Terms : Hide Images
| 8808784791 | Allegory | A correspondence between a series of abstract ideas and a series of images or pictures presented in the form of a story or narrative. An allegory reveals a hidden meaning in the plot, typically a moral or political meaning. | 0 | |
| 8808797579 | Alliteration | The repetition of initial sounds in the same line or stanza. | 1 | |
| 8808803470 | Allusion | A brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance. | 2 | |
| 8808814422 | Analogy | A comparison between two things. | 3 | |
| 8808817076 | Anthropomorphism | The attribution of human characteristics and behaviors to animals or other non-human things. It differs subtly from personification in that personification's primary effect is imagery, while anthropomorphism aims to make the non-human things appear and behave human. | 4 | |
| 8808834616 | Apostrophe | A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an absent person, an abstract idea, or an inanimate object. | 5 | |
| 8808841677 | Assonance | The repetition of vowel sounds in the same line or stanza. | 6 | |
| 8808848075 | Cacophony | The use of words and phrases with jarring, dissonant sounds. | 7 | |
| 8808853337 | Caricature | The exaggeration of certain striking characteristics in order to create a comic or grotesque effect. | 8 | |
| 8808866012 | Colloquialism | The use of informal words, phrases, or slang. | 9 | |
| 8808868404 | Conceit | A complex metaphor that controls a poetic passage or an entire poem. | 10 | |
| 8808874162 | Connotation | An idea that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning | 11 | |
| 8808881022 | Consonance | The repetition of consonant sounds in the same line or stanza. | 12 | |
| 8808886636 | Enjambment | Movement from one line to the next without an ending punctuation mark; creates multiple meanings when the text is read according to line break and according to punctuation. | 13 | |
| 8808896316 | Epigram | A pithy saying or remark expressing an idea in an amusing or clever way. | 14 | |
| 8808905202 | Hyperbole | The presentation of something as bigger or more significant than it actually is; often used to create verbal irony. | 15 | |
| 8808915904 | Idiom | An expression or phrase that means something different from what the individual words of the phrase would imply. | 16 | |
| 8808924303 | Imagery | Descriptive or figurative language that draws on the senses. | 17 | |
| 8808929964 | Irony | A figure of speech in which intent is expressed through words carrying the opposite meaning. | 18 | |
| 8808939818 | Dramatic Irony | A situation in which the audience has more information or a greater perspective than the characters. | 19 | |
| 8808948358 | Situational Irony | A situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, making the outcome contrary to the expectation. | 20 | |
| 8808956777 | Verbal Irony | Saying one thing while meaning another | 21 | |
| 8808960059 | Jargon | Special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group. | 22 | |
| 8808964441 | Jeremiad | A prolonged lamentation or complaint, often against some state of society, and often ending with a prophetic warning. | 23 | |
| 8808970413 | Juxtaposition | The side=by-side placement of two or more ideas, places, characters, or events for the purpose of developing comparisons and contrasts. | 24 | |
| 8808977998 | Lampoon | A written attack that uses satire to ridicule a person, group, or institution; a satirical work. | 25 | |
| 8808986806 | Litotes | A figure of speech that uses understatement to emphasizes an affirmative by expressing the negative of its opposite (Ex: "you won't be sorry"). | 26 | |
| 8808995016 | Metaphor | An implicit comparison | 27 | |
| 8808997066 | Metonymy | A form of metaphor allowing an object closely associated with, but unattached to, the object or situation to stand in for the thing itself. | 28 | |
| 8809008446 | Onomatopoeia | Words that sound like that which they describe. | 29 | |
| 8809012289 | Oxymoron | A figure of speech that pairs apparently contradictory terms to create a new meaning. | 30 | |
| 8809018065 | Panegyric | A formal speech or written work that publicly praises a person or thing. | 31 | |
| 8809022540 | Parable | A simple story used to illustrate a moral lesson. | 32 | |
| 8809026095 | Paradox | A statement or situation that contradicts itself even while creating a truth. | 33 | |
| 8809035964 | Parody | An imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect or ridicule, often employing irony. | 34 | |
| 8809046120 | Parallel Structure | Repetition of sentence structure which may involve exact words, but more importantly repeats the order of verbs and nouns. | 35 | |
| 8809055762 | Personification | The attribution of human qualities to something not human. | 36 | |
| 8809059662 | Point of View | The narrator's position in relation to the story being told. | 37 | |
| 8809064850 | First-Person | The narrator is a character in the story and can share his/her thoughts and emotions. | 38 | |
| 8809070830 | Second-Person | The narrator makes the audience a character in the story. | 39 | |
| 8809073825 | Third-Person Limited | The narrator is outside the story and can share the thoughts and emotions of only one character. | 40 | |
