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| A story or tale with two or more levels of meaning - a literal level and one or more symbolic levels. The events, setting, and characters in an allegory are symbols for ideas or qualities. |
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The repetition of initial consonant sounds.
The repetition can be juxtaposed (side by side).
i.e. simply sad |
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| A casual and brief reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event. |
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| The process by which new or less familiar words, constructions, or pronunciations conform to the pattern of older or more familiar (and often unrelated) ones; a comparison between two unlike things. The purpose of an analogy is to describe something unfamiliar by pointing out its similarities to something that is familiar. |
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| In a narrative, the character with whom the main character has the most conflict. In Jack London's To Build a Fire the antagonist is the extreme cold of the Yukon rather than a person or animal. |
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| The original pattern ormodel from which all other things of the same kind are made; a perfect example of a type or group. |
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| The discourse in which the writer presents and logically supports a particular view or opinion; sometimes used interchangeably with persuasion. |
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| In a play, an aside is a speech delivered by an actor in such a way that other characters on the stage are presumed not to hear it; an aside generally reveals a character's inner thoughts. |
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| A form of nonfiction in which a person tells his/her own life story. Notable examples of autobiography include those by Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass. |
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| A song or poem that tells a story in short stanzas and simple words with repetition, refrain, etc. |
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| A form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person. |
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| A person or an animal who takes part in the action of a literary work. The main character (protagonist) is the one on whom the work focuses. The person with whom the main character has the most conflict is called the antagonist. Characters introduced whose sole purpose is to develop the main character are called foils. |
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| An approach to literature and the other arts that stresses reason, balance, clarity, ideal beauty, and orderly form in imitation of the arts of Greece and Rome. |
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A struggle between opposing forces.
Within a character = internal conflict
Between characters = external conflict
Most plots develop from conflict, making conflict one of the primary elements of narrative literature. |
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| The moment or event in the plot in which the conflict is most directly addressed: the main character "wins" or "loses" and the secret is revealed. After the climax, the denouement or falling action occurs. |
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| Examining opinions or ideas logically, often by the method of question and answer. |
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Various modes into which writing can be classified; traditionally, writing has been divided into the following forms:
Exposition = writing which presents information
Narration = writing which tells a story
Description = writing which portrays people, places or things
Persuasion (Argumentation) = writing which attempts to convince people to act or think in a certain way |
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| A story written to be performed by actors; the playwright supplies dialogue for the characters to speak and stage directions that give information about costumes, lighting, scenery, properties, the setting, and the character's movements and ways of speaking. |
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| A poem or speech in which an imaginary character speaks to a silent listener. |
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| A solemn and formal lyric poem about death, often one that mourns the passing of some particular person. |
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| A short, nonfiction work about a particular subject; essay comes from the Old French word essai, meaning "trial or attempt"; meant to be explanatory, an essay is not meant to be an exhaustive treatment of a subject; can be classified as formal or informal, personal or impersonal; can also be classified according to purpose as either expository, argumentative, descriptive, persuasive, or narrative. |
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