Terms : Hide Images
| 4125347280 | Alliteration | The repetition of accented consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close to each other, usually create and effect, rhythm, or emphasis | 0 | |
| 4125352153 | Allusion | A reference in literature or in art to previous literature, history, mythology, pop culture/current events, or the Bible | 1 | |
| 4125353540 | Ambiguity | Quality of being intentionally unclear. Events or situations that are ambiguous (vague) can be interpreted in more than one way. This device is especially beneficial in poetry, as it tend to grace the work with the richness and depth of multiple meanings. | 2 | |
| 4125360672 | Anchronism | An element of the story that is out of its time frame; it is sometimes used to create a humorous or jarring effect. Beware: This can also occur because of careless or poor research on the author's part. | 3 | |
| 4125365410 | Analogy | Clarifies or explains an unfamiliar concept or object, or one that cannot be put into words, by comparing it with one which is familiar. By explaining the abstract in terms of the concrete, an analogy may force the reader to think more critically about the concept. Analogies tend to appear more often in PROSE than poetry. They enliven writing by making it more interesting, entertaining, and understandable. SIMILES and METAPHORS are two specific types of analogies. | 4 | |
| 4125375825 | Analysis | The process of examining the components of a literary work. | 5 | |
| 4125377275 | Anapest | The poetic foot (measure) that follows the pattern unaccented, accented. The poet is usually trying to convey a rollicking, moving rhythm with this pattern. "I am monarch of all I survey." | 6 | |
| 4125386199 | Anecdote | A short and often personal story used to emphasize a point, to develop a character or a theme, or to inject humor. | 7 | |
| 4125387560 | Antagonist | A character who functions as a resisting force to the goals of the protagonist. The antagonist is often the villain, but in a case where the protagonist is evil (for example, in Macbeth), the antagonist may be virtuous/good (for example, Macduff). | 8 | |
| 4125391772 | Antecedent | The word or phrase to which a pronoun refers. It often precedes a pronoun in prose (but NOT necessarily in poetry). | 9 | |
| 4125394641 | Anticlimax | An often disappointing, sudden end to an intense situation. | 10 | |
| 4125396670 | Antihero | A protagonist who carries the action of the literary piece but does not embody the classic characteristics of courage, strength, and nobility. (for example: Holden Caulfield, Catcher in the Rye) | 11 | |
| 4125403061 | Antithesis | A concept that is directly opposed to a previously presented idea. | 12 | |
| 4125409674 | Aphorism | A terse (abrupt) statement that expresses a general truth or moral principle - sometimes considered a folk proverb. Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. | 13 | |
| 4125414414 | Apostrophe | A rhetorical (not expecting an answer) figure of direct address to a person, object, or abstract entity. John Donne's sonnet, "Death, Be not Proud," or Antony's address to the dead Caesar in Julius Caesar. | 14 | |
| 4125424430 | Apotheosis | Elevating someone to the level of a god. Many people revere (respect) MLK. Helen of Troy is considered the apotheosis of beauty. | 15 | |
| 4125428365 | Archetype | A character, situation, or symbol that is familiar to people from all cultures because it occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore. Character: An archetypal gunslinger, having been forced to kill once more, rides off into the sunset, leaving behind a town full of amazed and awestruck citizens. Situation: Just when it looks like the battle will be own by the enemy, reinforcements arrive. Symbol: dove of peace | 16 | |
| 4125465267 | Aside | A short speech or remark made by an actor to the audience rather than to the other characters, who do not hear him or her. Shakespeare's characters often share their thoughts with us in this way. | 17 | |
| 4125481022 | Assonance | The author's feelings toward a topic he or she is writing. Attitude, often used interchangeably with "tone," is usually revealed through word choice. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses an innocent and unjaded child narrator to express her own attitude toward prejudice. | 18 | |
| 4125490620 | Aubade | A poem or song about lovers who must leave one another in the early hours of the morning. | 19 | |
