1. Vocab for Lit

2. Abstract Not concrete or tangible
A complex concept rather than a thing

3. Ambiguity
Having multiple meanings

4. Analogy
Comparing two things to create an argument that they are connected upon multiple points, but not the same.
Men and ants both build elaborate cities and structures, demonstrate hierarchical social behaviors, and utilize other creatures for labor.

5. Antagonist The force that opposes the protagonist
Does not have to be a person

6. Antithesis
A person or thing that is the direct opposite of someone or something else

7. Apostrophe
Addressing an inanimate object
O Tree, how lovely thou art.

8. Archetype
Typical example of a situation, symbol, setting, or character.

9. Assonance
Repetition of a vowel sound in multiple words close together.
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

10. Ballad
A poem that tells a story

11. Bildungsroman
Novel that shows a persons formative years or spiritual education (essentially the same as a coming of age novel)

12. Bombast
Using big pointless words to impress people

13. Canon
List of literary works deemed to have literary merit by academic professionals

14. Catharsis
A release of emotion
When you cry at a movie

15. Climax The point in the story of the highest intensity
A short story/poem usually only has one, but a novel or play may have multiple ones.

16. Coming of age
Transition from childhood to adult

17. Consonance
Repetition of a consonant sound inside several words near each other.
He struck a streak of bad luck.

18. Dramatic Irony When the reader knows something the characters don’t.
We know Juliet is not really dead, but Romeo doesn’t.

19. Melodrama
Drama with exaggerated emotions and events that uses stereotypical characters.

20. Meter
Amount of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry

21. Mood
Feeling evoked by a story and developed by the author’s tone

22. Moral
The lesson of a story

23. Motif
A dominant idea that contributes to theme

24. Muse
A goddess that provides creative inspiration

25. Myth
Story that explains some phenomenon usually with some supernatural elements

26. Narrative
A story that is told

27. Novella
Short novel

28. Ode Lyric poem where a specific thing or person is praised.
“Ode on a Grecian Urn”

29. Omniscient Narrator
Narrator that sees into character’s thoughts

30. Onomatopoeia Words that make the sound it is describing
Buzz, pop, sizzle

31. Oxymoron
Two opposites next to each other
Deafening silence

32. Parable
A story that teaches a lesson - fable

33. Paradox
Situation or statement that seems to contradict itself, but doesn’t actually.
The blind man saw me more clearly than I saw myself.

34. Paraphrase
Put it in your own words

35. Parody
Something exaggerated for ridiculousness

36. Persona
The narrator of a non-first person novel that comments on the story.

37. Personification
Giving something not human, human characteristics

38. Point of View
Perspective of the narrator

39. Protagonist
Central character in a story
May be more than one

40. Pseudonym
Pen name
George Eliot was really Mary Ann Evans

41. Rhythm
Repeated pattern of sound

42. Sarcasm
Using verbal irony to mock

43. Satire
Funny/Witty
Kernel of truth
Offers a criticism

44. Sonnet A poem of very specific structure and rhyme scheme
More on this later (different types with different rules)

45. Stanza
Arrangement of lines in a poem
More on that later too

46. Style
Strategies used by an author to reveal his or her unique voice

47. Subplot
Secondary plot

48. Theme The central idea of a story/poem/novel/ drama
Provides a topic for discussion

49. Tragedy
Serious story where there is usually a bad ending

50. Verse
A succession of metrical feet

51. Voice
The unique sound of an author’s work