Terms : Hide Images
| 285995227 | allegory | a prose or poetic narrative in which the characters, behavior, and the setting demonstrate multilevels of meaning and significance | |
| 285995228 | alliteration | the sequential initial repetition of a similar sound, usually applied to consonants, usually heard in closely proximate stressed syllables | |
| 285995229 | allusion | a reference to a literary or historical event, person, or place | |
| 290051193 | Anapestic | a metrical foot in poetry that consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed. | |
| 285995230 | anaphora | the regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses | |
| 285995231 | anecdote | a brief story or tale told by a character | |
| 285995232 | antagonist | any force that is in opposition to the main character | |
| 285995233 | antithesis | the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas | |
| 285995234 | apostrophe | an address or invocation to something that is inanimate | |
| 285995235 | archetype | recurrent designs, patterns of action, character types, themes, or images which are identified in a wide range of literature | |
| 285995236 | assonance | a repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually those found in stressed syllables of close proximity | |
| 285995237 | asyndeton | a style in which conjunctions are omitted, usually producing a fast-paced, more rapid prose | |
| 285995238 | attitude | the sense expressed by the tone of voice and/or the mood of a piece of writing | |
| 285995239 | ballad | a narrative poem that is, or originally was, meant to be sung | |
| 285995240 | ballad stanza | a common stanza form, consisting of a stanza of four lines that alternate four-beat and three-beat lines, lines two and four rhyme | |
| 285995241 | blank verse | the verse form that most resembles common speech | |
| 285995242 | caesura | a pause in a line of verse indicated by natural speech patterns rather than due to specific metrical patterns | |
| 285995243 | caricature | a depiction in which a character's characteristics or features are so deliberately exaggerated as to render them absurd | |
| 285995244 | chiasmus | a figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of two parallel clauses is reversed in the second | |
| 285995245 | colloquial | ordinary language | |
| 285995246 | conceit | a comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature | |
| 285995247 | connotation | what is suggested or implied by a word | |
| 285995248 | consonance | the repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening vowels | |
| 285995249 | couplet | two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that together present a single idea or connection | |
| 285995250 | dactylic | a metyrical pattern in which each foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones | |
| 285995251 | denotation | a direct and specific meaning | |
| 285995252 | dialect | the language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group of people | |
| 285995253 | diction | the specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect | |
| 285995254 | dramatic monologue | a monologue set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience | |
| 285995255 | elegy | a poetic lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in consolation | |
| 285995256 | enjambment | the continuation of a sentence from one line or couplet of a poem to the next | |
| 285995257 | epic | a narrative poem that celebrates the achievements of mighty heros and heroines, often concerned with the founding of a nation or developing of a culture; it uses elevated language and grand, high style | |
| 285995258 | exposition | the part of the plot structure that sets the scene, introduces and identifies characters, and establishes the situation | |
| 285995259 | extended metaphor | a detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long section of a work | |
| 290051194 | Fable | a legend or a short moral story often using animals as characters | |
| 285995260 | falling action | the part of the plot structure in which the complications of the rising action are untangled | |
| 285995261 | farce | a play or scene that is characterized by broad humor, wild antics, and slapstick and physical humor | |
| 285995262 | foreshadowing | to hint at or present an indication of the future beforehand | |
| 285995263 | formal diction | language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal | |
| 285995264 | flashback | where an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology | |
| 285995265 | free verse | poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter, and non-rhyming lines | |
| 285995266 | genre | a type of literature | |
| 285995267 | hyperbole | overstatement characterized by exaggerated language | |
| 285995268 | iambic | a metrical form in which each foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one | |
| 285995269 | imagery | the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, call to mind an idea, or describe an object | |
| 285995270 | informal diction | similar to everyday speech | |
| 285995271 | in medias res | "in the midst of things", opening a story in the middle of the action | |
| 285995272 | irony | the contrast between what is expected to happen and what actually happens | |
| 285995273 | jargon | specialized language of a trade or profession | |
| 285995274 | juxtaposition | the location of one thing as being adjacent with another | |
| 285995275 | limited point of view | a perspective confined to a single character, either first person or third person | |
| 285995276 | litote | a figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by understatement | |
| 285995277 | loose sentence | a sentence grammatically complete before the end | |
| 285995278 | lyric | originally designed poems meant to be sung to a lyre; now any short poem in which the speaker expresses intense personal emotion | |
| 285995279 | message | the central idea or statement | |
