Literary Terms
Allusion: An incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication.
Example: “When she lost her job, she acted like a Scrooge, and refuse to buy anything that wasn't necessary”.
Archetype: Is a typical character, action or situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature.
Example: The hero is a character who predominantly exhibits goodness and struggles against evil in order to restore harmony and justice to society, like D’artagnan from “The Three Musketeers.”
Anthropomorphism: Technique in which a writer ascribes human traits, ambitions, emotions or entire behavior to animals, non-human beings, natural phenomena or objects.
Example: “My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian. This is what my mother told me, I do not know these nice distinctions myself. To me they are only fine large words meaning nothing. My mother had a fondness for such; she liked to say them, and see other dogs look surprised and envious, as wondering how she got so much education….” The dog possesses human traits like emotions, shame, fear, anguish, happiness and hopelessness.
Alliteration: It’s when a number of words having the same first consonant sound occur close together in a series.
Example: “A big bully beats a baby boy”.
Cacophony: The use of words with sharp, harsh, hissing and unmelodious sounds.
Example: “I detest war because cause of war is always trivial”.
Characterization: It’s used to highlight and explain the details about a character in a story.
Example: (Someone who is stingy) “Crinkling his brow and wrinkling his nose, Bill screwed up his mouth when he saw the check for dinner. Clearly displeased with the cost of his eggs, bacon, doughnuts, and coffee, he yanked open his wallet, tossed one dollar haphazardly on the table for tip, and went to the counter to pay for the meal.”
Conflict: It involves a struggle between two opposing forces usually a protagonist and an antagonist.
Example: “To be, or not to be–that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep…” - Hamlet by Shakespeare
Didacticism: It emphasizes the idea that different forms of art and literature convey information along with pleasure and entertainment.
Example: John Bunyan’s poem, “Pilgrim’s Progress”.The moral or didactic lesson that this poem intends to instruct is that the road to Heaven is not easy and it is full of obstacles.
Analogy: It’s a comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another thing that is quite different from it.
Example: “You are as annoying as nails on a chalkboard.”
Atmosphere: It refers to emotions or feelings an author conveys to his readers through description of objects and settings.
Example: “The woman raised her hands and stared at them; stared through them. Her voice was soft but tense. ‘Blood on his hands’. Her own hands were clean and pale.” - The Vision by Dean Koontz.
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