Terms : Hide Images
| 6478062052 | allegory | a work of literature that can be read on two or more levels-one literal and others symbolic | 0 | |
| 6478062053 | alliteration | repetition of the same consonant sound used within lines of poetry and prose | 1 | |
| 6478062054 | allusion | reference to a person, text or event outside the text | 2 | |
| 6478062055 | ambiguity | allows for two or more simultaneous interpretations of a word, phrase, action or situation, all of which can be supported by the context of a work. | 3 | |
| 6478062056 | ambivalence | coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings | 4 | |
| 6478062057 | anachronism | something that is out of its proper or chronological order | 5 | |
| 6478062059 | anecdote | brief story about an amusing or strange event | 6 | |
| 6478062060 | antagonist | principal character or force in opposition to the protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama | 7 | |
| 6478062061 | antecedent | the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun | 8 | |
| 6478062062 | anticlimax | something trivial or commonplace that follows a series or significant events -usually after a climactic event | 9 | |
| 6478062063 | antihero | a protagonist who is noticeably unheroic. he/she might be awkward, obnoxious, passive, pitiful, obtuse, or just normal; but antiheroes are always flawed in some fundamental way. | 10 | |
| 6478062064 | antimetabole | a rhetorical scheme involving repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order. Example:"one should eat to live, not live to eat" | 11 | |
| 6478062066 | aphorism | a terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or moral principle | 12 | |
| 6478062067 | apostrophe | a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction such as liberty or love | 13 | |
| 6478062068 | apotheosis | elevating someone or something to a god like status | 14 | |
| 6478062069 | archetype | a term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader | 15 | |
| 6478062071 | assonance | close repetition of similar vowels in conjunction with dissimilar consonant sounds | 16 | |
| 6478062072 | autobiography | biography of a person written by that person | 17 | |
| 6478062073 | bathos | humor caused by a radical juxtaposition of the serious with the frivolous Example: "In the United States, Osama Bin Laden is wanted for conspiracy, murder, terrorism, and unpaid parking tickets." | 18 | |
| 6478062074 | blank verse | verse consisting of unrhymed lines, usually iambic pentameter | 19 | |
| 6478062075 | caesura | a pause withing a line of poetry that contributes to the rhythm of the line | 20 | |
| 6478062076 | canon | those works generally considered by scholar, critics, and teachers to be the most important to read and study, which collectively constitute the "masterpieces" of literature | 21 | |
| 6478062077 | catharsis | release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit | 22 | |
| 6478062079 | direct characterization | when the writer states or describes a character's traits | 23 | |
| 6478062080 | indirect characterization | when the writer shows a character's personality through his or her actions, thoughts, feelings, words, and appearance, or through another character's observations and reactions. | 24 | |
| 6478062081 | chorus | In Greek tragedies, a group of people who serve mainly as commentators on the characters and events - they add to the audience's understanding of the play by expressing traditional moral, religious, and social attitudes. | 25 | |
| 6478062084 | colloquial | refers to a type of informal diction that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang expressions. | 26 | |
| 6478062085 | comic relief | a humorous scene or incident that alleviates tension in an otherwise serious work | 27 | |
| 6478062086 | complication | element that complicates the plot and prevents resolution | 28 | |
| 6478062087 | conceit | an unusual or surprising comparison between two very different things | 29 | |
| 6478062088 | conflict | opposition between characters or fores in a work of writing, drives/shapes plot | 30 | |
| 6478062089 | conotation | associative meanings of a word in addition to its literal sense (negative, positive, neutral) | 31 | |
| 6478062090 | consonance | repetition of consonant sound sin conjunction with dissimilar vowel sounds (as in blank and think or strong and string) | 32 | |
| 6478062091 | convention | a characteristic of a literary genre that is understood and accepted by audiences because it has come, through usage and time to be recognized as a familiar technique. | 33 | |
| 6478062093 | couplet | two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter | 34 | |