| 4125491945 | Ballad | A folk song or poem passed down orally that tells a story which may be derived from an actual incident or from legend or folklore. Usually composed in four-line stanzas (quatraines) with the rhyme scheme accb. Ballads often contain a refrain. | 20 | |
| 4125496353 | Blank verse | Unrhymed poetry of iambic pentameter (five feet of two syllables each - stressed and unstressed) - favored technique of Shakespeare. | 21 | |
| 4125500471 | Cacophony | Harsh, discordant sounds, unpleasant to the ear - the sounds of nails scratching a blackboard is cacophonous. Cacophony is used by poets for effect. | 22 | |
| 4125502793 | Carpe diem | Latin for "seize the day" - frequent in the 16th and 17th century court poetry. Expresses the idea that you only go around once, refers | 23 | |
| 4125517199 | Cartharsis | In his Poetics, Aristotle wrote that a tragedy should "arouse pity and fear in such a way as to accomplish a cartharsis of such emotions in the audience." The term refers to an emotional cleansing or feeling of relief. | 24 | |
| 4126363871 | Chiasmus | The opposite of parallel construction - inverting the second of two phrases that would otherwise be in parallel form. "I like the idea; its execution, I don't" "I like the idea; I dont like its execution." (parallel) | 25 | |
| 4126367812 | Colloquial | Of relating to slang or regional dialect, used in familiar everyday conversation. In writing, an informal style that reflects the way people spoke in the distinct time and/or place. | 26 | |
| 4126370814 | Comic Relief | Humor that provides a release of tension and breaks up a more serious episode. | 27 | |
| 4126372512 | Conceit | A far-fetched comparison between two seemingly unlike things - an extended metaphor that gains appeal from its unusual or extraordinary comparison. Donne begs his beloved not to kill the flea that has bitten both of them because their blood is mingled in the flea... (The conceit is that he compares the flea to a marriage-bed and a temple). | 28 | |
| 4126384471 | Connotation | Associations a word calls to mind. House and home have the same dictionary meaning - a place to live. Bu home connotes warmth and security; house does not. The more connotative a piece is, the less objective its interpretation becomes. Careful, close reading often reveals the writer's intent. Examples of very connotative words are light, fire, mother, father, rose, water, home. | 29 | |
| 4126391427 | Consonance | Same consonant sounds in words with different vowel sounds. The following reflect consonance: work, stack, ark, belong, among. | 30 | |
| 4126402004 | Conventional Characters | A character with traits that are expected or traditional. Heroes are expected to be strong, adventurous, and unafraid. Conventional female characters often yearn for a husband, or once married, stay at home and care for their children; conventional men are adventurers. If married, the tend to "wear the pants in the family." Mrs. Bennet in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a conventional wife and mother who wants her daughters married. | 31 | |
| 4126410980 | Couplet | Two successive rhyming lines of the same number of syllables, with matching cadence. "Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest." (Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man) | 32 | |
| 4126436201 | Dactyl | Foot of poetry with three syllables, one stressed and two short or unstressed. Think of the waltz rhythm. "Just for handful of silver he left us." Browning | 33 | |
| 4126440348 | Denotation | The dictionary or literal meaning of a word or phrase. Compare to connotation. Thin's denotation is not fat. Skinny and scrawny also refer to some or something that is not fat, but they imply or connote underfed or unattractively thin. | 34 | |
| 4126448847 | denouement | The outcome or clarification at the end of a story or play; the winding down from climax to ending. In The Scarlett Letter the denouement occurs after Dimmesdale's death. | 35 | |
| 4126452945 | deus ex machina | Literally, when the gods intervene at a story's end to resolve a seemingly impossible conflict. Snow White - when prince kisses beautiful princess and awakes her from eternal slumber | 36 | |
| 4126457471 | diction | The deliberate choice of a style of language for a desired effect or tone. Words chosen to achieve a particular effect that is formal, informal, or colloquial. | 37 | |
| 4126461103 | Diadactic | A didactic story, speech, essay or play is one in which the author's primary purpose is to instruct, teach, or moralize. Like Aesop's fables | 38 | |
