SOME USEFUL LITERARY TERMS

Alliteration The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of a word, as in Billy the Bully. Ambiguity a word or phrase which has a double meaning. Aside when a character in a play turns away from the action on stage and speaks directly to the audience, as though the other characters cannot hear. Assonance the repetition of vowel sounds, as in green trees. Ballad a poem that tells a story in a simple, straightforward way, usually in four-line stanzas. Chorus a character or a group in a play who comments on the action. Comedy nowadays a work that makes you laugh, but it used to mean a work with a happy ending. Couplet two lines of verse which rhyme. Dialogue two or more characters speaking to each other. We also speak about the dialogue of a play, meaning all the words that are spoken. Diction the words a poet chooses to use. Dramatic irony occurs when a character says something that has a different meaning for the audience from the one it has for the character. This happens when the audience knows more about a situation than the character who is speaking. Fiction anything that is not fact. First person using I in speech or writing, as in I shall tell you the story of what happened to me when I was six. Free verse verse that has neither rhyme nor rhythm. Genre a kind of writing. Poetry is one genre of literature, plays are another, prose is a third genre. Iambic pentameter a line of poetry made up of ten syllables, with alternating light and heavy beats, as in: Is this the face that launched a thousand ships? A great deal of English poetry has been written in iambic pentameter. Imagery writing that creates a picture in your mind, usually through the use of comparisons. Irony saying one thing but meaning the opposite. Juxtaposition putting two things sie by side in order to show a relationship between them.

Metaphor a comparison that says one thing is another thing, rather than saying one thing is like another, as in: She was a rose of fairest hue. Metre a regular rhythm. Narrative a story. It can be a novel, short story, poem or simply spoken. Narrator someone who tells a story. Novel a long fiction story in prose. Onomatopoeia a word which shows its meaning through its sound, as in plop. We sometimes say the sound echoes the sense. Personification writing of things or ideas as if they were persons, e.g. old Father Time. Prose any piece of continuous writing that is not verse or dialogue. Quatrain four lines of verse. Rhyme words which have the same sounds 9except the first consonant), place at the end (or fixed middle points) of lines in poetry. Rhythm the movement of language in speech, verse or prose. It does not have to have a regular beat. Simile a comparison which uses like or as, as in: My love is like a red , red rose. Soliloquoy a speech in a play which represents the character thinking. It is usually spoken when the character is alone on stage. Sonnet a poem of fourteen lines, rhyming in a particular way. Stanza the correct term for the groups of lines a poem is divided into, often mistakenly called a verse. Symbol a thing which stands for something else, e.g. everyone recognizes that a flag can stand for a country. Writers invent their own symbols. Theme the central idea of a piece of writing. Tragedy a play, or sometimes a novel or a poem, with an unhappy ending. It must be serious and it usually shows the sufferings of a good and great character whose life is spoiled by a weakness or by fate. Verse the proper word for poetry.