| 6478062094 | heroic couplet | couplet written in rhymed iambic pentameter | 35 | |
| 6478062095 | denotation | specific or direct meaning of a word found in the dictionary, in contrast to its figurative or associative meanings | 36 | |
| 6478062096 | denouement | part of a literary work in which the complications of the plot are resolved or simplified (resolution) | 37 | |
| 6478062097 | deus ex machine | "god out of a machine" (Latin) -in Greek drama a god was often lowered onto the stage by a mechanism of some kind to rescue the hero or untangle the plot. Thus, the term refers to any artificial device or coincidence used to bring about a convenient and simple solution to a plot | 38 | |
| 6478062098 | dialect | regional variety of language distinguished by pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a variety or speech differing from the standard literary language or speech pattern of the culture in which it exists | 39 | |
| 6478062099 | diction | choice and use of words in speech or writing as a part of writer's style | 40 | |
| 6478062100 | didactic | a work that intends to teach an ethical, moral, or religious lesson | 41 | |
| 6478062101 | doggerel | a derogatory term used to describe poerty whose subject is trite and whose rhythm and sounds are monotonously heaved-handed | 42 | |
| 6478062103 | elegiac | lamenting or mournful tone | 43 | |
| 6478062104 | end rhyme | rhyming words repeat at the end of lines | 44 | |
| 6478062105 | enjambemnt | continuation of grammatical structure in a poem beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza and into the next (also called a run-on line) | 45 | |
| 6478062106 | epic | a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero of great historic or legendary importance | 46 | |
| 6478062107 | epiphany | comprehension of perception of reality by a sudden realization or discovery which changes a character | 47 | |
| 6478062108 | epistle | a kind of letter to a friend or audience | 48 | |
| 6478062109 | epigrammatical | tense and ingenious in expression | 49 | |
| 6478062110 | ethos | a means of persuasion based on the credibility/character of the person making a claim/appeal | 50 | |
| 6478062111 | euphemism | the substitution of a comfortable or inoffensive expression to replace one that might offend or suggest something unpleasant | 51 | |
| 6478062112 | exact rhyme | rhyme in which words have identical sounds like dear/snear | 52 | |
| 6478062113 | existentialism | philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's actions | 53 | |
| 6478062114 | explicatoin | writing that presents a detailed analysis or thoughtful interpretation of a text. usually involving close reading and special attention to figurative language | 54 | |
| 6478062115 | exposition | part of a story that provides the background information to understand the characters and the action | 55 | |
| 6478062116 | extended metaphor | a comparison which continues to be elaborated through detail | 56 | |
| 6478062117 | eye rhyme | rhyme which gives the impression of exact rhyme but does not have identical sounds (come/home, forth/worth) | 57 | |
| 6478062118 | falling action | part of the narrative that follows the climax | 58 | |
| 6478062119 | farce | a type of comedy characterized by a wide range of humor, weird incidents, and often vulgar subject matter | 59 | |
| 6478062121 | figurative language | language which uses figures of speech (example: simile, metaphor., personification, etc.) | 60 | |
| 6478062122 | flat character | character which does not change, with few traits, static | 61 | |
| 6478062123 | foil | character that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another | 62 | |
| 6478062124 | foot (metric) | unit of rhythm, long/short, stressed/unstressed, Terms for the number of feet per line : 1-monometer, 2- dimeter, 3-trimeter, 4-tetrameter, 5-pentameter, 6-hexameter, 7-heptameter, 8-octameter | 63 | |
| 6478062126 | free verse | verse with no regular meter or line length; depends on natural speech's rhythms | 64 | |
| 6478062128 | hero | the protagonist, central character in a work of literature | 65 | |
| 6478062129 | hubris | the most common defect in the tragic hero which leads to his or her downfall | 66 | |
| 6478062130 | hyperbole | figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or efrect | 67 | |
| 6478062131 | iamb | metrical foot consisting of unstressed and stressed syllable (U/) as in the word defeat | 68 | |
| 6478062132 | iambic pentameter | poetic line of five iambic feet | 69 | |
| 6478062133 | imagery | use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas | 70 | |
| 6478062134 | incongruity | something in the work which shows a discrepancy or ocntradiciton | 71 | |