| 4126463675 | Distortion | An exaggeration or stretching of the truth to achieve a desired effect. | 39 | |
| 4126467149 | Enjambment | In poetry, the running over of a sentence from one verse or stanza into the next without stopping at the end of the first. | 40 | |
| 4126469448 | Epigram | A short, clever poem with a witty turn of thoughts. | 41 | |
| 4126478452 | Epigraph | A brief quotation found at the beginning of a literary work, reflective of the theme. | 42 | |
| 4126479346 | Epiphany | Eureka! A sudden flash of insight. A startling discovery and/or appearance; a dramatic realization. | 43 | |
| 4126481133 | Epistolary novel | A novel in letter form written by one or more of the characters. The novelist can use this technique to present varying first person points of view and does not need a narrator. C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters or Alice Walker's The Color Purple | 44 | |
| 4126486565 | Essay | A short composition on a single topic expressing the view or interperation of the writer on that topic. The word comes from the French essayer ("to attempt" "to try"). It is one of the oldest forms of prose. | 45 | |
| 4126492447 | Euphemism | Substitution of a inoffensive word or phrase for another that would be harsh, offensive, or embarrassing. A euphemism makes something sound better than it is but is usually more wordy than the original. "He passed on" rather than "he died." A dishwasher calling herself a "utensil maintenance technician." | 46 | |
| 4126504096 | Euphony | The quality of a pleasant or harmonious sound of a word or group of words as an intended effect. Often achieved through long vowels an some consonants, such as "sh." "The gray sea and the long black land" | 47 | |
| 4126507588 | Farce | A kind of comedy that depends on exaggerated or improbable situations, physical disasters, and sexual innuendo to amuse the audience. Many situation comedies on tv today might be called farces. Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew | 48 | |
| 4126513559 | Figurative language | Unlike literal expression, figurative language uses figures of speech such as metaphor, simile, metonymy, personification, and hyperbole. Figurative language appeals to one's senses. Most poetry contains figurative language. | 49 | |
| 4126520234 | First person | A character in the story tells the story, using the pronoun I. This is a limited point of view since the narrator can relate only events that he or she sees or is told about. The Great Gatsby - narrator Nick Carraway | 50 | |
| 4126525655 | Flashback | Interruption of a narrative by the introduction of an earlier event or by an image of a past experience. | 51 | |
| 4126532222 | Flat Character | A simple, one-dimensional character who remains the same, and about whom little or nothing is revealed throughout the course of the work. Flat characters may serve as symbols of types of people, similar to stereotypical characters. The Great Gatsby - Tom Buchanan | 52 | |
| 4126538899 | Foil | A character who contrasting personal characteristics draw attention to, enhance, or contrast with those of the main character. A character who, by displaying opposite traits, emphasizes certain aspects of another character. | 53 | |
| 4126542285 | Foreshadowing | Foreshadowing hints at what is to come. It is times noticeable only in hindsight, but usually it is obvious enough to se the reader wondering. The rosebush at the beginning of The Scarlett Letter foreshadows some of the tale. | 54 | |
| 4127312725 | free verse | Poetry that does not have regular rhythm or rhyme. | 55 | |
| 4127423739 | Genre | The category into which a piece of writing can be classified - poetry, prose, drama. Each genre has its own conventions and standards. | 56 | |
| 4127425756 | Heroic Couplet | In poetry a rhymed couplet written in iambic pentameter (five feet, each with one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). | 57 | |
| 4130144021 | Hubris | Insolence, arrogance, or pride. In Greek tragedy, the protagonist's hubris is usually the tragic fall that leads to his or her downfall. | 58 | |
| 4130147082 | Hyperbole | An extreme exaggeration for literary effect that is not meant to be interpreted literally. | 59 | |
| 4130150080 | Iambic pentameter | A five-foot line made up of an unaccented followed by an accented syllable. It is the most common metric foot in English-language poetry. "When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain." (Keats, "When I have fears") | 60 | |
