Literary Terms
From LitWiki
Every discipline has its own technical vocabulary; the study of literature is no different. In order to discuss fiction in an intelligent and competent manner, a familiarity (or literacy) with this vocabulary is crucial. Define each of the following words calling from various sources — reference books, lectures, your own reading — making clear your own understanding of the vocabulary. Feel free to define or add your own terms.
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Allegory to Bathos
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Canon to Convention
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Deconstruction to Diatribe
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Epic Poetry to Exposition
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Flashback to Freytag’s Formula
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Genre to Lyric
- genre
- hamartia
- hero
- heroic ideal
- hubris
- hypertext
- imagery
- inciting action
- in medias res
- irony
- literary criticism
- literary theory
- logos
- lyric
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Masculine to Myth
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Narration to Oration
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Pace to Protagonist
- pace
- paradox
- parody
- pathos
- peripeteia
- personification
- plot
- poiesis
- point of view
- praxis
- prose
- protagonist
- pun
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Resolution to Romance
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Satire to Syntax
- satire
- science fiction
- semantics
- setting
- short story
- simile
- stream of consciousness
- style
- subplot
- surrealism
- symbol
- synesthesia
- syntax
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Text to Zeugma
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External Links
- Elements of Literature — Lisa R. Lazarescu begins by defining literature, then discusses various key aspects of the study.
- Glossary of Literary Terms — Cursory definitions to get you on the right track from McGraw Hill’s Online Learning Center.
- Glossary of Literary Terms — from Bedford / St. Martin’s press.
- A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples — by Ross Scaife at the University of Kentucky.
- Literary Dictionary — covering poetry, drama, short fiction, the novel, and literary criticism, by the students of Lysbeth Em Benkert-Rasmussen.
- Literary Terms — A comprehensive list by the students of Ted Nellen.
- Literary Terms — Lilia Melani covers many of the basics in detail.
- Virtual Salt — A handbook of rhetorical devices by Robert A. Harris.
- Words of Art — A list of terms for the study of art by Robert J. Belton at Okanagan University College.
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Credits
- See the LitWiki Community Portal
