Reading: Literature - Introductory

Whether you prefer poetry or prose, you'll want to review these terms related to reading literature. This comprehensive vocabulary list covers text structure, literary devices and figures of speech, genre, tone and mood, point of view, and much more. We know every trick in the book!
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. action
    the series of events that form a plot
  2. adaptation
    a written work that has been recast in a new form
  3. adventure
    a wild and exciting undertaking
  4. alliteration
    use of the same consonant at the beginning of each word
  5. allude
    make an indirect reference to
  6. antonym
    a word that expresses an opposite meaning
  7. author
    a person who writes professionally
  8. autobiography
    a book or account of your own life
  9. background knowledge
    information that is essential to understanding a situation or problem
  10. biography
    an account of the series of events making up a person's life
  11. cause
    any entity that produces an effect
  12. chapter
    a subdivision of a written work; usually numbered and titled
  13. character
    an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction
  14. characteristic
    a noticeable feature or aspect of something
  15. characterization
    a vivid verbal description
  16. characterize
    describe or portray the qualities or peculiarities of
  17. compare
    examine and note the similarities or differences of
  18. conflict
    opposition in a work of fiction between characters or forces
  19. context
    discourse that surrounds and helps explain a word or passage
  20. contradiction
    opposition between two conflicting forces or ideas
  21. contrast
    put in opposition to show or emphasize differences
  22. description
    a statement that represents something in words
  23. detail
    a single fact considered separately from the whole
  24. dialogue
    the lines spoken by characters in drama or fiction
  25. document
    writing that provides information
  26. drama
    a work intended for performance by actors on a stage
  27. dramatic
    characteristic of a stage performance
  28. dramatic irony
    when the audience understands something the characters don't
  29. dramatic work
    a play for performance on the stage or television or in a movie etc.
  30. effect
    a phenomenon that is caused by some previous phenomenon
  31. emphasize
    stress or single out as important
  32. ending
    the last section of a communication
  33. entertain
    provide amusement for
  34. epilogue
    a short section at the end of a literary work
  35. episode
    a brief section of a work forming part of a connected series
  36. essay
    an analytic or interpretive literary composition
  37. event
    something that happens at a given place and time
  38. evidence
    knowledge on which to base belief
  39. exaggerate
    enlarge beyond bounds or the truth
  40. expository
    serving to expound or set forth
  41. expression
    a word or phrase that people use in particular situations
  42. fable
    a short moral story
  43. fact
    a piece of information about events that have occurred
  44. fairy tale
    a children's story involving fantastical beings or elements
  45. fantasy
    fiction with a large amount of imagination in it
  46. fiction
    a literary work based on the imagination
  47. fictional
    related to or involving imaginative literary work
  48. figurative
    not literal
  49. first person
    pronouns and verbs used to refer to the speaker
  50. folktale
    a traditional story or legend circulated by word of mouth
  51. foreshadow
    indicate by signs
  52. form
    an arrangement of the elements in a composition or discourse
  53. genre
    a class of art having a characteristic form or technique
  54. glossary
    an alphabetical list of technical terms in a field
  55. graphics
    photographs or other visual representations in a printed publication
  56. heading
    a line of text indicating what the passage below it is about
  57. hero
    the principal character in a play or movie or novel or poem
  58. heroine
    the main good female character in a work of fiction
  59. historical
    of or relating to the study of recorded time
  60. homophone
    a word pronounced the same with another meaning or spelling
  61. humor
    a message that has the power to evoke laughter
  62. humorous
    characterized by the power to cause laughter
  63. illustration
    artwork that helps make something clear or attractive
  64. illustrator
    an artist who makes illustrations
  65. infer
    reason by deduction; establish by deduction
  66. inference
    a conclusion you can draw based on known evidence
  67. inform
    impart knowledge of some fact, state or affairs, or event to
  68. informal
    not in accord with established conventions and requirements
  69. information
    a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn
  70. interpret
    make sense of; assign a meaning to
  71. legend
    a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events
  72. line
    a row of text written across a page or computer screen
  73. literal
    limited to the explicit meaning of a word or text
  74. literary
    relating to or characteristic of creative writing
  75. literature
    creative writing of recognized artistic value
  76. lyrical
    expressing deep emotion
  77. meaning
    the message that is intended or expressed or signified
  78. metaphor
    a figure of speech that suggests a non-literal similarity
  79. meter
    a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse
  80. mood
    the prevailing psychological state
  81. moral
    the significance of a story or event
  82. multimedia
    the use of many types of communication simultaneously
  83. mystery
    a story about a crime presented as a novel or play or movie
  84. myth
    a traditional story serving to explain a world view
  85. mythology
    the body of stories associated with a culture or institution
  86. narrate
    give a detailed account of
  87. narration
    a telling of a story in writing, drama, or cinema
  88. narrative
    an account that tells the particulars of an act or event
  89. narrator
    someone who tells a story
  90. nonfiction
    prose writing that is not formed by the imagination
  91. novel
    an extended fictional work in prose
  92. onomatopoeia
    using words that imitate the sound they denote
  93. opinion
    a personal belief or judgment
  94. oral
    using speech rather than writing
  95. paragraph
    one of several distinct subdivisions of a text
  96. paraphrase
    express the same message in different words
  97. passage
    a section of text, particularly a section of medium length
  98. pattern
    a repeated design, structure, or arrangement
  99. persuade
    cause somebody to adopt a certain position or belief
  100. play
    dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
  101. plot
    the story that is told, as in a novel, play, movie, etc.