| 4130153803 | Imagery | Anything that effects or appeals to the reader's senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell. | 61 | |
| 4130155917 | in media res | In literature, a work that begins in the middle of the story. The Odyssey, Medea, Oedipus Rex all begin in media res. | 62 | |
| 4130158004 | Interior monoloque | A literary technique used in poetry and prose that reveals a character's unspoken thoughts and feelings. An interior monologue may be presented directly by the character, or through a narrator. See also stream of consciousness) | 63 | |
| 4130162149 | Internal Rhyme | A rhyme that is within the line, rather than at the end. The rhyming may also be within two lines, but again, each rhyming word will be within its line, rather than at the beginning or end. Within the line: "A narrow fellow in the grass" (Emily Dickenson) Within two lines: "We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry. It was bare and bright and smelled like a stable --" (Edna St. Vincent Millay) | 64 | |
| 4130168677 | Inversion | A switch in the normal word order, often used for emphasis or for rhyme scheme. Strong he was. | 65 | |
| 4130171063 | Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet | Fourteen line poem divided into two parts (first is eight lines (abbaabba) and the second is six (cdcdcd or cdecde). | 66 | |
| 4130173238 | litotes | Affirmation of an idea using a negative understatement. The opposite of a hyperbole. He was not averse to taking a drink. She is no saint. | 67 | |
| 4130175424 | lyric poem | A fairly short, emotionally expressive poem that expresses the feelings and observations of a single speaker. | 68 | |
| 4130177199 | Metamorphisis | A radical change in a character, either physical or emotional. | 69 | |
| 4130179093 | Metaphor | A figure of speech which compares two dissimilar things, asserting that one thing, not just that one is like another. Compare with analogy and simile. "Life's but a walking shadow." Macbeth | 70 | |
| 4130182663 | Meter | The rhymical pattern of a poem. Just as all words are pronounced with accented (or stressed) syllables and unnacented (or unstressed) syllables, lines of poetry are assigned similar rhythms. English poetry uses five basic metric feet. iamb- unstressed, stressed: before trochee -stressed, unstressed: weather anapest - unstressed, unstressed, stressed: contradict dactyl - stressed, unstressed, unstressed: satisfy spondee - equally stressed: One word spondees are very rare in the English language. | 71 | |
| 4130193160 | Metonymy | A figure of speech that replaces the name of something with a word or phrase closely associated with it. Similar to synecdoche (many authors do not distinguish between the two) "the White House" instead of "the president" or "the presidency" "brass" to mean "military officers" "suits" instead of "supervisors" | 72 | |
| 4130200905 | myth | A story, usually with supernatural significance, that explains the origins of gods, heroes, or natural phenomena. Although myths are fictional stories, they contain deeper truths, particularly about eh nature of humankind. The greek myth of Demeter and Persephone explains the seasons. | 73 | |
| 4130204909 | narrative poems | A poem that tells a story. Paul Revere's Ride by Longfellow | 74 | |
| 4130206875 | Near, Off, or Slant Rhyme | A rhyme based on an imperfect or incomplete correspondence of end syllable sounds. | 75 | |
| 4130210800 | Onomatopeoeia | Words that imitate sounds. | 76 | |
| 4130211889 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech that combines two contradictory words, placed side by side: bitter sweet, wise fool, living death. "Feather of lead, bright somke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!" Romeo and Juliet | 77 | |
| 4130215764 | Parable | A short story illustrating a moral or religious lesson. | 78 | |
| 4130217122 | Paradox | A statement or situation that at first seems impossible or oxymoronic, but which solves itself and reveals meaning. | 79 | |
| 4130220377 | Paralllelism | The repeated use of the same grammatical structure in a sentence or a series of sentences. This device tends to emphasize what is said and thus underscores the meaning. Can also refer to tow or more stories within a literary work that are told simultaneously and that reinforce one another. | 80 | |
| 4130225103 | Parody | A comical imitation of a serious piece with the intent of ridiculing the author or his work. | 81 | |
