Literary+Terms+for+Prose+Reading


 * Literary Terms for Prose Fiction and Non-Fiction[[image:bookstack.gif width="218" height="343" align="center"]]**


 * (See Poetry page and Shakespeare page for additional lists.)**


 * 1. allegory**: a story in which people, things and events have another meaning

the Bible, Greek mythology, or another well-known work of art or literature
 * 2. allusion**: a reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, often from


 * 3. ambiguity**: multiple meanings a work may communicate, esp. two meanings that are incompatible


 * 4. anachronism**: a person or thing that is chronologically out of time or place


 * 5. analogy**: a point-by-point comparison


 * 6. antagonist**: an adversary to the main character, one who presents conflict in a story


 * 7. aphorism**: a wise saying or “truism”

or to an object that might represent the intended listener
 * 8. apostrophe**: direct address, usually to someone or something that is not present,


 * 9. connotation**: the implications of a word or phrase, beyond the literal meaning

a recognized means of expression
 * 10. convention**: a device of style or subject matter so often used that it becomes


 * 11. denotation**: the literal, “dictionary” definition of a word

including pronunciations as well as particular words or phrases
 * 12. dialect**: spoken or written language that is unique to a particular region or ethnic group,


 * 13. diction:** word choice


 * 14. didactic literature**: works that are explicitly instructive


 * 15. epigram**: a pithy saying, often using contrast; also a verse form, usually brief and pointed


 * 16. epistle:** a literary letter


 * 17. euphemism**: a figure of speech which uses indirection to avoid offensive bluntness


 * 18. figurative language**: writing that uses figures of speech as opposed to literal language


 * 19. foil:** a minor character who is used as a means of comparison to another character


 * 20. grotesque**: a character in literature who has exaggerated distortions or incongruities


 * 21. hyperbole:** deliberate exaggeration or overstatement


 * 22. imagery**: writing that appeals to all of our senses

or from the individual to the universal
 * 23. induction**: reasoning from a part to a whole, from particulars to generals,

by the narrator or character (which we the reader, and often other characters, are meant to understand); __situational__ irony – when something unexpected occurs; __verbal irony__ – a figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant
 * 24. irony**: __dramatic__ – when the author implies a different meaning from that intended

expressed without being explicitly stated
 * 25. metapho****r**: figurative language in which a comparison between two unlike things is

the truthfulness of the story (An unreliable narrator should not be trusted.)
 * 26. narrative reliability**: a device used by writers to make the reader question


 * 27. oxymoron**: a combination of opposites (ex: bittersweet)


 * 28. parable:** a story designed to suggest a principle, illustrate a moral, or answer a question


 * 29. paradox:** a statement that seems to be self-contradicting but is, in fact, true


 * 30. parody**: a composition that imitates the style of another composition for comic effect


 * 31. personification**: figurative language which endows the non-human with human traits


 * 32. point of view:** the narrative vantage point, whether omniscient, limited, first or third person


 * 33. protagonist**: the main character in a literary work


 * 34. satire**: writing that seeks to arouse a reader's disapproval of some aspect of society by use of ridicule

typically using the words “like” or “as” or “resembles” or “seems”
 * 35. simile**: a type of metaphor which uses a direct comparison of unlike things,


 * 36. stereotype**: a conventional pattern, expression, character or idea that does not allow for individuality or uniqueness


 * 37. symbol**: something that is simultaneously itself and also a sign of something else, usually something abstract


 * 38. theme:** a main thought, idea or message expressed by a work


 * 39. thesis:** the premise or position that a writer undertakes to prove or support

the intonation of the voice which expresses meaning
 * 40. tone:** the manner in which the author expresses his or her attitude;


 * 41. understatement**: using great restraint to express an idea so as to give the opposite effect