Terms : Hide Images
| 4671421208 | abstract | a piece of writing summarized, usually at the beginning of an essay | 0 | |
| 4671424052 | adage | a short, pointed and memorable saying based on facts, and is considered a veritable truth by the majority of people | 1 | |
| 4671424053 | allegory | a literary work in which charcters, objects, or actions represent abstractions | 2 | |
| 4671424279 | alliteration | the use of repeated consonants in neighboring words | 3 | |
| 4671425969 | allusion | a reference to something literary mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize | 4 | |
| 4671502654 | ambiguity | when words, sentences and texts have more than one meaning | 5 | |
| 4671502655 | anachronism | something which is too early or too late for the given time | 6 | |
| 4671503158 | analogy | a comparision of two different things that are similar in some way | 7 | |
| 4671503159 | annotation | a critical or explanatory note or body of notes added to a text | 8 | |
| 4671503419 | antagonist | the character in a drama or novel, who is the main opponent of the protagonist | 9 | |
| 4671503426 | antithesis | a statement in which two opposing ideas are balanced | 10 | |
| 4671503898 | aphorism | a concise statement that expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance | 11 | |
| 4671505574 | apostrophe | a figure of speech where an object or abstract entity is addressed | 12 | |
| 4671505575 | archetype | an original model or pattern from which other later copies are made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life | 13 | |
| 4671507271 | assonance | repetition of similar vowel sounds, preceded and followed by different consonants, in stressed syllables of adjacent words | 14 | |
| 4671507272 | ballad | a poem which tells a story, usually in the form of four-line stanzas or quatrains | 15 | |
| 4671507273 | bard | an ancient Celtic poet,singer and harpist who recited heroic poems by memory, or more generally, in modern usage, a synonym for any poet | 16 | |
| 4671507738 | bibliography | a compilation of books, articles, essays and other written materials, on a particular author or subject | 17 | |
| 4671507739 | blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter | 18 | |
| 4671508667 | burlesque | a term applied to writing which sets out to satirise a subject, work or literary style by making a deliberate mismatch between the manner and the matter | 19 | |
| 4671509480 | caesura | a natural pause in a line of verse, sometimes roughly midway and usually denoted by punctuation | 20 | |
| 4671509481 | canon | the concept of an accepted list of great literature which constitutes the essential tradition of English | 21 | |
| 4671509799 | caricature | a style of writing (or drawing) which intentionally amplifies particular features of its subject or charcter, usually for and/or satirical effect | 22 | |
| 4671509800 | carpe diem | a Latin term coined by the poet Horace, which means 'seize the day' | 23 | |
| 4671510230 | catharsis | an emotional release felt by an audience or reader as they observe the fate of a tragic hero | 24 | |
| 4671510411 | classical/classicism | the term in Western culture is usually used in reference to the art, architecture, drama, philosophy, literature, and history surrounding the Greeks and Romans between 1000 BCE and 410 BCE. Works created during the Greco-Roman period are often called classics | 25 | |
| 4671511614 | climax | generally, the arrangement of words, phrases, or causes in an order of increasing important, often in parallel structure | 26 | |
| 4671512238 | coming-of-age-story/novel | a story with the central theme of growing up or making the transition from childhood to adulthood | 27 | |
| 4671512239 | conceit | a metaphor, often extravagant or fantastic | 28 | |
| 4671512672 | connatation | the implied or associative meaning of a word | 29 | |
| 4671513148 | consonance | repetition of the same consonant sounds before and after a different vowel | 30 | |
| 4671513149 | couplet | a pair of rhyming lines in verse | 31 | |
| 4671513281 | denotation | the literal meaning of a word | 32 | |
| 4671513620 | denouement | the final resolution of a plot, especially in a drama or narrative | 33 | |
| 4671513621 | diction | the word choices made by a writer | 34 | |
| 4671514333 | Dionysian | of or relating to the sensual, spontaneous, and emotional aspects of human nature | 35 | |
| 4671514334 | dramatic irony | where a charcter is unaware of the irony of his or her words, or situation, and other characters on stage or, more especially, the audience is conscious of this | 36 | |
| 4671514587 | elegy | a poem that mourns the death of an individual | 37 | |
| 4671514588 | ellipsis | the omision of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context | 38 | |
| 4671515761 | elliptical construction | a construction that lacks an element that is recoverable or inferable from the context | 39 | |
