Terms : Hide Images
| 6473472012 | Allegory | A narrative or description having a second, deeper meaning beyond the surface layer. There is a literal meaning to the narrative or description, which also represents a higher meaning often relating to a system of principles or ideas. | 0 | |
| 6473499124 | Alliteration | The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of a word. Examples: mirror, moon, money | 1 | |
| 6473504397 | Allusion | A reference to another work of literature, person, or event. | 2 | |
| 6473504415 | Ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. | 3 | |
| 6473507700 | Anapestic | is a poetic device defined as a metrical foot in a line of a poem that contains three syllables wherein the first two syllables are short and unstressed followed by a third syllable that is long and stressed (unstressed/unstressed/stressed) | 4 | |
| 6473507878 | Anaphora | Repetition of an opening word or phrase in a series of lines. | 5 | |
| 6473510452 | Anecdote | A very short tale told by a character in a literary work. | 6 | |
| 6473510453 | Anagonist | Any force aligned against the protagonist | 7 | |
| 6473512079 | Antithesis | A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences. | 8 | |
| 6473512080 | Apostrophe | Addressing someone absent or dead or something inhuman as if it were alive and present and could reply. | 9 | |
| 6473513273 | Archetype | A term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader. | 10 | |
| 6473513274 | Aside | A combination of a monologue and a soliloquy in which a character reveals his or her thoughts as if there were no other characters on stage. The character speaks to the audience, but the other characters are not meant to hear what is said. | 11 | |
| 6473513780 | Assonance | Repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words | 12 | |
| 6473524850 | Asyndeton | An author belief toward his or her subject, and/or his or her audience | 13 | |
| 6473526116 | Attitude | An author belief toward his or her subject, and/or his or her audience | 14 | |
| 6473526117 | Audience | the receiving end. Always important to write and speak with the audience in mind. Clarity, brevity, interest, reaction, etc... | 15 | |
| 6473527437 | Ballad | A form of narrative poetry that presents a single dramatic episode, which is often tragic or violent | 16 | |
| 6473527438 | Ballad Stanza | a common stanza form, consisting of a quatrain that alternates four-foot and three-foot lines; lines 1 and 3 are unrhymed iambic tetrameter (four feet), and lines 2 and 4 are rhymed iambic trimester (three feet), as in "Sir Patrick Spens." | 17 | |
| 6473530246 | Blank Verse | the metrical verse form most like everyday human speech; this consists of unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter. | 18 | |
| 6473530247 | Caesura | A pause within a line of poetry. Usually a dash or comma will indicate the reader should pause | 19 | |
| 6473533191 | Caricature | a portrait (verbal or otherwise) that exaggerates a facet of personality | 20 | |
| 6473533192 | Central Idea (Theme) | The main idea or meaning of a text | 21 | |
| 6473534969 | Characterization | The creation and development of the people who take part in the story;Includes appearance, personality, behavior, beliefs, relationships | 22 | |
| 6473534970 | Chiasmus | Inversion in the second of two parallel phrases Example: "It's not the men in my life, it's the life in my men." | 23 | |
| 6473536436 | Climax | Most exciting moment of the story; turning point | 24 | |
| 6473536437 | Colloquial | Language that is conversational or informal. May contain slang or non-standard grammar usage. | 25 | |
| 6473538191 | Comedy | Drama that is meant to amuse the audience through wit, humor, subtlety, character | 26 | |
| 6473538192 | Conceit | Extended metaphor or simile, often yoking together two apparently unconnected, highly dissimilar ideas | 27 | |
| 6473539531 | Concrete Poetry | poems shaped like their subjects. arranged as pictures on pages | 28 | |
| 6473539532 | Connotation | what a word suggests or implies, not its literal meaning--i.e., dark meaning dangerous instead lacking of light | 29 | |
| 6473540992 | Consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds WITHIN words--"A flock of sick, black-checkered ducks." | 30 | |
| 6473542712 | Convention | A set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria (customs) of a particular world | 31 | |
| 6473567141 | Couplet | a pair of lines that end in rhyme | 32 | |
| 6473570793 | Dactylic | Stressed/unstressed/unstressed | 33 | |
| 6473570976 | Denotation | the literal meaning of a word | 34 | |
