Literary Terms Dictionary

Literary Term & Definition

1. diction -- choice of words
2. imagery -- language that appeals to the 5 senses 
3. speaker -- the narrator of the poem, sometimes a specific character. **The speaker is not necessarily the poet.
4. tone -- the attitude of the speaker towards the subject
5. connotation -- the unspoken ideas and emotional connections that a word suggests (i.e. bony v. slender)
6. denotation -- the dictionary definition of a word (thin)
7. syntax -- grammar and sentence structure (i.e. punctuation marks, length of sentence, important conjunctions, types of sentences, order of sentences)
8. metaphor -- a comparison between two unlike things; a "direct" comparison
9. simile -- a comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as"; an "indirect" comparison