Terms : Hide Images
| 32689178 | diction | word choice; the use of words for effect | |
| 32689179 | couplet | two consecutive lines that rhyme | |
| 32689180 | denotation | dictionary meaning | |
| 32689181 | connotation | the feeling the word implies | |
| 32689182 | onomatopoaeia | naming a thing or action by the sound the word is associated with (pop, bang) | |
| 32689183 | euphony | harmonious sounds together | |
| 32689184 | dissonance | the grating of harsh sounds together | |
| 32689185 | cacophony | the mixture of not harmonious sounds | |
| 32689186 | mixed metaphor | the use of two metaphors that do not agree; cheesy and weak | |
| 32689187 | controlling metaphor | a metaphor that dominates an entire poem | |
| 32689188 | simile | a comparison using "like" or "as" | |
| 32689189 | metaphor | a comparison not using "like" or "as"; stronger | |
| 32689190 | metaphysical conceit | a comparison between two unlikely things; spiritual | |
| 32689191 | conceit | comparing two unlike things | |
| 32689192 | coinage | when you make up a word; neologism | |
| 32689193 | colloquialism | informal speech | |
| 32689194 | classic | an author or a literary work of the first rank; as pertains to Greek or Roman | |
| 32689195 | caricature | a picture ludicrously exaggerating the defects of a person; written or drawn | |
| 32689196 | cadence | rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds | |
| 32689197 | bathos | insincere or overdone pathos (appeal to emotion) | |
| 32689198 | pathos | appeal to emotion | |
| 32689199 | refrain | repeating phrase or line | |
| 32689200 | prelude | something that precedes something else; prologue | |
| 32689201 | plaint | a cry expressing grief | |
| 32689202 | persona | a character assumed by the author | |
| 32689203 | parenthetical phrase | a part of a sentence that rambles | |
| 32689204 | anaphora | the same phrase begins a sentence; all are parallel | |
| 32689205 | parallelism | grammatically equal | |
| 32689206 | paradox | a contradicting statement that makes sense | |
| 32689207 | parable | a short story to prove a moral point | |
| 32689208 | metonymy/synecdoche | when a part is used to represent the whole; the police | |
| 32689209 | oxymoron | two contradictory words | |
| 32689210 | inversion | abnormal word order | |
| 32689211 | interior monologue | an extended representation of a fictional character's thoughts | |
| 32689212 | in medias res | in the midst of things | |
| 32689213 | hyperbole | exaggeration | |
| 32689214 | genre | a category of art, music, or literature | |
| 32689215 | free verse | poetry that lacks rhyme or set meter | |
| 32689216 | foreshadowing | hints about what is to come | |
| 32689217 | foot | an unstressed and a stressed syllable | |
| 32689218 | masculine rhyme | when last syllable rhymes (disdain, complain) | |
| 32689219 | feminine rhyme | when last two syllables rhyme (fashion, passion) | |
| 32689220 | euphemism | mild phrase takes the place of a harsh reality | |
| 32689221 | fallacy | faulty reasoning, deceptive fake notion | |
| 32689222 | antithesis | a contrast, usually with opposite words in two different sentences | |
| 32689223 | ambivalent | fluctuating or wavering on a decision or feeling | |
| 32689224 | ambiguity | unclear meaning | |
| 32689225 | enjambment | one thought runs from one line to another without syntactical break | |
| 32689226 | juxtaposition | putting two things side by side to compare them | |
| 32689227 | aesthetic | appealing to the senses; depends on time and place | |
| 32689228 | zeugma | one word, usually a verb, modifies two phrases differently | |
| 32689229 | utopia | "nowhere"; has come to mean "ideal place" | |
| 32689230 | truism | an obvious, true statement | |
| 32689231 | travesty | a grotesque mockery of a serious subject | |
| 32689232 | thesis | main point | |
| 32689233 | symbolism | when something represents something bigger than itself | |
| 32689234 | suspension of disbelief | willingness of an audience to set aside logic for entertainment | |
| 32689235 | stanza | small division of poetry | |
| 32689236 | satire | to make fun of something to fix it | |
| 32689237 | pun | play on words | |
| 32689238 | rhetorical question | a question with an obvious answer or that does not require a response | |
| 32689239 | rhapsody | extremely passionate verse | |
| 32689240 | requiem | song for the dead | |
| 32697535 | abstract | thought of apart from concrete realities | |
| 32697536 | academic | dry, theoretical writing | |
| 32697537 | bombastic | high-sounding, high-flown, stuck-up, pretentious; to impress, but rarely says anything | |
| 32697538 | burlesque | an artistic, funny composition that vulgarizes lofty material (Scary Movie) | |
| 32697539 | parody | making fun of a specific work | |
| 32697540 | decorum | propriety and good taste in conduct or appearance, good manners; in writing, writing according to social class | |
| 32697541 | lament | to express sorrow, often demonstratively | |
