Literary Terms: S - S

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Sarcasm –

a form of expression which says something opposite from what is meant in a way to criticize or insult or express anger such as describing a bad day by saying, “What a great day I had!”

Satire –

a form of literature which uses exaggerated, flat characters to represent some aspect of a person or society for the purpose of making a critical comment through ridicule.

Scansion –

a way of marking the metrical pattern in a poem

Scene –

a part of the play where specific action occurs; from the Ancient Greek skene, a building behind the platform stage which served as the dressing room for the actors.

Scenery –

items used to create the scene including furnishings and props; lighting, music, costumes, and sound effects are also used in plays

Science fiction –

a type of fantasy that includes unreal scientific technology or events

Second-person narrator (second-person point of view) –

a story told in second person (you); may be from the perspective of a character in the story who knows everything (omniscient narrator) or who has limited knowledge (limited narrator); not generally used in fiction.

Sestet –

a poem or stanza of six lines in a poem

Sestina –

a thirty-nine line poem consisting of six six-line stanzas with a three-line stanza (tercet) at the end

Setting –

the environment in which the action occurs

Shakespearean sonnet –

a sonnet that has three four-line stanzas (quatrains) and a two-line stanza (couplet)

Short story –

a fictional story that is shorter than a novel; usually begins near climax; setting is generally limited, and characters are few and less developed than novel; often includes an epiphany (where a character has a flash of insight).

Short-short story –

a short story from a paragraph to a page or so in length; less than 1500 words; includes flash fiction and micro fiction; also called sudden fiction

Sidekick –

a character subordinate to another character; often used for comic relief

Simile –

a comparison using the word like or as

Situational irony –

an irony created when there is a discrepancy between what is expected to have occurred and what has actually occurred in the situation

Slam poetry –

a movement characterized by the competitive art of performance poetry

Slang –

non-standard use of language

Slant rhyme –

close but not exact rhyme; near rhyme; approximate rhyme

Soliloquy –

where a character shares his or her feelings or thoughts with the audience where no other character can hear

Sonnet –

a fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter with a carefully patterned rhyme scheme

Speaker –

the narrator of a poem

Specific words –

words that specify something such as large, round, blue

Spoken word movement –

a movement starting in the 1990s to make poetry more popular and accessible to everyone; some consider rap an example of this movement

Stage business –

incidental actions or movements of an actor to enhance the performance such as wringing hands or sitting a certain way on a chair

Stage directions –

playwright’s directions in the play to the actors such as possibly where to stand or whether a line should be spoken loudly or quietly

Stage –

the various structures created upon which plays were or are performed including box set, picture frame stage with proscenium arch, thrust stage, arena, and open air.

Staging –

refers to all aspects necessary to produce a play such as arranging for scenery and props, costumes, securing the performance hall, and so on:  the staging of a play.

Standard English –

the form of English which follows rules of grammar without slang or colloquialism

Stanza –

a group of lines generally completing an idea

Stasimon (strophes, antistrophes) –

a section between the episodia where the chorus enters and comments on the action in groups representing different positions: strophes and antistrophes

Static imagery –

an image which is unchanging

Static –

a character that does not change during the story

Stock characters –

stereotyped characters such as the good doctor, the determined detective, the kindly old neighbor lady

Storytelling –

the communication of a series of events which may take different forms such as anecdotes,  myths, fables, tall tales, legends, fairy tales

Stream-of-consciousness –

a style of writing that writes how a person is thinking; written-down thoughts.

Stress –

the emphasis on particular syllables

Style –

the composite of ways a speaker or writer uses language to create a communication

Subject –

the person, object, or topic of focus in literature

Subplot –  

the sequence of events in a subordinate storyline in piece of literature

Sudden fiction –

a type of short story of less than 1500 words; another way of referring to the short-short story

Surrealism –

a literary movement beginning about 1910 where writers wrote automatically rather than with preliminary organizing in an effort to channel inner reality into a writing; followed from a movement in art

Surrealistic stage setting –

the use of colors, props, costumes, lighting, music, and/or scenery that are outside the boundaries of everyday usage such as usual shapes and colors of walls or furniture

Suspense –

the emotional reaction to the conflict in anticipation of future action, climax, and resolution

Symbol –

something that is what it is and also represents something else

Symbolic title –

a title which contains a symbol often helping to reveal theme

Synecdoche –

use of a part of a person to object to refer to the person or the object: the hand that rocked the cradle to refer to the person rocking the cradle

Synesthesia –

the combining of sensory images