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Literary Terms Defined
Defined, Fall 2000, by LIT 2000 Class
Rachel Fagen
The presentation of an abstract idea through more concrete means. Traditional allegory is a narrative with at least two levels of meaning; the first is a surface story line, a complete, coherent, but basic plot. Underlying this plot is a second, deeper level of meaning, which may be religious, moral, political, personal, or satiric. Allegory attempts to create interest both in the primary story with its characters, events, and setting, and in the ideas and significance the story conveys. To this end, personification is a common device in allegory; characters and places are often named after qualities or ideas the author wishes to represent. The characters, settings, and events can be fictitious or historical, but they are used to represent meanings independent of the action in the primary or “surface” story. Allegories do not need to be entire narratives, and non-allegorical narratives can contain allegorical characters or elements. Some critics consider allegory to be extended metaphor, which says one thing but means another.
It is important to note the difference between allegory and symbolism. Both attempt to suggest other levels of meaning by presenting abstract ideas through concrete images, but allegory makes a structure of ideas the controlling influence in the work. A symbol carries a natural relationship to the events of the story; in allegory, the surface story is often a thinly disguised courier for the secondary meaning.
Allegory is still used as a narrative device in literature today, in drama, poetry, prose, and even comics (Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury, for example). Allegory was most prominent in the Middle Ages, with dream vision and the morality play; other types of allegory common in history are the fable, the parable, and the exemplum.
Beckson, Karl and Arthur Ganz. Literary Terms: A Dictionary. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; New York, 1989.
Murfin, Ross and Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Bedford Books; Boston, 1997.
Quinn, Edward. A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms. Facts on File, Inc; New York, 1999.
Jamie Rosenblum
Allusion is used quite often in literature for its ability to capture the reader’s memory on the material they have read in the past. This term works by causing the reader to think back in a story, or a certain situation and remember a key point. Allusions are centered on whether or not you originally grabbed hold of an idea or felt any emotion from something one has read. When a reader’s memory has then been triggered by something the author has written previously, let’s say for example in a previous chapter or a previous book, one may apply the significance of the current situation or key point to what it is being compared to. One example cited in Harmon is a reference to the movie King Kong: “The beauty killed the beast.” Allusions can play as a summarization of an idea, which is why this statement on the movie King Kong is considered an allusion.
Frye, Northrop, et al. The Harper Handbook to Literature. 2nd ed. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 1997.
Harmon, William and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall 1996.
Adrian Long
(1) One who opposes and contends against another; an adversary. (2) The principal character in opposition to the protagonist or hero of a narrative drama. Antonyms: Opponent, adversary, enemy, assailant; adverse party.
Tom Pellicane
Happens in a drama and fiction. It is the opposition of two forces or characters. (1) Conflict may occur within one character, which is called internal conflict. (2) Another type of conflict is a struggle between man and man, like a hero and a villain. This is called social conflict. Most fiction is social conflict. (3) A third kind of conflict is a struggle between man and nature. This is called physical conflict. A dramatic conflict is the struggle which grows out of the interplay of opposing forces (ideas, interests, wills, etc.) in a plot.
Steve Leitch
Interrupted sequence of time and events into past experiences. The writer uses this technique to show characters’ background and motivation (Stephens). The writer can use memories, dreams, or narration of a character (Harris).
Harris, Robert. A Glossary of Literary Terms and a Hand Book of Rhetorical Devices. "Flashback." http://www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/Harris/rhetfor/
Stephens, Melanie. All American Literature, History, and Culture. "Flashback." http://www.digitex.net/renard/
Kurt Traub
The presentation of information given by the laying out of hints or clues in a story, movie, or play to prepare the reader for later events. Foreshadowing can result from the establishment of a mood or atmosphere, as in the opening of Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” (Harmon 219). It can result in a tragedy, just as it did in the beginning of Greene’s “Across the Bridge”: the story states that Mr. Calloway’s story is a tragedy, which foreshadows the end of the story. Also foreshadowing can be in the revelations of character that appear in expositions of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (Carey 51). William Harmon and C. Hugh Holmon. A Handbook to Literature. 8Th Ed. New York: Times New Roman A&A Publishing Services Inc, 1999.
Gary Carey and Mary Ellen Snodgrass. A Multi-Cultural Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McFarland and Company, Inc.,Publishers 1999.
Tiffany Sexauer
The hero, often called the protagonist, is usually the main character in a literary work. The hero doesn’t actually have to be heroic; in fact s/he can be cowardly. Just being the central character makes him/her a hero.
Baldick, Chris. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York, 1990.
Beckson, Karl and Ganz, Arthur. Readers’ Guide to Literary Terms. New York, 1960.
Danie Paille
“An image may occur in a single word, a phrase, a sentence, or, . . . an entire short poem” (Kennedy 661). An image is a few words or sentences that appeal to one or more of the five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell). Imagery may be defined as the entire effect of many images taken together to give the reader an experience. Imagery is not just a simple decoration, such as flowers on the table, but a vivid experience painted by the author so as to create a feeling of one of the 5 senses in the reader’s mind. Imagery can be obtained by using personification, alliteration, sound, rhythm, and anything else that helps create for the reader the experience the author intended. You can also look at the imagery an author creates, especially in poetry, to discover the author’s intent or feelings behind his/her poem.