| 6473574411 | Deus ex Machina | In literature, the use of an artificial device or gimmick to solve a problem | 35 | |
| 6473574412 | Detail | items or parts that make up a larger picture or story | 36 | |
| 6473574507 | Dialect | a variety of speech characterized by its own particular grammar or pronunciation, often associated with a particular geographical region | 37 | |
| 6473575724 | Diction | author's choice of words, choice of specific words | 38 | |
| 6473575914 | Dramtic Monologue | when a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience | 39 | |
| 6473577803 | Elegy | a type of poem that meditates on death or mortality in a serious, thoughtful manner; often use the recent death of a noted or loved person as a starting point; also memorialize specific dead people | 40 | |
| 6473579215 | Enjambment | the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line or couplet of a poem to the next with no pause--i.e., | 41 | |
| 6473579216 | Epic | a very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style; typically deal with glorious or profound subject matter--i.e., great war, heroic journey, battle with supernatural, etc. | 42 | |
| 6473581506 | Epiphany | a moment of sudden revelation or insight | 43 | |
| 6473581507 | Exposition | literary device used to introduce background information about events, settings, characters etc. to the audience or readers. | 44 | |
| 6473583839 | Extended Metaphor | refers to a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem. | 45 | |
| 6473585128 | Fable | a brief story that leads to a moral, often using animals as characters | 46 | |
| 6473585129 | Falling Action | the part of a literary plot that occurs after the climax has been reached and the conflict has been resolved | 47 | |
| 6473585345 | Farce | today it's used to refer to extremely broad humor; in earlier times, it was used to mean a simply funny play; a comedy (generic term for play then, btw, no implication of humor) | 48 | |
| 6473587189 | Figurative Language | Words that aren't used in their ordinary meaning (such as similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, understatement, etc.) | 49 | |
| 6473588895 | First Person (POV) | Point of View that utilizes character to personally tell us about characters & actions | 50 | |
| 6473588896 | Foreshadowing | an event or statement in a narrative that in miniature suggests a larger event that comes later | 51 | |
| 6473591190 | Fixed Form | simply means that the verse follows a specific or fixed way of being written. (such as haiku) | 52 | |
| 6473591191 | Formal Diction | a style of writing or speaking that uses complicated sentence structures, perfect grammatical form, and a wide range of vocabulary words (in essays) | 53 | |
| 6473593481 | Flashback | Action that shows better understanding by interrupting to show an event that happened in the past | 54 | |
| 6473593482 | Foil | a secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of a main character, usually by contrast | 55 | |
| 6473596809 | Free Indirect Discourse | is a big clunky phrase that describes a special type of third-person narration that slips in and out of characters' consciousness. In other words, characters' thoughts, feelings, and words are filtered through the third-person narrator | 56 | |
| 6473598508 | Free Verse | poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern | 57 | |
| 6473598509 | Genre | a subcategory of literature--i.e., scientific fiction, detective stories->types of fiction | 58 | |
| 6473598510 | Hyperbole | exaggeration or deliberate overstatement: He has a watermelon head. | 59 | |
| 6473601022 | Iambic Pentameter | A rhythmical pattern of syllables consisting of poetic lines of five feet of unstressed and stressed syllables | 60 | |
| 6473601023 | Image | A word or phrase representing that which can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or felt | 61 | |
| 6473601024 | Imagery | Language in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses (sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell) | 62 | |
| 6473602965 | Informal Diction | then, is the relaxed, conversational language that we use every day (slang) | 63 | |
| 6473604441 | In media res | Latin for "in the midst of things;" one of the conventions of epic poetry, A Latin term for a narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point | 64 | |
| 6473604442 | Irony | A mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm; a state of affairs or events that is the reverse of what might have been expected | 65 | |
| 6473605625 | Literal Language | uses words exactly according to their proper meanings or precise definitions. | 66 | |
| 6473605626 | Jargon | The specialized language of a profession or group. This term often has pejorative (negative) associations, with this implication that --- may be evasive, tedious and unintelligible to outsiders. | 67 | |
| 6473605639 | Juxtaposition | Deliberately placing dissimilar things side by side for comparison | 68 | |
| 6473609218 | Limited Point of View | the narrator only knows the thoughts and feelings of one character. | 69 | |
| 6473609219 | Litotes | A form of understatement in which the negative of of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis or intensity | 70 | |
| 6473610418 | Loose Sentence | sentence is clear in the beginning, begins with main clause, followed by subordinates and modifiers | 71 | |
| 6473610419 | Lyric | a type of poetry that explores the poet's personal interpretation of and feelings about the world; when used to describe a tone, refers to a sweet, emotional melodiousness | 72 | |
| 6473611439 | Message | a communication or statement conveyed from one person or group to another | 73 | |
| 6473611440 | Metaphor | a comparison, or analogy that states one thing IS another--His eyes were burning coals. | 74 | |
| 6473611610 | Meter | The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables found in poetry | 75 | |
| 6473613096 | Metonymy | a word that is used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with---"the crown" referring to the king, "The pen is mightier than the sword." (pen reps writers and ideas, sword reps war) | 76 | |
| 6473613097 | Mood | The emotional tone in a work of literature | 77 | |
| 6473613098 | Motif | A phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature | 78 | |
| 6473614981 | Narrative Structure | a literary element, is generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. | 79 | |
| 6473614982 | Narrator | someone who tells a story | 80 | |
| 6473616305 | Naturalistic | describes a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings. implies a philosophical position | 81 | |
| 6473616306 | Occasional Poem | was a significant form of expression in ancient Greek and Roman culture.When there was a birth, a death, a wedding, a victory, a poet was hired to mark the occasion | 82 | |
| 6473617616 | Octet | eight line stanza | 83 | |
| 6473617617 | Ode | A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject | 84 | |
| 6473617808 | Omniscient | third-person narrator who sees into each character's mind and understands all the action that's going on | 85 | |
| 6473619828 | Onomatopoeia | words that sound how they're spelled--boom, splat | 86 | |
| 6473619829 | Overstatement | Exaggeration of language in order to reveal a truth | 87 | |
| 6473621454 | Oxymoron | a phrase composed of opposites; a contradiction | 88 | |
| 6473621455 | Parable | a story that instructs like a fable or an allegory | 89 | |
| 6473621456 | Paradox | a situation or statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, it does not---"It's raining, but I don't believe that it is." | 90 | |
| 6473623141 | Parallel Structure | similar grammatical structure within a sentence or within a paragraph. Ex.) Winston Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields." | 91 | |
| 6473634233 | Parody | An imitation of a work meant to ridicule its style and subject | 92 | |
| 6473634234 | Pastoral | Of, relating to, or being a literary or other artistic work that portrays or evokes rural life, usually in an idealized way | 93 | |
| 6473637391 | Periodic Sentence | A sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main thought only at the end. In other words, the particulars in the sentence are presented before the idea they support | 94 | |
| 6473637392 | Persona | the narrator in a non-first-person novel. in third person, get an idea of author's personality, but isn't really the author's personality; shadow-author | 95 | |
| 6473639129 | Personification | giving an inanimate object human qualities or form--The darkness of the forest became the figure of a beautiful, pale-skinned woman in night-black clothes. | 96 | |
| 6473645711 | Petrarchan Sonnet | consisting of an octave with the rhyme scheme abbaabba and of a sestet with one of several rhyme schemes, as cdecde or cdcdcd. | 97 | |
| 6473645712 | Plot | The sequencing of events in a piece of fiction | 98 | |
| 6473645713 | Purpose | is the reason or reasons an author has for writing a selection. | 99 | |
| 6473647585 | Protagonist | the main character of a novel or play | 100 | |
| 6473647586 | Quatrain | A four-line poem or a four-line unit of a longer poem | 101 | |
| 6473649273 | Realistic | In drama, it is a convention which preserves the illusion of actual, everyday life | 102 | |