  102. poem
    a composition in metrical feet forming rhythmical lines
  103. poet
    a writer of verse consisting of lines that often rhyme
  104. poetry
    literature in metrical form
  105. point of view
    a mental position from which things are perceived
  106. predict
    make a guess about what will happen in the future
  107. prediction
    the act of foretelling
  108. prefix
    an affix that is added in front of the word
  109. print
    the text appearing in a book, newspaper, or other printed publication
  110. problem
    a question raised for consideration or solution
  111. prose
    ordinary writing as distinguished from verse
  112. proverb
    a condensed but memorable saying embodying an important fact
  113. punctuation
    the use of marks to clarify meaning of written material
  114. purpose
    an anticipated outcome that guides your planned actions
  115. quest
    the act of searching for something
  116. quote
    repeat a passage from
  117. reader
    a person who can read; a literate person
  118. realism
    artistic movement that represents the world accurately
  119. recur
    return in thought or speech to something
  120. repetition
    the continued use of the same word or word pattern
  121. represent
    serve as a means of expressing something
  122. rhyme
    correspondence in the final sounds of two or more lines
  123. rhythm
    alternation of stressed and unstressed elements in speech
  124. root
    the form of a word after all affixes are removed
  125. scene
    a subdivision of an act of a play
  126. script
    a written version of a play or other dramatic composition
  127. sensory
    involving or derived from the senses
  128. sentence
    a string of words satisfying grammatical rules of a language
  129. sequence
    a following of one thing after another in time
  130. setting
    the physical position of something
  131. short story
    a brief but fully developed prose narrative
  132. similar
    having the same or nearly the same characteristics
  133. similarity
    the quality of being alike
  134. simile
    a figure of speech expressing a resemblance between things
  135. solution
    the successful action of solving a problem
  136. sound effect
    an effect that imitates a sound called for in the script of a play
  137. speech
    communication by word of mouth
  138. stage direction
    instruction or description written in the script of a play
  139. stanza
    a fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem
  140. story
    a piece of fiction that narrates a chain of related events
  141. structure
    the building of something and the arrangement of its parts
  142. style
    a mode of expression typical of a person, group, or period
  143. subject matter
    what a communication that is about something is about
  144. suffix
    a linguistic element that is added at the end of the word
  145. summarize
    briefly present the main points of something
  146. summary
    a brief statement that presents the main points
  147. support
    documentary validation
  148. syllable
    a unit of spoken language larger than a phoneme
  149. synonym
    a word that expresses the same or similar meaning
  150. tall tale
    an improbable (unusual or incredible or fanciful) story
  151. text
    the words of something written
  152. theme
    a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in literary work
  153. third person
    pronouns referring to people besides the speaker or listener
  154. title
    the name of a work of art or literary composition
  155. title page
    a page of a book displaying the title and author and publisher
  156. tone
    a quality that reveals the attitudes of the author
  157. topic
    the subject matter of a conversation or discussion
  158. trait
    a distinguishing feature of your personal nature
  159. transition
    a passage or word that connects a topic to one that follows
  160. type
    a subdivision of a particular kind of thing
  161. verbal
    communicated in the form of words
  162. verse
    literature in metrical form
  163. version
    a written work that has been recast in a new form
  164. villain
    the principal bad character in a film or work of fiction
  165. visualize
    imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind
  166. vocabulary
    a language user's knowledge of words
  167. voice
    a means by which something is expressed or communicated
Created on Tue Jan 31 13:55:07 EST 2017 (updated Wed Mar 29 15:28:56 EDT 2017)

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