| 32697542 | lampoon | a harsh satire usually directed against an individual | |
| 32697543 | lyric | musical and melodious; expresses feeling | |
| 32697544 | objectivity | existing as an object without prejudice | |
| 32697545 | subjectivity | treat it as a subject with prejudice and bias | |
| 32697546 | archaism | something that is outmoded or old-fashioned; diction or style | |
| 32697547 | anecdotal | short, witty stories to make a point | |
| 32697548 | gothic | comes from Goths (1750s-1800s); a style of fiction characterized by the use of darkness, the macabre, the mysterious, or violence | |
| 32697549 | farce | a light dramatic composition marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot; ridiculous or empty show (stupid humor) | |
| 32697550 | elegiac | expressing sorrow or lamentation usually about one person or thing | |
| 32697551 | pastoral | idealizing the countryside | |
| 32697552 | ballad | a narrative composition in rhythmic verse suitable for singing | |
| 32697553 | apostrophe | addressing of a usually absent person or a usually personified thing rhetorically | |
| 32697554 | chorus | a company of singers and dancers in Greek drama participating in or commenting on the action | |
| 32697555 | melodrama | a work (as a movie or play) characterized by extravagant theatricality and by the predominance of plot and physical action over characterization (soap opera) | |
| 32697556 | tragedy | a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror; is usually learned from | |
| 32697557 | comedy | dramatic literature dealing with the comic or with the serious in a light or satirical manner | |
| 32697558 | soliloquy | dramatic speech made by one character that is alone on stage, reflecting his inner thoughts and feelings | |
| 32697559 | monologue | a long speech made by one person | |
| 32697560 | aside | comment made by a character to the audience or another character as if the other characters cannot hear it; often comical | |
| 32697561 | 3rd person omniscient | when the narrator is in the story in a God-like presence | |
| 32697562 | first person | narrator is the only person you hear from in "I" point of view | |
| 32697563 | aphorism | witty statement about life | |
| 32697564 | stock characters | stereotypical, fictional characters; have no depth of character, surface characters of a society | |
| 32700792 | tragic flaw | a personality flaw in a character that brings about the downfall of the hero of a tragedy | |
| 32700793 | catharsis | purging emotions (pity and fear) | |
| 32700794 | hubris | excessive pride; #1 tragic flaw according to literature | |
| 32700795 | tragic hero | literary character in tragedy that makes a mistake in judgement or has a fatal flaw | |
| 32700796 | nemesis | one that inflicts retribution and vengeance on the hero | |
| 32700797 | foil | someone or something that acts as a contrast to another | |
| 32700798 | antihero | a protagonist that is seriously lacking in heroic qualities | |
| 32700799 | 3rd person objective | when the narrator only knows what the other characters tell him (camera eye view) | |
| 32700800 | 3rd person limited | when the narrator only knows thoughts or feelings of a few people | |
| 32700801 | antagonist | force that opposes the main character | |
| 32700802 | protagonist | principle character in a literary work | |
| 32700803 | anticlimax | outcome is strikingly less important or dramatic than expected | |
| 32700804 | canto | a major division of poetry; chapter | |
| 32700805 | personification | giving human form to nonhuman things | |
| 32700806 | anthropomorphism | giving human characteristics to nonhuman things | |
| 32700807 | stream of consciousness | continuous, unedited chronological flows of thought | |
| 32700808 | allusion | reference the author expects you to get (Bible, mythology, history, literature) | |
| 32700809 | assonance | repetition of vowel sounds | |
| 32700810 | consonance | repetition of consonants | |
| 32700811 | alliteration | same beginning consonant sound | |
| 32700812 | allegory | a story where everything is symbolic | |
| 32700813 | situational irony | expecting one thing to happen and something else does | |
| 32700814 | dramatic irony | knowing something (as the audience) that the character needs to know | |
| 32700815 | verbal irony | saying one thing and meaning another | |
| 32700816 | unreliable narrator | a storyteller that cannot be trusted because of prejudice, insanity, or usually age | |
| 32700817 | epitaph | inscription on a tombstone meant to memorialize | |
| 32700818 | mock epic | taking something trivial and raising it up to the level of a hero's battle | |
| 32700819 | epic | a long, narrative poem on a serious subject following the travels of a hero | |
| 32700820 | dramatic monologue | a poem in which the speaker speaks to a person that cannot be heard | |
| 32700821 | doggeral | comic verse; really bad poetry | |
| 32700822 | dirge | a lament for the dead | |
| 32700823 | syntax | sentence structure |