| 6478062135 | verbal irony | when what is said is not what is meant, when meaning is contrary to the words | 72 | |
| 6478062136 | dramatic irony | when the audience or reader knows something that a character doesn't | 73 | |
| 6478062137 | situational irony | when what happens contradicts expectations | 74 | |
| 6478062138 | jargon | technical vocab peculiar to trade or profession | 75 | |
| 6478062139 | juxtapostion | to place things side by side for the purposes of comparing or contrasting | 76 | |
| 6478062140 | literal | primary, non-figurative meaning of words, dictionary meaning | 77 | |
| 6478062141 | litotes | the opposite of hyperbole- example: saying "not bad" to something that is very good or beautiful | 78 | |
| 6478062142 | logos | a means of persuasion by the use of reasoning | 79 | |
| 6478062143 | lyric poetry | typically does not tell a story; instead focuses on expressing the poet's/speaker's personal thoughts on feelings | 80 | |
| 6478062144 | meiosis | understatement' the opposite of exaggeration (Litotes is a type of meiosis in which write uses a statement in the negative to create the effect) | 81 | |
| 6478062145 | metaphor | figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates on thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison | 82 | |
| 6478062146 | meter | pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables; particular arrangement of words in poetry, such as iambic pentameter, determined by the kind and number of metrical units in a line. | 83 | |
| 6478062147 | metonymy | using vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea | 84 | |
| 6478062150 | motif | a conspicuous, recurring element, such as type of incident, a device, an object, a reference, or verbal formula | 85 | |
| 6478062151 | motivation | reason that explains or partially explains a character's thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech | 86 | |
| 6478062152 | myth | explanations of the natural order and cosmic forces; story which is not "true" and which involves supernatural elements | 87 | |
| 6478062153 | narrative | writing which tells a story, with a beginning, middle, and end | 88 | |
| 6478062156 | octave | groups of eight lines of poetry, especially the first eight lines of Petrarchan sonnet, rhyming abba abba | 89 | |
| 6478062157 | ode | lyric poem which honors something and has a stately tone and style | 90 | |
| 6478062158 | omniscent | having total knowledge, knowing everything | 91 | |
| 6478062159 | onomatopoeia | formation of use of words such as a buzz or murmur that imitate the sound associated with the objects or actions they refer to | 92 | |
| 6478062160 | oxymoron | figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combines | 93 | |
| 6478062161 | paradox | seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true ( example: standing is more tiring than walking) | 94 | |
| 6478062162 | parallelism | repetition of a sentence or pattern or grammatical structure | 95 | |
| 6478062163 | parody | imitative use of words, style, attitude, tone and ideas of an author in such a way as to make them look ridiculous | 96 | |
| 6478062164 | pathos | quality which invokes feelings of tenderness, pity, or sorrow; a means persuading by appealing the reader's emotions | 97 | |
| 6478062166 | persona | voice or character representing the speaker in the literary work | 98 | |
| 6478062169 | plot | plan of vents or main story in a narrative or drama | 99 | |
| 6478062170 | poetic justice | term which conveys the idea that the evil are punished appropriately and the good rewarded as they should be | 100 | |
| 6478062171 | poetic license | liberty allowed to the poet to work (even distort) the language according to his/her needs in use of figurative speech, rhyme, syntax, for example | 101 | |
| 6478062172 | point of view | position of narrator in a piece of literature: first person, third person limited, third person omniscient | 102 | |
| 6478062173 | preface | intro to literary work | 103 | |
| 6478062174 | prologue | opening section of a work, a kind of interjection which is part of the work | 104 | |
| 6478062175 | prose | ordinary speech or writing, without metrical structure | 105 | |
| 6478062176 | protagonist | main character in a drama or other literary work | 106 | |
| 6478062177 | proverb | short, pithy saying in frequent and widespread use that expresses a basic truth or practical precept | 107 | |
| 6478062178 | pseudonym | name other than his/her own taken by the author | 108 | |
| 6478062179 | pun | play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words | 109 | |
| 6478062180 | quatrain | stanza or poem of four lines | 110 | |