| 4671515762 | empathy | the imaginative projection into another's feelings, a state of total identification with another's situation, condition, and thoughts | 40 | |
| 4671515778 | end-stopped | in poetry, this is a line ending in a full pause | 41 | |
| 4671516138 | enjambment | a line in poetry which does not have end punctuation, or a pause, but which continues uninterrupted into the next line | 42 | |
| 4671516139 | epic | this is a type of classical poetry, generally recounting heroic achievements | 43 | |
| 4671516140 | epigram | a brief, pithy, and often paradoxical saying | 44 | |
| 4671516605 | epithet | the use of an adjective, or adjectival phrase, to portray a specific trait of a person or object | 45 | |
| 4671516606 | euphemism | using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one | 46 | |
| 4671517095 | euphony | a pleasant or agreeable sound effect | 47 | |
| 4671517096 | explication | not a paraphrase, nor a summary, nor a rewording (though it may include succinct paraphrase), but a commentary revealing the meaning of the work | 48 | |
| 4671518568 | expose | a journalistic or literary revelation or exposure--especially of something discreditable or scandalous | 49 | |
| 4671518569 | exposition | where the scene is outlined through setting, in a play or story | 50 | |
| 4671518917 | extended metaphor | a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem | 51 | |
| 4671518918 | fable | a brief narrative illustrating human tendencies through the depiction of animal characters | 52 | |
| 4671519107 | falling action | occurs right after the climax, when the main problem of the story resolves | 53 | |
| 4671521202 | fantasy | fiction with a large amount of imagination in it | 54 | |
| 4671521203 | farce | a form of low comedy designed to provoke laughter through highly exaggerated caricatures of people in improbable or silly situations | 55 | |
| 4671521703 | figure of speech/figurative language | a phrase or expression which uses words not in their literal sense; language where literary or poetic techniques and devices, such as metaphors and similes, are used to produce a meaning beyond the literal surface meaning | 56 | |
| 4671521898 | first-person narrative | this type of narrative is often written from the first-person singular or first-person plural perspective; using I and we | 57 | |
| 4671521899 | flashback | a method of narration in which the present action is temporarily interrupted, to relive an episode in the character's past | 58 | |
| 4671522356 | foil | of a character, to be used as a contrast | 59 | |
| 4671522357 | foot | a basic unit of meter, comprising of a set number of strong stresses and light stresses | 60 | |
| 4671522377 | foreshadowing | suggesting, hinting and indicating what will occur later in a narrative | 61 | |
| 4671522750 | frame | this is a narrative technique where there is a principal story, around which there are other narratives to set the scene or interest the audience/reader | 62 | |
| 4671522751 | free verse | poetry that is based on the natural rhythms of phrases and normal pauses rather, than the artificial and fixed constraints of rhyme or metrical feet | 63 | |
| 4671524056 | genre | a lterary type or form | 64 | |
| 4671524057 | Gothic novel | a novel incorporating the main of the Gothic; mysteries, murder, villainy, supernatural, castles, churches | 65 | |
| 4671524530 | harangue | a long and intense verbal attack or a long and passionate speech | 66 | |
| 4671524909 | heroic couplet | two successive rhyming lines of iambic pentameter, where the second line is usually end-stopped | 67 | |
| 4671524910 | hubris | all consuming pride or arrogance | 68 | |
| 4671526447 | humanism | a philosophical belief that rejects religious belief and emphasizes science, human endeavour in the natural world and reason | 69 | |
| 4671527993 | hyperbole | intentional exaggeration to create an effect | 70 | |
| 4671528463 | idyll | a work that represents an idealized setting of happiness and innocence | 71 | |
| 4671528464 | image | a word or phrase in a literary text that appeals directly to the reader's taste, touch, hearing, sight, or smell | 72 | |
| 4671528819 | indirect quotation | when the meaning but not the exact words of something someone spoke is referred to | 73 | |
| 4671532746 | irony | the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; or, incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs | 74 | |
| 4671532747 | kenning | a phrase used poetically instead of the regular word for a noun | 75 | |
| 4671532748 | lampoon | a crude and sometimes bitter satire that ridicules the appearance or personality of a person | 76 | |
| 4671533394 | light verse | poetry that attempts to be humorous | 77 | |
| 4671534033 | litotes | a type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite | 78 | |
| 4671536067 | loose sentence | a sentence in which the main independent clause is elaborated by the succesive addition of modifying clauses or phrases | 79 | |
| 4671536465 | lyric poetry | a comparatively short, non-narrative poem in which a single speaker presents a state of mind or an emotional state | 80 | |
| 4671536466 | maxim | a concise statement, often offering advice; an adage | 81 | |
| 4671536869 | melodrama | traditionally this is a play with a musical accompaniment to heighten the emotional aspect of the drama | 82 | |
| 4671536870 | metaphor | a direct comparison of two different things | 83 | |
| 4671537612 | metaphysical poetry | poetry which uses logic and reason to construct an 'argument' and draws on other fields such as science, law, philosophy and exploration to describe emotion, often love | 84 | |
| 4671537613 | meter | a recognizable though varying pattern of stressed syllables alternating with syllables of less stress. | 85 | |
| 4671537911 | metonymy | substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it | 86 | |
| 4671537928 | Middle English | English language during the years 1100-1500 | 87 | |
| 4671538711 | mock epic | draws heavily on the technique of satire, which means that it uses irony, exaggeration, and sarcasm to mock its original subject, usually in an undignified and grandiose manner | 88 | |
| 4671539007 | mode | an unspecific critical term usually identifying a broad but identifiable literary method, mood, or manner that is not tied exclusively to a particular form or genre | 89 | |
| 4671539332 | montage | a literary, musical, or artistic composite of juxtaposed more or less heterogeneous elements | 90 | |
| 4671539738 | mood | the emotional atmosphere of a work | 91 | |
| 4671539739 | moral | a message conveyed or a lesson learned from a story, a poem, or an event | 92 | |
| 4671540197 | motif | a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works | 93 | |
| 4671540198 | muse | a person or personified force who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist | 94 | |
| 4671540199 | myth | a message conveyed or a lesson learned from a story, a poem, or an event | 95 | |
| 4671540856 | narrative | a story or account | 96 | |
| 4671540857 | naturalism | a type of literature that attempts to apply scientific principles of objectivity and detachment to its study of human beings | 97 | |
| 4671541262 | novella | an extended fictional prose narrative that is not quite as long as a novel, but longer than a short story | 98 | |
| 4671541263 | ode | a relatively long, often intricate stanzaic poem of varying line lengths and sometimes intricate rhyme schemes, dealing with a solemn subject matter and considering it reverently | 99 | |
| 4671541752 | Old English | a Germanic language that was introduced to the British Isles by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in a series of invasions in the fifth century, it is thus regarded as the language that existed between 449AD and 1066 (when the Norman Conquest occurred); Anglo-Saxon | 100 | |
| 4671542006 | omniscient narrator | this is a narrator who is 'all knowing' | 101 | |
| 4671542019 | onomatopoeia | the application of sounds that are comparable to the noise they represent for an artistic effect | 102 | |
| 4671542592 | oxymoron | the use of contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense on a deeper level | 103 | |
| 4671543143 | parable | a short narrative intended to disclose allegorically some religious principle, moral lesson or general truth | 104 | |
| 4671543144 | paradox | an apparently contradictary statement that actually contains some truth | 105 | |
| 4671543390 | parody | a humorous imitation of a serious work | 106 | |
| 4671543391 | paraphase | to restate a text or speech in one's own words | 107 | |
| 4671544026 | pastoral | traditionally this term means 'to do with shepherds', thus it gestures towards any work which draws a pleasing, idealised rural life in the countryside | 108 | |
| 4671544275 | pathetic fallacy | a device used mainly during the19th century, where human qualities or emotions were described through the weather or nature | 109 | |
| 4671544276 | pathos | the quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pitty | 110 | |
| 4671544631 | pentameter | when a poem has five feet in each line, it is said to be written in pentameter | 111 | |
| 4671544941 | periodic sentence | a sentence with the main clause or predicate at the end | 112 | |
| 4671544942 | persona | either a narrator, or an external portrayal of oneself which might or might not accurately reveal one's self | 113 | |
| 4671545465 | personification | endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics | 114 | |
| 4671545466 | picaresque novel | A narrative which recounts the escapades of a rogue, whose character does not develop throughout the plot, but who is nevertheless likeable | 115 | |
| 4671545930 | plot | the writer's structure and the relationship of actions, characters and events in a fictional work. The organization of the narrative | 116 | |
