1. Literary Terms
by Alex Wade

2. Figurative Language Imagery: Definition: visually descriptive language
Harry Potter: “Fudge smiled at Harry over the edge of his teacup, rather like an uncle surveying a favourite nephew.”
Hamlet:
OPHELIA My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle; Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; And with a look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of horrors,--he comes before me. (II,i,85-112)

3. Simile Definition: A comparison using like or as.
Harry Potter: “Fudge smiled at Harry over the edge of his teacup, rather like an uncle surveying a favourite nephew.”
Hamlet:
And why such daily cast cast on brazen cannon  and foreign mart for implements of way  why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task  does not divide the Sunday from the week  What might be toward, and this sweaty haste  doeth make the night join - laborer with the day? (I,i, 72-78)

4. Metaphor
Definition: A direct comparison of two things that are not alike.
Harry Potter: “He can run faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo.”
Hamlet:
“It is a nipping and an eager air.”
(I,iv,2)

5. Personification
Definition: When an inanimate object is given human qualities.
Harry Potter: “The wand chooses the wizard.”
Hamlet:
For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a good kissing carrion— Have you a daughter?
(II,ii,173-4)

6. Apostrophe
Definition: An exclamatory passage addressed to a person who usually isn’t there.
Harry Potter: “Merlin’s beard, Harry!”
Hamlet:
“…Oh, my offence is rank. It smells to heaven.
It hath the primal eldest curse upon ’t,
A brother’s murder. Pray can I not.
Though inclination be as sharp as will,
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,
And, like a man to double business bound…”
(III,iii,37-42)

7. Symbol Definition: Something that represents or stands for something.
Harry Potter: “Well it’s the sign of the Deathly Hallows, of course.”
Hamlet: Poison is a symbol in Hamlet, playing the part of betrayal, corruption, and deceit.

8. Allegory
Definition: When a speech or poem can be interpreted to mean something deeper.
Harry Potter: The tensions between pure blood wizards and humans can be seen as an allegory for racism.
Hamlet: Hamlet’s addressing of Yorick’s skull is can be interpreted to mean that death is very common and happens to everyone. It is the ultimate leveling factor in our lives.

9. Paradox
Definition: A statement that seems true in the beginning but cannot be no matter what.
Harry Potter: In Harry Potter, Harry saves himself from an attack by going back in time.
Hamlet:
I must be cruel only to be kind.
(III,iv,181)

10. Hyperbole Definition: An extreme overexaggeration
Harry Potter: “mountains of roast and boiled potatoes.”
Hamlet:
O that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve into a dew.
(I,ii,131-2)

11. Understatement Definition:
Harry Potter: "We teachers are rather good at magic, you know."
Hamlet:
She married. O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not nor it cannot come to good,
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.
(I,ii,159-61)

12. Irony
Definition: expression of meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite.
Harry Potter: (Situational irony) In the Goblet of Fire, Harry didn’t ask to be famous, but he is as someone put his name in the cup.
Hamlet:
CLAUDIUSHow is it that the clouds still hang on you? HAMLETNot so, my lord. I am too much i' the sun.
(I,ii,66-67)

13. Chiasmus
Definition: Where two words appear twice, in opposite order the second time. Can also refer to overall plot.
Harry Potter: The entire series can be seen as a sort of chiastic structure, with many similarities between the first and last novels.
Hamlet:
King: Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guildenstern. Queen: Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle Rosencrantz.
(II,ii,33-34)

14. Metonymy
Definition: Substitution of a name for a attribute of the thing being named.
White Collar (TV): Mozzie refers to Peter, an FBI agent, as Suit, his name for government agents.
Hamlet:
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep—
(III,i,59-61)

15. Synecdoche
Definition: A figure of speech in which a part represents a whole.
Harry Potter: Voldemort is referred to as “You Know Who” instead of his full name.
Hamlet:
The point envenomed too!—Then, venom, to thy work.
(V,ii,317-18)

16. Repartee
Definition: A conversation or speech characterized by quick, witty comments or replies.
Harry Potter: Fred and George are often caught in repartee.
Hamlet:
HAMLETExcellent well. You are a fishmonger.
POLONIUSNot I, my lord.
HAMLETThen I would you were so honest a man.
(II,ii, )

17. Stichomythia
Definition: dialogue in which two characters speak alternate lines of a verse.
Harry Potter: Fred and George often complete each other’s sentences.
Hamlet:
GERTRUDEHamlet, thou hast thy father much offended. HAMLETMother, you have my father much offended. GERTRUDECome, come, you answer with an idle tongue. HAMLETGo, go, you question with a wicked tongue.
(III,iv,9-13)

18. Stock Characters
Definition: Stock characters are based on how a culture thinks they should behave.
Harry Potter: Rubeus Hagrid
Hamlet: Polonius

19. Assonance Definition: repetition of a sound or vowel.
Harry Potter:  "Bone of the father, unwillingly given. Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed"
Hamlet:
Doubt thou the stars are fire
(II,ii,116)

20. Consonance
Definition: Recurrence of similar sounds (consonants) together.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Hamlet:
Till then sit still, my soul. Foul deeds will rise,
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men’s eyes.
(I,ii,256-58)

21. Rhyme
Definition: When two nearby verbs share a similar sound at the end of each word.
Harry Potter: “Babbity Rabbity and the Cackling Stump.”
Hamlet:
If you have hitherto concealed this sight,
Let it be tenable in your silence still.
And whatsoever else shall hap tonight,
(I,ii, )

22. Rhythm Definition: A regular repeated pattern of sound.
Harry Potter: Fred and George use rhythm when trying out a tongue twister.
Hamlet:
All of Hamlet written in iambic pentameter has a stress/unstress rhythm.

23. Meter Definition: The rhythm of a piece of poetry.
Harry Potter: Same as rhythm.
Hamlet: Same as rhythm.

24. End-stopped Line
Definition: There is a pause at the end of a line, as the sentence ends there.
Harry Potter:
Thief, you have been warned, beware Of finding more than treasure there.
Hamlet:
Upon the platform, ’twixt eleven and twelve,
I’ll visit you.
(I,ii, )

25. Run-on Line
Definition: There is no pause as a line ends, as the sentence is not over yet.
Harry Potter:
Thief, you have been warned, beware Of finding more than treasure there.
Hamlet:
Upon the platform, ’twixt eleven and twelve,
I’ll visit you.
(I,ii, )

26. Caesura Definition: A break between words within a line. Harry Potter:
Enter, stranger, but take heed Of what awaits the sin of greed,
Hamlet:
I’ll speak to it, though Hell itself should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto concealed this sight,
(I,ii, )

27. Free Verse
Definition: A poem without a regular rhyme scheme or distinct rhythm.
Poem:
Hamlet:
"Rightly to be great  Is not to move without great argument,  But to find quarrel greatly in worthless land  When honor’s at stake.“
(IV,iv,53-56)

28. Iambic Pentameter
Definition: Ten syllable lines, stressed followed by unstressed.
A few poems:
Hamlet:
To be or not to be, that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
(III,I,67-68)

29. Grammatical/Rhetorical Pause
Definition: A natural pause in a reading. Unmarked by punctuation.
Harry Potter:
“Enter, stranger, but take heed Of what awaits the sin of greed,”
Hamlet:
I’ll speak to it, though Hell itself should gape
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all,
If you have hitherto concealed this sight,
(I,ii, )

30. Concluding Couplet
Definition: The finishing two lines of a poem; they will rhyme.
Harry Potter:
Hamlet: