Literary Terms

Verbal Irony – meaning one thing and saying another
Dramatic Irony – two levels of meaning, one understood by the character, the other by the reader
Situational Irony – when the reality of a situation differs from the anticipated or intended effect
Ironic point-of-view – a sharp distinction between the narrator of the story and the author
Cosmic irony or irony of fate – suggests that a malicious fate is deliberately frustrating human beings

Metaphor – A figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one object or

idea is applied to another, thereby suggesting a likeness or analogy between
them.
All the world’s a stage. (Shakespeare)

Meter – A measure of rhythmic quantity; the organized succession of groups of syllables

at basically regular intervals in a line of poetry, according to definite metrical
patterns. In English, the distinction is between accented and unaccented
syllables. The unit of measure is the foot. Metrical lines are names for the
number of feet in the line - (1) monometer, (3) trimeter, (5) pentameter.

Metonymy – a figure of speech in which the name of the thing is substituted for that of another closely associated with it.

The pot is boiling.

Narrator – the speaker in a story

Participant – appears in the story as a character
Non-participant – does not appear in the story as a character
Omniscient – sees into the minds of all characters
Limited – sees into the mind of one character (other than his own)
Objective Point-of-View – the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events from the outside.
Unreliable Narrator – the point-of-view is that of a person who, we perceive, is deceptive, self-deceptive, deluded or deranged. Ex. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye and the narrator in Notes From the Underground
Innocent or Naïve Narrator – a character who fails to understand all the implications of the story
Intrusive Narrator – a narrator who breaks into the plot to provide opinions and commentary
Ode – A type of lyric that is generally long. It doesn’t have a fixed rhyme scheme and is
marked by intense expression of an elevated thought, often addressed to a praised
person or object.

Onomatopoeia – The use of words, which imitate sounds, like whispering and clang.

The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard. (Frost)

Oxymoron – The combining of words which seem to be contradictory , but express a

truth or dramatic effect (cool fire and deafening silence)

Paradox – a statement which appears self-contradictory, but underlines a truth

Elected silence, speak to me. (Hopkins)

Pathos – A scene or passage in a work evoking pity, sorrow, or compassion.

Persona – The speaker or voice of a literary work. (“I” of a narrative or the implied

speaker in a poem)

Repetition – The repetition of sound, syllables, words, lines, stanzas, and metrical

patterns.

Personification – a figure of speech in which objects and animals have human qualities

When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath. (Dickinson)

Resolution - the outcome or conclusion of a plot

Rhyme Scheme – The pattern established by the arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or

poem.

Rhythm – The regular or progressive pattern of recurrent accents in the flow of a poem.

Satire – A literary work which explores and ridicules human vices or folly. It is generally

intended as a moral criticism directed against the injustice or social wrongs.

Scansion - The process of marking the stresses (accents) in a poem, and determining the meter based on the distribution of stresses.

Simile – An explicit comparison made between two essentially unlike things, usually

using “like” or “as”