something within a work of literature that heightens or sets off a main element in the work. A foil is usually a contrast (either a character, event, or image), but sometimes it is parallel.
literature couched in the language of everyday speech and appealing to the common person (also called popular literature)
a story built around the character and exploits of a protagonist who is exemplary and representative of a whole community (also called heroic narrative)
a figure of speech in which a writer uses conscious exaggeration for the sake of effect, usually emotional effect
any concrete picture of reality or human experience, including any sensory experience, a setting, a character, or an event
a situation in which the full meaning of a text depends on its interaction with another text (also called intertextual reading)
an incongruity or discrepancy. There are three main types of literary irony: dramatic, verbal, and situational.
a short poem containing the thoughts or feelings of a speaker. The emotional quality, even more than the reflective is usually considered the differentia of lyric
the generalized, composite story that encompasses the whole body of literature in a single circular story
a discernible pattern composed of individual units, either in a single work or in literature generally. Roughly synonymous with "pattern".