Lit Terms

Allegory- A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor. Allegories are written in the form of fables, parables, poems, stories, and almost any other style or genre. The main purpose of an allegory is to tell a story that has characters, a setting, as well as other types of symbols, that have both literal and figurative meanings.
Example- Dante’s The Divine Comedy

Alliteration- A pattern of sound that includes the repetition of consonant sounds. The repetition can be located at the beginning of successive words or inside the words.
Example- Sir Phillip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella, the poet states: "Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite"

Allusion- A reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature.
Example- Dante’s Inferno. Dante alludes to the Greek mythological figures, Phaethon and Icarus.

Ambiguity- An expression who’s meaning cannot be determined from its context.

Antagonist- a character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or works again the main character, or protagonist, in some way.
Example- An antagonist in the story of Genesis is the serpent. He convinces Eve to disobey God, setting off a chain of events.that leads to Adam and Eve being banished from paradise.



Analogy- A comparison between two things, typically on the basis of their structure and for the purpose of explanation or clarification.
Example- In Beowulf they compare the ocean to a road.

Apostrophe- Words that are spoken to a person who is absent or imaginary, or to an object or abstract idea.
Example- Macbeth

Archetype- An original that has been imitated.
Example- Beowulf