| 6478062181 | realism | a vague term, but generally the documenting of life with bare truth, not idealism; focuses on the gritty, truthful scenes of people and thier (usually difficult) lines | 111 | |
| 6478062182 | refrain | phrase, line, or lines repeated at intervals during a poem | 112 | |
| 6478062183 | resolution | the conclusion of a plot's conflicts and complications | 113 | |
| 6478062184 | rhetoric | art or study of using language effectively and persuasively | 114 | |
| 6478062185 | rhyme scheme | arrangement of rhymes in a poem or stranza | 115 | |
| 6478062186 | rhythm | patterned, recurring alternations of contrasting elements of sound or speech | 116 | |
| 6478062187 | rising action | part of a drama or story in which conflicts are complicated/build toward comes before the climax | 117 | |
| 6478062188 | round character | character which is dynamic and complex, has many traits | 118 | |
| 6478062189 | sarcasm | a form of verbal irony used to express contempt or to ridicule | 119 | |
| 6478062190 | satire | literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit | 120 | |
| 6478062191 | scansion | analysis of verse into metrical patterns | 121 | |
| 6478062192 | sestet | group of six lines, especially the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet | 122 | |
| 6478062193 | setting | time, place, and circumstances in which writing takes place | 123 | |
| 6478062194 | simile | figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as | 124 | |
| 6478062195 | slang | language of the street, common, informal language | 125 | |
| 6478062196 | slant rhyme | rhyme that is not true, either deliberate so or because of incompetence (example : other/powder) | 126 | |
| 6478062197 | soliloquy | dramatic form of discourse in which a character reveals his or her thoughts when alone, unaware of the presence of other characters | 127 | |
| 6478062198 | sonnet | 14 line verse form usually having one of several conventional rhyme schemes and written in iambic pentameter | 128 | |
| 6478062200 | stereotype | a fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea which does not allow for nay individuality, often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices | 129 | |
| 6478062201 | stream of conciousness | literary technique that presents the thought and feelings of a character as they develop | 130 | |
| 6478062202 | style | way in which something is said, done or expressed | 131 | |
| 6478062203 | subjectivity | personal expirience and feeling, the opposite of objectivity, where the writeer is outside the work, detached from it | 132 | |
| 6478062204 | subtext | what is implied but not written | 133 | |
| 6478062205 | suspense | anxiety or apprehension resulting from an uncertain, undecided, or mysterious situation | 134 | |
| 6478062206 | symbol | something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something intagible | 135 | |
| 6478062207 | synecdoche | a figure of speech by which a part Is put for the whole | 136 | |
| 6478062208 | synthesis | description of one kind of sense impression by using words that usually describe another, as in I heard a blinding roar | 137 | |
| 6478062209 | syntax | sentence construction | 138 | |
| 6478062210 | tetrameter | line of verse consisting of four metrical feet | 139 | |
| 6478062211 | theme | central idea of work expressed as a sentence | 140 | |
| 6478062212 | thesis | main idea of a work | 141 | |
| 6478062213 | tone | general quality, effect, or atmosphere; writers' attitude (especially towards readers), manner, mood | 142 | |
| 6478062214 | topic sentence | main, focusing idea of a paragraph | 143 | |
| 6478062215 | tragedy | drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequences of a tragic flaw, a moral weakness, or an inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances | 144 | |
| 6478062216 | transition | word, phrase, sentence, or series of sentences connecting one part of discourse to another | 145 | |
| 6478062217 | trope | another word for figurative language | 146 | |
| 6478062218 | turning point | observable moment when in a narrative there is a definitive change in one directionand one becomes aware that it will now move towards the end | 147 | |
| 6478062219 | vernacular | standard native language of a country or locality; everyday language spoken by a people as distinguished from the literary language | 148 | |
| 6478062221 | vignette | sketch or short composition | 149 | |
| 6478062222 | voice | distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or a character in a book | 150 | |
| 6478062223 | zeugma | figure of speech in which a word stands in the same relation to two others terms, but with a different meaning, a common device in satire | 151 |
