//www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/general/glossary.htm#character">character or lead figure in a novel, play, story, or poem.  It may also be referred to as the "hero" of a work. Over a period of time the meaning of the term protagonist has changed. The word protagonist originated in ancient Greek drama and referred to [..]

Glossary of Literary Terms

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. The difference between an [..]

  a reference in a literary work to a person, place, or thing in history or another work of literature. Allusions are often indirect or brief references to well-known characters or events. Specific examples of allusions can be found throughout Dante's Inferno. In a passage, Dante alludes to the Greek mythological figures, Phaethon and Icarus, [..]

  a character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or works again the main character, or protagonist, in some way. The antagonist doesn't necessarily have to be an person. It could be death, the devil, an illness, or any challenge that prevents the main character from living "happily ever after." In fact, the antagoni [..]

an actor's speech, directed to the audience, that is not supposed to be heard by other actors on stage. An aside is usually used to let the audience know what a character is about to do or what he or she is thinking. For example, in Othello, Iago gives several asides, informing the audience of his plans and how he will try to achieve his goals [..]

a narrative folk song. The ballad is traced back to the Middle Ages. Ballads were usually created by common people and passed orally due to the illiteracy of the time. Subjects for ballads include killings, feuds, important historical events, and rebellion. For example, in the international ballad "Lord Randall," the young man is [..]

a person who is responsible for the thoughts and actions within a story, poem, or other literature. Characters are extremely important because they are the medium through which a reader interacts with a piece of literature. Every character has his or her own personality, which a creative author uses to assist in forming the plot of a story or creat [..]

a style of poetry defined as a complete thought written in two lines with rhyming ends. The most popular of the couplets is the heroic couplet. The heroic couplet consists of two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter usually having a pause in the middle of each line. One of William Shakespeare's trademarks was to end a sonnet with a couplet, as i [..]

  the exact meaning of a word, without the feelings or suggestions that the word may imply. It is the opposite of  "connotation" in that it is the "dictionary" meaning of a word, without attached feelings or associations. Some examples of denotations are: 1. heart: an organ that circulates blood throughout the b [..]