Link to Literary Vocabulary Toolbox is here and below. May you use it for a lifetime.
Literary Vocabulary Toolbox
Alliteration
In alliteration, words that begin with the same sound are placed close together. Although alliteration often involves repetition of letters, most importantly, it is a repetition of sounds.
Allusion
Allusion is basically a reference to something else. It’s when a writer mentions some other work, or refers to an earlier part of the current work. In literature, it’s frequently used to reference cultural works (e.g. by alluding to a Bible story or Greek myth).
Analogy
An analogy is a literary technique in which two unrelated objects are compared for their shared qualities. Unlike a simile or a metaphor, an analogy is not a figure of speech, though the three are often quite similar. Instead, analogies are strong rhetorical devices used to make rational arguments and support ideas by showing connections and comparisons between dissimilar things.
Antagonist
In a story, the antagonist is the opposite of the protagonist, or main character. Typically, this is a villain of some kind, but not always! It’s just the opponent of the main character, or someone who gets in their way.
Argument
An argument is a work of persuasion. You use it to convince others to agree with your claim or viewpoint when they have doubts or disagree.
Cacophony
Cacophony is the use of a combination of words with loud, harsh sounds—in reality as well as literature. In literary studies, this combination of words with rough or un-harmonious sounds are used for a noisy or jarring poetic effect. Cacophony is considered the opposite of euphony which is the use of beautiful, melodious-sounding words.
Catharsis
Catharsis, meaning “cleansing” in Greek, refers to a literary theory first developed by the philosopher Aristotle, who believed that cleansing our emotions was the purpose of a good story, especially a tragedy. Catharsis applies to any form of art or media that makes us feel strong negative emotions, but that we are nonetheless drawn to – we may seek out art that creates these emotions because the experience purges the emotions from our system.
Character
A character is a person, animal, being, creature, or thing in a story. Writers use characters to perform the actions and speak dialogue, moving the story along a plot line. A story can have only one character (protagonist) and still be a complete story.
Characterization
Characterization is the act of creating and describing characters in literature. Characterization includes both descriptions of a character's physical attributes as well as the character's personality. The way that characters act, think, and speak also adds to their characterization.
Cliché
A cliché is a saying, image, or idea which has been used so much that it sounds terribly un-creative. The word “cliche” was originally French for the sound of a printing plate, which prints the same thing over and over.
Climax
Climax is the highest point of tension or drama in a narrative’s plot. Often, climax is also when the main problem of the story is faced and solved by the main character or protagonist.
Conflict
There are two types of literary conflict: internal and external. Internal conflict, also known as Character vs. Self, involves a choice or an inner battle that the main character must overcome. Sometimes this inner battle is emotions, such as grief, jealousy, unhappiness, anger, etc. It can also be an important choice, such as whether or not to move to a new city, or deciding whether work or family is more important.
The other kind of literary conflict is called external conflict. External conflict can be broken down into four basic categories: Character vs. Character, Character vs. Nature, Character vs. Society, and Character vs. Technology.
Connotation
A connotation is a common feeling or association that a word has, in addition to its literal meaning (the denotation). Often, a series of words can have the same basic definitions, but completely different connotations—these are the emotions or meanings implied by a word, phrase, or t
Denotation
Denotation is a word’ or thing’s “dictionary defintion”, i.e. its literal meaning.
Dialogue
Dialogue means “conversation.” In the broadest sense, this includes any case of two or more characters speaking to each other directly. But it also has a narrower definition, called the dialogue form. The dialogue form is the use of a sustained dialogue to express an argument or idea.
Diction
Diction refers to word choice and phrasing in any written or spoken text. Many authors can be said to have their own “diction,” because they tend to use certain words more than others or phrase things in a unique way.
Essay
An essay is a form of writing in paragraph form that uses informal language, although it can be written formally. Essays may be written in first-person point of view (I, ours, mine), but third-person (people, he, she) is preferable in most academic essays.
Euphemism
A euphemism is a polite, mild phrase that we substitute for a harsher, blunter way of saying something uncomfortable.
Fable
In literature, a fable (pronounced fey-buh l) is a short fictional story that has a moral or teaches a lesson. Fables use humanized animals, objects, or parts of nature as main characters, and are therefore considered to be a sub-genre of fantasy.
Flashback
Flashback is a device that moves an audience from the present moment in a chronological narrative to a scene in the past.
Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing gives the audience hints or signs about the future. It suggests what is to come through imagery, language, and/or symbolism.
Haiku
A haiku is a specific type of Japanese poem which has 17 syllables divided into three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. Haikus or haiku are typically written on the subject of nature.
Homophone
Homophone is when two or more words have the same sound, but different meanings. They may be spelled the same or differently.
