Terms : Hide Images
| 5802104681 | Abstract | existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concrete existence; a summary of the contents of a book, article, or formal speech. | 0 | |
| 5802105357 | Active Voice | a sentence in which the subject does the acting. | 1 | |
| 5802106128 | Adage | a saying or proverb containing a truth based on experience and often couched in metaphorical language. | 2 | |
| 5802106769 | Allegory | a story in which the narrative or characters carry an underlying symbolic, metaphorical, or possibly an ethical meaning; the story and characters represent values beyond themselves. | 3 | |
| 5802107037 | Alliteration | the repetition of one or more initial consonants in a group of words or lines of poetry or prose. | 4 | |
| 5802107728 | Anachronism | a person, scene, event, or other element in literature that fails to correspond with the time or era in which the work is set. | 5 | |
| 5802107729 | Analogy | a comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things. | 6 | |
| 5802108172 | Annotation | a note of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram. | 7 | |
| 5802108966 | Apostrophe | a rhetorical device in which a speaker addresses a person or personified thing not present. | 8 | |
| 5802110133 | Archetype | an abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form. | 9 | |
| 5802110601 | Aside | when a character's short dialogue is spoken but not heard by the other actors on the stage. | 10 | |
| 5802110803 | Aphorism | a pithy observation that contains a general truth, such as, "it it ain't broke, don't fix it." | 11 | |
| 5802111480 | Apollonian | in contrast to Dionysian, it refers to the most noble, godlike qualities of human nature and behavior. | 12 | |
| 5802111761 | Assonance | the repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines in poetry and prose. | 13 | |
| 5802112127 | Ballad | a simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited. | 14 | |
| 5802112474 | Bard | a poet; in olden times, a performer who told heroic stories to a musical accompaniment. | 15 | |
| 5802112838 | Belles-Lettres | a French term for the world of books, criticism, and literature in general. | 16 | |
| 5802113096 | Bildungsroman | a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education. | 17 | |
| 5802113330 | Blank Verse | a verse without rhyme. | 18 | |
| 5802113644 | Cacophony | grating, inharmonious sounds. | 19 | |
| 5802114008 | Caesura | a pause near the middle of a line in modern verse. | 20 | |
| 5802114865 | Canon | the works considered most important in a national literature or period; works widely read and studied. | 21 | |
| 5802115314 | Caricature | a grotesque likeness of striking qualities in persons and things. | 22 | |
| 5802115535 | Classicism | deriving from the orderly qualities of ancient Greek and Roman culture; implies formality, objectivity, simplicity, and restraint. | 23 | |
| 5802115748 | Comedy | a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its tone, mostly having cheerful ending; typically ends in marriage. | 24 | |
| 5802115979 | Conceit | a figure of speech in which two vastly different objects are likened together with the help of similes or metaphors. | 25 | |
| 5802116571 | Connotation | an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning. | 26 | |
| 5802117408 | Consonance | the repetition of two or more consonant sounds in a group of words or a line of poetry. | 27 | |
| 5802117815 | Couplet | a pair of rhyming lines in a poem. | 28 | |
| 5802118063 | Denotation | the literal or primary meaning of a word. | 29 | |
| 5802118371 | Deus Ex Machina | in literature, the use of an artificial device or gimmick to solve a problem. | 30 | |
| 5802118641 | Diction | the choice of words in oral and written discourse. | 31 | |
| 5802119122 | Dionysian | as distinguished from Apollonian, this word refers to sensual, pleasure-seeking impulses. | 32 | |
| 5802119975 | Dramatic Irony | a circumstance in which the audience or reader knows more about a situation than a character. | 33 | |
| 5802120487 | Elegy | a poem or prose selection that laments or meditates on the passing or death of something or someone of value. | 34 | |
| 5802120993 | Ellipses | a literary device that is used in narratives to omit some parts of a sentence or event, which gives the reader a chance to fill the gaps. | 35 | |
| 5802121287 | Enjambment | the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza. | 36 | |
| 5802121792 | Epic | a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation. | 37 | |
| 5802122211 | Epigram | a pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in a clever and amusing way. | 38 | |
| 5802122750 | Epithet | an adjective or phrase that expresses a striking quality of a person or thing. | 39 | |
| 5802122932 | Eponymous Character | a term for the title character of a work of literature. | 40 | |
| 5802124344 | Euphony | pleasing, harmonious sounds. | 41 | |
| 5802125401 | Exegesis | a detailed analysis or interpretation of a work of literature. | 42 | |
| 5802125717 | Explication | the interpretation or analysis of a text. | 43 | |
| 5802126660 | Exposé | a piece of writing that reveals weakness, faults, frailties, or other shortcomings. | 44 | |
| 5802127081 | Exposition | a literary device used to introduce background information about events, settings, characters etc. to the audience or readers. | 45 | |
| 5802127403 | Extended Metaphor | a series of comparisons between two unlike objects. | 46 | |
| 5802129030 | Fable | a short tale often featuring nonhuman characters that act as people whose actions enable the author to make observations or draw useful lessons about human behavior. | 47 | |
| 5802130222 | Fantasy | a story containing unreal, imaginary features. | 48 | |
| 5802130711 | Farce | a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations. | 49 | |
| 5802132132 | Free Verse | a kind of poetry without rhymed lines, rhythm, or fixed metrical feet. | 50 | |
| 5802132903 | Genre | a term used to describe literary forms, such as a novel, play, and essay. | 51 | |
| 5802133864 | Harangue | a forceful sermon, lecture, or tirade. | 52 | |
| 5802134732 | Hegemony | a dominant cultural trend. | 53 | |
| 5802135060 | Hubris | the excessive pride that often leads tragic heroes to their death. | 54 | |
| 5802135604 | Humanism | a belief that emphasizes faith and optimism in human potential and creativity. | 55 | |