| 6473649274 | Realism | A depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect | 103 | |
| 6473649275 | Refrain | a line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem | 104 | |
| 6473650820 | Resolution | the final unraveling or solution of the plot | 105 | |
| 6473650821 | Reversal | the turning point in a drama after which the plot moves steadily to its final resolution. | 106 | |
| 6473652120 | Rising Action | The part of a plot that leads through a series of events of increasing interest and power to the climax or turning point | 107 | |
| 6473652121 | Rhetorical Question | a question that suggests an answer | 108 | |
| 6473663566 | Rhyme | The repetition of similar sounds at regular intervals, used mostly in poetry | 109 | |
| 6473666111 | Rhythm | The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry | 110 | |
| 6473666112 | Sarcasm | A sharp, caustic expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt | 111 | |
| 6473667974 | Satire | exposes common character flaws to humor; attempts to improve things by pointing out people's mistakes in the hope that once exposed, such behaviors will become less common--hypocrisy, vanity, greed | 112 | |
| 6473667975 | Scan | the act of determining the meter of a poetic line | 113 | |
| 6473669614 | Sestet | a six line stanza | 114 | |
| 6473670944 | Scansion | refers to the process of analyzing a poem's meter. | 115 | |
| 6473670945 | Setting | Where and when the story takes place | 116 | |
| 6473673514 | Shakespearean Sonnet | The sonnet form used by Shakespeare, composed of three quatrains and a terminal couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg. | 117 | |
| 6473673515 | Shaped Verse | is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct meaning of its own. | 118 | |
| 6473675467 | Simile | like a metaphor but softens the full-out equation of things, often, but not always, by using like or as | 119 | |
| 6473675468 | Soliloquy | a speech spoken by a character alone on stage; meant to convey the impression that the audience is listening to the character's thoughts; not meant to imply that the actor acknowledges the audience is listening | 120 | |
| 6473676779 | Speaker | the "narrator" of a poem | 121 | |
| 6473676780 | Stanza | a group of lines roughly analogues in function in verse to the paragraph's function in prose | 122 | |
| 6473676907 | Stereotype | A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image | 123 | |
| 6473679304 | Stream-of-consciousness | A style of writing in which the author tries to reproduce the random flow of thoughts in the human mind | 124 | |
| 6473679305 | Stock Character | standard or cliched character types: the drunk, the miser, the foolish girl, etc. | 125 | |
| 6473681607 | Structure | The arrangement or framework of a sentence, paragraph, or entire work; For a poem, how it is organized with rhyming patterns, meter, grammar, and imagery. | 126 | |
| 6473681608 | Style | The manner in which an author uses and arranges words, shapes, ideas, forms sentences, and creates a structure to convey ideas | 127 | |
| 6473681808 | Symbolism | The use of one object to evoke ideas and associations not literally part of the original object | 128 | |
| 6473684855 | Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part; when the name of a material stands for the thing itself (pigskin for football) | 129 | |
| 6473684856 | Syntax | author's choice of words; refers to the ordering and structuring of the words | 130 | |
| 6473687022 | Terza Rima | A three-line stanza rhymed aba,bcb,cdc. Ex.) Dante's "Divine Comedy" | 131 | |
| 6473708295 | Theme | The main idea or meaning of a text | 132 | |
| 6473708296 | Tone | The author's attitude toward the subject being written about; the characteristic emotion that pervades a work or part of work-in other words, the spirit or quality that is the work's emotional essence | 133 | |
| 6473709387 | 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 | 134 | |
| 6473711249 | Trochaic | is a long syllable, or stressed syllable, followed by a short, or unstressed, one. | 135 | |
| 6473712447 | Turning Point | ts point of highest tension and drama, or it is the time when the action starts during which the solution is given (climax) | 136 | |
| 6473713447 | Villanelle | A French verse form calculated to appear simple and spontaneous but consisting of nineteen lines and a prescribed pattern of rhymes | 137 | |
| 6473717805 | Voice | The relationship between a sentence's subject and verb (active and passive); OR The total "sound" of a writer's style based on diction, syntax, and figurative language | 138 |