| 285995280 | metaphor | one thing pictured as if it were something else, without the use of "like" or "as | |
| 285995281 | meter | the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllable in poetry | |
| 285995282 | metonymy | a figure of speech in which an attribute is used to name something | |
| 285995283 | mood | a feeling resulting from the tone, attitude, and point of view of a piece | |
| 285995284 | motif | a recurrent device, formula, or situation that serves as a signal for a character or event | |
| 285995285 | narrative structure | organization based on sequences of connected events | |
| 285995286 | narrator | the character who tells the story | |
| 285995287 | occasional poem | a poem written about or for a specific occasion | |
| 285995288 | ode | a lyric poem that is somewhat serious, elevated in style, and uses elaborate stanza structure | |
| 285995289 | omniscient point of view | the reader has access to the perceptions and thoughts of all the characters | |
| 285995290 | onomatopoeia | a word approximating the sound of what it describes | |
| 285995291 | overstatement | exaggerated language | |
| 285995292 | oxymoron | a figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements | |
| 285995293 | parable | a short fiction that illustrates a moral lesson through the use of analogy | |
| 285995294 | paradox | a statement that seems contradictory but is actually true | |
| 285995295 | parody | a work that imitates another work for comic effect | |
| 285995296 | parallel structure | the use of similar forms for nouns, verbs, phrases, or thoughts | |
| 285995297 | pastoral | a poem that describes the simple life of country folk | |
| 285995298 | periodic sentence | a sentence which is not grammatically complete until the end | |
| 285995299 | persona | the figure who tells and structures the story | |
| 285995300 | personification | treating a nonhuman object as if it were a person | |
| 285995301 | Petrarchan sonnet | Italian sonnet: A sonnet form that divides the poem into one section of eight lines and a second section of six lines. | |
| 285995302 | Plot | the arrangement of the narration based on the cause-effect relationship of the events. | |
| 285995303 | Protagonist | the main character in a work, may or may not be heroic. | |
| 285995304 | Quatrain | a poetic stanza of four lines. | |
| 285995305 | Realism | the practice in literature of attempting to describe nature and life without idealization and with attention to detail. | |
| 285995306 | Refrain | a repeated stanza or line(s) in a poem or song. | |
| 285995307 | Rising action | the development of action in a work, usually at the beginning. | |
| 285995308 | Rhetorical question | A question that is asked simply for stylistic effect and is not expected to be answered. | |
| 285995309 | Rhyme | the repetition of the same or similar sounds, most often at the ends of lines. | |
| 285995310 | Rhythm | the modulation of weak and strong (stressed and unstressed) elements in the flow of speech. | |
| 285995311 | Sarcasm | a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually harshly or bitterly critical. | |
| 285995312 | Satire | a literary work that holds up human failings to ridicule and censure. | |
| 285995313 | Scansion | the analysis of verse to show its meter. | |
| 285995314 | Setting | the time and place of the action in a story, poem, or play. | |
| 285995315 | Shakespearean sonnet | English sonnet: a sonnet form that divides the poem into three units of four lines each and a final unit of two lines. | |
| 285995316 | Shaped verse | another name for concrete poetry: poetry that is shaped to look like an object | |
| 285995317 | Simile | a direct, explicit comparison of one thing to another, usually using the words like or as to draw the connection. | |
| 285995318 | Soliloquy | a monologue in which the character in a play is alone and speaking only to himself or herself | |
| 285995319 | Speaker | the person, not necessarily the author, who is the voice of a poem. | |
| 285995320 | Stanza | a section of a poem demarcated by extra line spacing. | |
| 285995321 | Stereotype | a characterization based on conscious or unconscious assumptions that some one aspect, such as gender, age, ethnic or national identity, religion, occupation, marital status, are predictably accompanied by certain character traits, actions, even values. | |
| 285995322 | Stock character | one who appears in a number of stories or plays such as the cruel stepmother, the femme fatale, etc. | |
| 285995323 | Structure | the organization or arrangement of the various elements in a work. | |
| 285995324 | Style | a distinctive manner of expression: diction, rhythm, imagery, and so on. | |
| 285995325 | Symbolism | a person, place, thing, event, or pattern in a literary work that designates itself and at the same time figuratively represents or "stands for" something else. | |
| 285995326 | Synecdoche | When a part is used to signify a whole. | |
| 285995327 | Syntax | the way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. | |
| 285995328 | Terza rima | a verse form consisting of three-line stanzas in which the second line of each rhymes with the first and third of the next. | |
| 285995329 | Theme | a generalized, abstract paraphrase of the inferred central or dominant idea or concern of a work. | |
| 285995330 | Tone | the attitude a literary work takes toward its subject and theme | |
| 285995331 | Tragedy | a drama in which a character is brought to a disastrous end in his or her confrontation with a superior force. | |
| 285995332 | Trochaic | a metrical foot in poetry that is the opposite of iambic. The first syllable is stressed, the second is not. | |
| 285995333 | Turning point | the third part of plot structure, the point at which the action stops rising and begins falling or reversing. | |
| 285995334 | Villanelle | a verse form consisting of nineteen lines divided into six stanzas-five tercets and one quatrain. | |
| 285995335 | Voice | the acknowledged or unacknowledged source of the words of the story. |
