Literary Terms

Have you ever tried to read an analysis of a piece of literature and you don't understand nothing? Words like allegory, onomatopoeia or foreshadowing got you confused? Then this is the post you will like and -hopefully- appreciate for you entire life!.

Literary Devices:

Allegory: stories that stand for symbolic ideas. Ex: Plato's allegory of the cave.
Alliteration: repetition of the same sound at the beggining of the words.
Allusion: an implicit, brief reference to a famous character or a historical moment.
Hyperbole: exaggeration of something. Ex: "I'm so hungry that I'd eat an entire cow".
Metaphor: an implicit comparison between two (very) different things.
Onomatopoeia: use of words that imitate sounds. Ex: "hiss".
Personification: human attributes are given to an object.
Simile: direct comparison between two things, using the words "as" or "like".
Understatement/litote: says less than intended. Opposite from hyperbole.
Oxymoron: a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect. Ex: “cruel kindness”.
Irony: the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning.
Pun - A word is used which has two meanings at the same time, which results in humor.
Analogy - the comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship. 


Important words:

Plot: sequence of event of a story, that include characters and a conflict.
Climax: the moment with more intensity in the plot.
Setting: time and place of the story's action.
Tone: the author's attitude towards the story and the reader.
Mood: general atmosphere created by the author's words. Feeling that the reader gets.
Theme: an insight of human life that is revealed in a literary work. What is the text about.
Thesis: the organizing thought of an entire essay or piece of writing and which contains a subject and an opinion
Soliloquy: a long speech made by a character who is alone in the stage, revealing his thoughts and emotions.
Connotation: associations and implications that go beyond the written-literal words.
Denotation: dictionary definition of a word.
Symbol: something that means more than its literal interpretation.
Flashback: scene in which the character(s) go to the past, to tell us more about the context of the plot.
Foreshadowing: hints and clues that the story gives us to create an idea of what will happen.
Gothic: use of mysterious elements in literature. Dark and gloomy settings.
Hero: character whose actions are inspiring or noble. 
Stanza: a group of lines in a poem, that should be a unit.
Narrative poem: tells a story in verse.
Lyric poem: a melodic poem which describes an object or emotion.


Of course, there are many more literary devices and terms, but in my opinion, this are the ones that you should compulsory know. Comment if you think there are other ones I haven't mentioned!