SAT Literature Subject Test Terms to Know

A story with underlying symbols that really represent something else. A character can be allegorical.

Repetition of a consonant sound for emphasis.

A reference to something or someone, usually literary.

Placing a person or object in an inappropriate historical situation. It can be deliberate or unintentional.

Comparing something to something else.

A short narrative, story, or tale.

The major character opposing the protagonist. Usually the villain.

Assigning human attributes, such as emotions or physical characteristics, to nonhuman things.

Often used for attributing human characteristics to animals. Similar to personification, but usually is applied to animals, while personification is applied to all types of things.

A summary or short statement of the plot or subject of a literary work.

The author’s choice of word and sentence structure, taking into account correctness, clearness, and effectiveness. Typically, there are four levels: formal, informal, colloquial, and slang.

A mournful and melancholy poem or song, usually to pay tribute to a deceased person.

Special forcefulness of expression that gives importance to something singled out.

A story that has a moral, usually involving animals as the main characters.

Language characterized by figures of speech such as metaphors and similes as well as elaborate expression through imagery.

A deliberate exaggeration.

An author’s use of descriptive and figurative language used to create a picture in the reader’s mind’s eye.

Language that communicates what was expressed in the dialogue, without using a direct quotation.

An expression of meaning that is opposite of the literal meaning.

Something that one wishes to convey, especially by language.

A comparison like a simile, without the use of “like” or “as.” It’s a little subtler. It’s important to note, however, that in literary criticism, the word “metaphor” is frequently used when, strictly speaking, the term “simile” applies.

The rhythm of a poem. The most common is iambic.

A literary representation of an event or a story–the text itself.

A word intended to simulate the actual sound of the thing or action it describes.

A phrase in which the words are contradictory.

An expression of joyful praise.

A story that has a moral.

This is a phrase that appears to be contradictory but actually contains some basic truth that resolves the apparent contradiction.

The repetition of sounds, meanings, or structures to create a certain style.

A literary work in which the style of an author is imitated for comic effect or ridicule.

A work that deals with the lives of people, especially shepherds, in the country or in nature (as opposed to people in a city).

Something that evokes a feeling of pity or sympathy.

Assigning human attributes to something nonhuman.

The viewpoint from which the narrator or character sees things.

The vantage point from which a story is presented to a reader.

The main character, usually the hero.

The way that a poem’s rhymes are arranged.

Ridicule of a subject, usually as a social criticism.

A comparison of two things using the words “like” or “as.”

The divisions in a poem, like a paragraph to prose.

The framework of a work of literature; the organization or overall design; often provides clues to character and action.

The author’s unique manner of expression; the author’s voice.

The ordering of words into meaningful patterns such as phrases, clauses, and sentences; poets often manipulate syntax, changing traditional word order in an attempt to draw attention to particular words or phrases.

The central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work; theme provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements of a work are organized.

Style or manner of expression.