Harbrace College Handbook, 12th Ed. Horner/Webb/Miller
Literature, An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, Sixth Edition X.J. Kennedy/Dana Gioia
Laura Weitzel-Ritzheimer
As explained by Haviland, “the word myth, in popular usage, refers to something that is widely believed to be true but probably is not” (729). Myths are used by some cultures to explain their existence. Myths also provide “rationale for religious beliefs and practices” (Haviland 729). A myth is some kind of interpretation of the world by a person or a culture that truly believe in it. Kirszner and Mandell write that myths often involve gods and heroes (1805).
Haviland, William. Anthropology. 9th ed. Orlando: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000.
Kirszner, Laurie and Mandell, Stephen. Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. 2nd ed. Orlando: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1994.
Neddroy Bent
An expression of feeling through sound. Most people express feelings by talking or acting a certain way. When using onomatopoeia one relates feelings to sounds, such as hearing the ocean waves along the coast, to hearing a gunshot. Both sounds are and can be expressed differently from one person to the next. Onomatopoeia is mostly used in poems, novels, and short stories. When an author uses onomatopoeia, s/he tries to give the audience a vocal and visual sense of the story. For example in these lines from Eliot’s “Dry Savages”:
When the train starts, and the passengers are settled
To fruit, periodicals, and business letters
(And those who saw them off have left the platform)
Their faces relax from grief into relief,
To the sleep rhythm of a hundred hours.
These few lines are mostly onomatopoeia, the rhythm used in the second line describes the clickety-click of wheels on rails.
Cuddon, J.A. A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. 1998.
Webster, Merriam. Encyclopedia of Literature. 1995.
Edil Alicea
A paradox is a statement that holds truth, but is a self-contradiction. Edward Quinn addresses the problem with paradoxical writing in poetry, stating, “paradox represents a central feature of poetry” (Quinn). In other words, poetry without paradoxes would be dull and meaningless. Although paradoxes seem to be very well constructed, most paradoxes are created in the spur of a moment. They are not created to hold literal meaning but rather to hold ironic significance to the reader. George Bernard Shaw’s quote, “the truth is the only thing that no one will believe,” aided Amanda Boyd in her literal analysis of a paradox (Boyd).
Boyd Amanda. Writer's Encyclopedia Third Edition. F&W publications, Inc. Cincinnati OH. 1996.
Quinn Edward. A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms. Facts on File, Inc. New York, NY. 1999.
Beth Grace
Anything, excluding humans, described as possessing human features and charateristics, for example:
The wind blew the flowers as if they had sneezed.
The paint was a flesh toned color.
Obviously, sneezing is something that flowers cannot do, but humans can. Therefore, the flowers and paint have been personified through a human-like characteristic.
Chapin, Chester Fisher. Personification in Eighteenth Century English Poetry. New York, New York: 1974.
Paxson, James S. The Poetics of Personification. Cambridge, England/ New York, New York: 1994.
Kham Loraamm
Plot is the rendering and relating of actions and events, which are the structural part of a story, so that they present to the reader a particular effect of either tragedy, comedy, romance, or satire.
Hawthorn, J. 1998. A Concise Glossary of Contemporary Literary Theory. New York, Oxford University Press, Inc.
Abrams, M. H. 1981. A Glossary of Literary Terms. New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Anita Trojnar
Jason and Lefcowitz define point of view as ’either (1) the position from which we look at something or (2) the consequences of looking at something from a particular position, that is, the opinions, judgments, or attitudes that we form” (30). Point of view is not merely about whether the story is told in first, second, or third person. What is written is closely related to how it is written, and the atmosphere, mood, and tone of the story are all affected by point of view. A story’s value can depend on effective narration, and choosing the proper point of view for a specific subject can either draw the reader closer to the characters or drive them away. For example, in telling a dramatic tale of disaster, the use of first person point of view may be more compelling than the use of third person with objective limitation in which the reader has no direct access to the minds of the characters. Jason and Lefcowitz state, “once you have decided to have your say, choose a viewpoint that will guide your reader’s understanding and reactions” (31). Creative Writer’s Handbook, 2nd ed. Philip K. Jason and Allan B. Lefcowitz. Prentice Hall, 1994.
William Powell
A literary symbol is one thing that stands for another. It can be an object, action, creature, or even a word used to evoke the idea of something else. Symbols are not concrete representations of any one concept or idea. They are designed to represent a collection of thoughts and emotions attached to them either by society or the context in which they are used. The author does not spell out the exact meaning of a symbol, rather it is hinted at and presented to the reader for final interpretation.
Ginger Varde
An assertion that the text seems to make about the subject. According to Quinn “the theme is a useful way of organizing the reading of the text, of connecting one text to another, and of applying reading to the experiences of life.” A theme helps the reader discover meanings in literary work by making connections between the text and the outside world. It consists of the ideas that emerge from the text such as action, observations, revealing states of mind, and feelings. For example, in The Age of Spiritual Machines and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep the subject is “androids.” The theme that unifies the reader to the text could be “Androids may some day be so sophisticated it will be impossible to distinguish them from humans.”
A Dictionary of Literature and Thematic terms, edited by Edward Quinn (1932-1999)
Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs L-Z, edited by Jean-Charles Seigneuret (1988)