Literary Terms and Definitions: Enhance Your Understanding

Literary Terms and Definitions

Iridescent: Showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles.

Infallibility: Knowing truth with certainty. Can refer to a person (or a group of persons), to an act of teaching by these persons, or to the information being taught.

Mar: Impair the appearance of; disfigure.

Condone: Accept and allow (behavior that is considered morally wrong or offensive) to continue.

Disarming: (Of manner or behavior) having the effect of allaying suspicion or hostility, especially through charm.

Uncanny: Strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way.

Solicitously: Anxious or concerned.

Scruples: A feeling of doubt or hesitation with regard to the morality or propriety of a course of action.

Zealous: Feeling or showing strong and energetic support for a person, cause, etc.

Literary Devices Explained

Characterization: The step-by-step process wherein an author introduces and then describes a character. The character can be described directly by the author or indirectly through the actions, thoughts, and speech of the character.

Conflict: Expressing a resistance the protagonist of the story finds in achieving his aims or dreams.

Mood: Adopts in shaping a specific emotional perspective towards the subject of the literary work.

Plot: The sequence of events and happenings that make up a story. There is usually a pattern, unintended or intentional, that threads the plot together.

Point of View: The manner in which a story is narrated or depicted and who it is that tells the story.

Setting: Used to identify and establish the time, place, and mood of the events of the story.

Suspense: The intense feeling that an audience goes through while waiting for the outcome of certain events.

Theme: The base that acts as a foundation for the entire literary piece. The theme links all aspects of the literary work with one another and is basically the main subject.