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which an author or speaker purposely and obviously exaggerates to an extreme. It is used for emphasis or as a way of making a description more creative and humorous.
Imagery
Imagery is language used to create images in the mind of the reader. Imagery includes figurative and metaphorical language to improve the reader’s experience through their senses.
Irony
Irony is when there are two contradicting meanings of the same situation, event, image, sentence, phrase, or story. In many cases, this refers to the difference between expectations and reality.
Jargon
Jargon is the specific type of language used by a particular group or profession.
Juxtaposition
Juxtaposition is the placement of two or more things side by side, often in order to bring out their differences.
Literary Device
In literature, any technique used to help the author achieve his or her purpose is called a literary device.
Metaphor
A metaphor is a common figure of speech that makes a comparison by directly relating one thing to another unrelated thing (though these things may share some similarities).
Unlike similes, metaphors do not use words such as “like” or “as” to make comparisons.
Motif
A motif is a symbolic image or idea that appears frequently in a story. Motifs can be symbols, sounds, actions, ideas, or words.
Mood
Mood is the emotional response the writer wants the reader to feel from reading the text; it’s the atmosphere the writing creates. It can be eerie, angry, mysterious, suspenseful and so much more.
Narrative
A narrative is a story. The term can be used as a noun or an adjective. As a noun, narrative refers to the story being told. As an adjective, it describes the form or style of the story being told.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia refers to words whose pronunciations imitate the sounds they describe. A dog’s bark sounds like “woof,” so “woof” is an example of onomatopoeia.
Oxymoron
An oxymoron is a figure of speech that puts together opposite elements. The combination of these contradicting elements serves to reveal a paradox, confuse, or give the reader a laugh.
Paradox
A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself, or that must be both true and untrue at the same time.
Paraphrase
A paraphrase is a restatement or rewording of text in order to borrow, clarify, or expand on information without plagiarizing.
Personification
Personification is a kind of metaphor in which you describe an inanimate object, abstract thing, or non-human animal in human terms.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of using someone else’s ideas, words, or thoughts as your own, without giving credit to the other person. When you give credit to the original author (by giving the person’s name, name of the article, and where it was posted or printed), you are citing the source.
Plot
In a narrative or creative writing, a plot is the sequence of events that make up a story, whether it”s told, written, filmed, or sung. The plot is the story, and more specifically, how the story develops, unfolds, and moves in time.
Poetry
Poetry is a type of literature based on the interplay of words and rhythm. It often employs rhyme and meter (a set of rules governing the number and arrangement of syllables in each line). In poetry, words are strung together to form sounds, images, and ideas that might be too complex or abstract to describe directly.
Prose
Prose is just non-verse writing. Pretty much anything other than poetry counts as prose.
Protagonist
Protagonist is just another word for “main character.” The story circles around this character’s experiences, and the audience is invited to see the world from his or her perspective.
Pun
A pun is a joke based on the interplay of homophones — words with the same pronunciation but different meanings.
Resolution
The resolution, also known as the denouement, is the conclusion of the story’s plot structure where any unanswered questions are answered, or “loose ends are tied.
Rhetorical Question
A rhetorical question is a question that is not asked in order to receive an answer, but rather just to make a point.
Sarcasm
Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony that mocks, ridicules, or expresses contempt. You’re saying the opposite of what you mean (verbal irony) and doing it in a particularly hostile tone.
Setting
Setting is the time and place (or when and where) of the story. It may also include the environment of the story, which can be made up of the physical location, climate, weather, or social and cultural surroundings.
Simile
A simile is a literary term where you use “like” or “as” to compare two different things, implying that they have some quality in common.
Style
Style is the way in which an author writes and/or tells a story. It’s what sets one author apart from another and creates the “voice” that audiences hear when they read.
Symbolism
Synopsis
A synopsis is a brief summary that gives audiences an idea of what a composition is about. It provides an overview of the storyline or main points and other defining factors of the work, which may include style, genre, persons or characters of note, setting, and so on.
Theme
Theme is the central idea, topic, or point of a story, essay, or narrative.
Tone
Tone refers to the “feel” of a piece of writing. It’s any or all of the stylistic qualities of the writing, such as formality, dialect, and atmosphere.
Understatement
Understatement is when a writer presents a situation or thing as if it is less important or serious than it is in reality.
Utopia
Utopia is a paradise. A perfect society in which everything works and everyone is happy – or at least is supposed to be.
Wit
Wit is a biting or insightful kind of humor. It includes sharp comebacks, clever banter, and dry, one-line jokes. It is often cynical or insulting, which is what provides it with its characteristic sharpness.
California standards for 6th Grade English/Language Arts can be found here.
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