| 4130226624 | Pastoral | A poem, play, or story that celebrates and idealizes the simple life of shepherds and shepherdesses. This highly conventional form was popular until the late 18th century. The term has also come to refer to an artistic work that portrays rural life in an idyllic or idealistic way. | 82 | |
| 4136355239 | Periodic sentence | A sentence that delivers its point at the end- usually contructed as a subordinate clause followed by a main clause. At the piano she practices her scales. | 83 | |
| 4136360631 | Personification | The attribution of human characteristics to an animal or to an inanimate object. | 84 | |
| 4136364304 | Point of view | Perspective of the speaker or narrator in a literary work. | 85 | |
| 4136367426 | protagonist | The main or principal character in a work - often considered the hero or heroine. | 86 | |
| 4136370998 | pun | Humorous play on words that have several meanings or words that sound the same but have different meanings. | 87 | |
| 4136376872 | Quatrain | four line stanza | 88 | |
| 4136376873 | Refrain | Repetition of a line, stanza, or phrase | 89 | |
| 4136379592 | Repetition | A word or phrase used more than once to emphasize an idea. | 90 | |
| 4136382802 | Rhetorical question | A question with an obvious answer, so no response is expected - used for emphasis or to make a point. | 91 | |
| 4136386567 | Satire | The use of humor to ridicule and expose the shortcomings and failings of society, individuals, and institutions -- often in the hope that change and reform are possible. | 92 | |
| 4136394319 | Sestet | A six line stanza of poetry - also the last six lines of a sonnet. | 93 | |
| 4136397801 | Shift | In writing, a movement from one thought or idea to another - a change. | 94 | |
| 4136400590 | Simile | A comparison of unlike things using the word like or as or so | 95 | |
| 4136402541 | Soliloquy | A character's speech to the audience, in which emotions and ideas are revealed. A monologue is a soliloquy only if the character is alone on stage. Macbeth's famous "Is this a dagger I see before me?" speech | 96 | |
| 4136412645 | Sonnet (English or Shakespearean) | Traditionally, a fourteen line love poem in iambic pentameter, but in contemporary poetry, themes and form vary. A conventional Shakespearian sonnet's prescribed rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. The final couplet gg sums up or resolves the situation described in the previous lines. | 97 | |
| 4136429121 | Stanza | A grouping of poetic lines - a deliberate arrangement of lines of poetry. | 98 | |
| 4136433186 | Stock character | A stereotypical character, a type. The audience expects the character to have certain characteristics. Similar to conventional character or flat character. | 99 | |
| 4136437571 | Stream of consciousness | A form of writing which replicates the way the human mind works. Ideas are presented in random order, thoughts are often unfinished. (See also interior monologue). William Faulkner The Sound and the Fury Morrison's Beloved | 100 | |
| 4136449453 | Structure | The particular way in which parts of a written work are combined. | 101 | |
| 4136451650 | Style | The way a writer uses language. Takes into account word choice, diction, figures of speech etc. The writer's voice. Hemingway's style is simple straightforward. Fitzgerald is poetic and full of imagery. Virginia Wolf is often abstract. | 102 | |
| 4136461603 | Synecdoche | A figure of speech where one part represents the entire object, or vice versa. All hands on deck Lend me your ears | 103 | |
| 4136465902 | Syntax | The way in which words, phrases, and sentences are ordered or connected. Many of Mark Twains's characters speak in dialect, so their syntax is ungrammatical. | 104 | |
| 4136470832 | Theme | The central idea of a literary work. | 105 | |
| 4136472948 | Tone | Refers to the author's attitude toward the subject, and often sets the mood of the piece. | 106 | |
| 4136476891 | Tongue in cheek | Expressing a thought in a way that appears to be sincere, but is actually joking. | 107 | |
| 4136480652 | Tragic Flaw | Traditionally, a defect in a hero or heroine that leads to his or her downfall. Oedipus' pride Othello's jealousy Hamlet's indecisiveness | 108 | |
| 4136486851 | Transition or seque | The means to get from one portion of a poem or a story to another; for instance, to another setting, to another character's viewpoint, to a later or earlier time period. It is a way of smoothly connecting different parts of a work. Authors often use transitional sentences or phrases to achieve this. Include - "the next day" "thereafter" | 109 |