| 5802135901 | Hyperbole | overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect. | 56 | |
| 5802136441 | Idyll | a lyric poem or passage that describes a kind of ideal life or place. | 57 | |
| 5802137007 | In Medias Res | a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point. | 58 | |
| 5802137271 | Irony | the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect. | 59 | |
| 5802137742 | Kenning | a device employed in Anglo-Saxon poetry in which the name of a thing is replaced by one of its functions or qualities. | 60 | |
| 5802138157 | Litotes | a form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity. | 61 | |
| 5802138985 | Lyric Poetry | personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject. | 62 | |
| 5802139565 | Melodrama | a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions. | 63 | |
| 5802140211 | Metaphysical Poetry | the work of poets, particularly those of the seventeenth century, that uses elaborate conceits, is highly intellectual, and expresses the complexities of love and life. | 64 | |
| 5802140443 | Meter | the stressed and unstressed syllabic pattern in a verse or within the lines of a poem. | 65 | |
| 5802140823 | Metonymy | a figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated. | 66 | |
| 5802141257 | Middle English | the language spoken in England roughly between 1150 and 1500 A.D. | 67 | |
| 5802141258 | Mock Epic | a parody of traditional epic form; it usually treats a frivolous topic with extreme seriousness, using conventions such as invocations to the Muse, action-packed battle scenes, and accounts of heroic exploits. | 68 | |
| 5802144564 | Monologue | any speech of some duration addressed by one character to another character or characters. | 69 | |
| 5802144791 | Mood | the emotional tone in a work of literature. | 70 | |
| 5802145299 | Motif | a phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature. | 71 | |
| 5802147345 | Muse | one of the ancient Greek goddesses presiding over the arts; the imaginary source of inspiration for an artist or writer. | 72 | |
| 5802147922 | Myth | an imaginary story that has become an accepted part of the cultural or religious tradition of a group or society. | 73 | |
| 5802148357 | Novel of Manners | a novel focusing on and describing the social customs and habits of a particular social group. | 74 | |
| 5802149068 | Novella | a short novel or long short story. | 75 | |
| 5802149485 | Old English | the Anglo-Saxon language spoken in what is now England from approximately 450 to 1150 A.D. | 76 | |
| 5802149834 | Onomatopoeia | the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. | 77 | |
| 5802150015 | Ottava Rima | a form of poetry consisting of stanzas of eight lines of ten or eleven syllables, rhyming abababcc. | 78 | |
| 5802150634 | Parable | a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. | 79 | |
| 5802150965 | Paraphrase | A version of a text put into simpler, everyday words. | 80 | |
| 5802151416 | Passive Voice | a sentence in which the subject is acted upon by the verb. | 81 | |
| 5802152376 | Pastoral Literature | a work of literature dealing with rural life. | 82 | |
| 5802152645 | Pathetic Fallacy | the attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals, especially in art and literature. | 83 | |
| 5802153326 | Pathos | a quality of an experience in life or a work of art that stirs up emotions of pity, sympathy and sorrow. | 84 | |
| 5802153713 | Picaresque Novel | an episodic novel about a roguelike wanderer who lives off his wits. | 85 | |
| 5802154293 | Point-of-View | the narrator's position in relation to the story being told. | 86 | |
| 5802154584 | Prophecy | an assumption or prediction that is made early on either by the author or a character in a book. | 87 | |
| 5802154917 | Prosody | the grammar of meter and rhythm in poetry. | 88 | |
| 5802155419 | Pulp Fiction | novels written for mass consumption, often emphasizing exciting and titillating plots. | 89 | |
| 5802156037 | Quatrain | a stanza of four lines, especially one having alternate rhymes. | 90 | |
| 5802156038 | Realism | the depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect. | 91 | |
| 5802156361 | Roman à clef | a novel in which real people or events appear with invented names. | 92 | |
| 5802156879 | Satire | the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. | 93 | |
| 5802158805 | Situational Irony | when an incongruity appears between expectations of something to happen and what actually happens instead. | 94 | |
| 5802159307 | Soliloquy | a long speech that a character makes in a work of drama only to him or herself. | 95 | |
| 5802159492 | Sonnet | a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes (usually iambic pentameter). | 96 | |
| 5802159833 | Stream-of-Consciousness | a style of writing in which the author tries to reproduce the random flow of thoughts in the human mind. | 97 | |
| 5802161138 | Style | the manner in which an author uses and arranges words. | 98 | |
| 5802161780 | Subplot | a subordinate or minor collection of events in a novel or play, usually connected to the main plot. | 99 | |
| 5802161781 | Subtext | The implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of a work of literature. | 100 | |
| 5802162332 | Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning "Cleveland's baseball team"). | 101 | |
| 5802162909 | Tragedy | a form of literature in which the hero is destroyed by some character flaw and a set of forces that cause the hero considerable anguish; typically ends in death. | 102 | |
| 5802163277 | Tragic Hero | a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. | 103 | |
| 5802163735 | Tone | an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. | 104 | |
| 5802164127 | Verbal Irony | a discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the written or spoken words. | 105 | |
| 5802164863 | Verisimilitude | similar to the truth; the quality of realism in a work that persuades readers that they are getting a vision of life as it is. | 106 | |
| 5802165093 | Versification | the structural form of a line of verse as revealed by the number of feet it contains. | 107 | |
| 5802165396 | Villanelle | a nineteen-line poem with two rhymes throughout, consisting of five tercets and a quatrain, with the first and third lines of the opening tercet recurring alternately at the end of the other tercets. | 108 | |
| 5802165813 | Voice | the form or a format through which narrators tell their stories. | 109 |
