” is used symbolically to make a statement about the end of an early phase of the NARRATOR’s life. A baseball bat in a baseball player’s hands means something entirely different than a bat in an angry man’s.

Tone: The cast of VOICE that reveals the SPEAKER’s or writer’s attitude to the audience.

Juxtaposition: the act or instance of placing two or more things side by side.

Questioning Identify: to establish the identity or to place things in order, determine position. Explain: to make know. To make plain or understandable. Analyze: To determine the nature or relationship of parts. Deeper Meaning: Can we make connections outside of the text?