| 4671545931 | point of view | the method a story is told and who tells it | 117 | |
| 4671546245 | protagonist | the main character in a narrative or poetry | 118 | |
| 4671546618 | pseudonym | a fictitious name assumed by an individual to conceal his or her identity | 119 | |
| 4671546965 | pulp fiction | poor quality or sensational writing, originally printed on low-grade paper | 120 | |
| 4671546966 | pun | a play on two words, which are similar in sound but different in meaning; paronomasia | 121 | |
| 4671547350 | quatrain | Also sometimes used interchangeably with "stave," a quatrain is a stanza of four lines, often rhyming in an ABAB pattern | 122 | |
| 4671547351 | realism | a literary, or artistic, depiction of life in an accurate, straightforward, unidealised manner | 123 | |
| 4671547988 | rhetoric | the art of presenting ideas in a clear, effective, and persuasvive manner | 124 | |
| 4671548762 | rhetorical stance | the role or behavior of a speaker or writer in relation to his or her subject, audience, and persona | 125 | |
| 4671548763 | rhyme | the matching similarity of sounds in two or more words, especially when their accented vowels and all succeeding consonants are identical | 126 | |
| 4671548764 | rhyme scheme | the pattern of rhyme | 127 | |
| 4671549080 | rhythm | the varying speed, movement, intensity, loudness, pitch, and expressiveness of speech, especially in poetry | 128 | |
| 4671549081 | roman a clef | novel with a key, used to mean a novel in which real people are described but under false names | 129 | |
| 4671549441 | romance | traditionally, a long fictional prose narrative about unlikely events involving characters that are very different from ordinary people | 130 | |
| 4671549442 | sarcasm | harsh, cutting language or tone intended to ridicule | 131 | |
| 4671549619 | satire | the use of humor to emphasize human weakness or imperfections in social institutions | 132 | |
| 4671549620 | scan | the process of analyzing a poem's meter | 133 | |
| 4671549821 | sentiment | exhibition or manifestation of feeling or sensibility, or appeal to the tender emotions | 134 | |
| 4671549822 | sentimental | ealing with feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia, typically in an exaggerated and self-indulgent way | 135 | |
| 4671549842 | setting | the place or period within which a narrative or play is located | 136 | |
| 4671550190 | simile | a comparison of two things not usually paired, made by using the adverbs like or as | 137 | |
| 4671550191 | sonnet | a poem of fourteen lines, typically in iambic pentameter, with regular rhyme | 138 | |
| 4671550781 | stanza | sections of arranged lines within a poem | 139 | |
| 4671550799 | stream of consciousness | a technique characterized by the continuous unedited flow of conscious experience throught the mind recorded on paper. Often used in "interior monologue" when the reader is privy to a charcter or narrator's thoughts | 140 | |
| 4671550999 | style | the choice a writer makes; the combination of distinctive features of a literary work | 141 | |
| 4671551000 | subplot | a second plot in a play or narrative that adds to or parallels the main plot | 142 | |
| 4671551019 | subtext | the unspoken or less obvious meaning or message in a literary composition, drama, speech, or conversation | 143 | |
| 4671553433 | symbolism | a person, place or object which has a meaning in itself but suggests other meanings | 144 | |
| 4671553434 | synedoche | using one part of an object to represent the entire object | 145 | |
| 4671553435 | syntax | the manner in which words are arranged into sentences | 146 | |
| 4671554038 | theme | a central idea of a work | 147 | |
| 4671554259 | title character | a fictional character whose name or a short description is present in the title of the work where the character appears | 148 | |
| 4671554260 | tone | the attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience | 149 | |
| 4671554491 | tragedy | a serious play where the protagonist experiences a succession of misfortunes leading to a concluding, disturbing catastrophe - usually for the protagonist | 150 | |
| 4671554492 | trope | a recurring theme, image, character type, or plot element | 151 | |
| 4671554802 | verbal irony | the speaker or character says one thing, yet means another | 152 | |
| 4671554803 | verse | a line of metrical text, a stanza, or any text written in meter | 153 | |
| 4671556266 | verisimilitude | a story that is believable, resembles reality, or seems to reflect the truth | 154 | |
| 4671556267 | versification | the making of verse | 155 | |
| 4671556666 | villanelle | A versital genre of poetry consisting of nineteen lines--five tercets and a concluding quatrain | 156 | |
| 4671556667 | voice | a writer's unique use of language that allows a reader to hear a human personality in his or her writing | 157 | |
| 4671557674 | wit | a form of intellectual humour | 158 |