| 8809079340 | Third-Person Omniscient | The narrator is outside the story and can share the thoughts and emotions of all characters. | 41 | |
| 8809090944 | Dramatic-Objective | The narrator is outside the story and can share only the actions that can be witnessed by a "fly on the wall" observer without any insight into characters' thoughts or emotions. | 42 | |
| 8809097528 | Pun | A humorous play on words that exploits different meanings of the same word or similar-sounding words. | 43 | |
| 8809104751 | Repetition | The repeating of entire lines or phrases to emphasize key ideas. | 44 | |
| 8809108454 | Repartee | An interchange of clever and amusing retorts. | 45 | |
| 8809111552 | Rhetorical Question | A question asked in order to create an effect or elicit an emotion rather than to receive an answer. | 46 | |
| 8809127424 | Sarcasm | The use of irony to mock, ridicule, or convey contempt. | 47 | |
| 8809130082 | Satire | The use of irony, humor, hyperbole or ridicule to expose and criticize social vices. | 48 | |
| 8809136827 | Simile | An explicit comparison | 49 | |
| 8809139677 | Symbol | Use of an object or action that signifies something more than its literal meaning. | 50 | |
| 8809144566 | Synechdoche | A form of metaphor in which an important, attached part signifies the whole. | 51 | |
| 8809153360 | Truism | A statement the reader may accept as obvious truth without need for further evidence. | 52 | |
| 8809161193 | Understatement (Meiosis) | The presentation of something as smaller or less significant than it actually is; often used to create verbal irony. | 53 | |
| 8809167087 | Zeugma | A figure of speech in which a word, usually a verb or adjective, applies to more than one noun, blending together grammatically and logically different ideas (EX: "He lost his phone and his cool"). | 54 | |
| 8809181147 | Classicism | Has its roots in ancient Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, and art. Classicists believed that the laws of nature could be rationally understood and explained by reason. The style is known for simplicity and clarity, unity of purpose, logical organization, and respect for tradition. In general, it refers to three distinct periods: the French 1600s, the English late 1600s and early 1700s, and the late German 1700s. | 55 | |
| 8809206810 | Existentialism | Is preoccupied with human existence and its absurdity. Inspired by philosophers like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Heidegger, literary Existentialism appears in the late 1800s into the 1900s. It is interested in the limits of reason, the tragic aspects of life, and self-destructive characters. Existentialist writers deal with themes of deception, anxiety, guilt, solitude, and anguish, with a focus on characters' responsibility for their actions. Existentialism provides no common concept or standard of behavior in religious and ethical questions. | 56 | |
| 8809237645 | Naturalism | Developed from Realism in the late 1800s and is based on Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. Humans are presented as creatures whose behavior is predetermined by the natural force of hereditary, environment, and physical impulses. Extreme environments often provide the settings, and characters are often poor or suffering as helpless victims. The style is detached and clinical. | 57 | |
| 8809261915 | Realism | Attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity. Realists mainly focus on middle-class characters in everyday environments, attempting a faithful representation of life. Plot is downplayed; rather, characters are the center of interest. The style is honest, impartial and objective, while often critical of society. "Realism first appeared as a literary term in the 1800s in France, then spread most notably in Russia, England, and the US. | 58 | |
| 8809293963 | Romanticism | Began as rebellion against the formalism of the Enlightenment. Interest topics are broad, including both classical and modern ideas. Dealt with mystical, the subconscious, and the supernatural. | 59 | |
| 8809311055 | Meter | The systematic regularity of a poem's rhythm. Consists of feet and number of feet per line. | 60 | |
| 8809320017 | Feet | Rhythmical units in lines that recur in patterns of two or three syllables. | 61 | |
| 8809326834 | Anapest | Two weak syllables followed by a strong syllable | 62 | |
| 8809329466 | Dactyl | A strong syllable followed by two weak syllables | 63 | |
| 8809338490 | Iamb | A weak syllable followed by a strong a strong syllable | 64 | |
| 8809342807 | Pyrrhic | Two weak syllables | 65 | |
| 8809345487 | Trochee | A strong syllable followed by a weak syllable | 66 | |
| 8809348750 | Monometer | one foot | 67 | |
| 8809352831 | Dimeter | two feet | 68 | |
| 8809352833 | Trimeter | three feet | 69 | |
| 8809355093 | Tetrameter | four feet | 70 | |
| 8809357937 | Pentameter | five feet | 71 | |
| 8809359761 | Hexameter | six feet | 72 | |
| 8809359762 | Heptameter | seven feet | 73 | |
| 8809362121 | Octameter | eight feet | 74 | |
| 8809366517 | Rhyme | The repition of similar sounds | 75 | |
| 8809368563 | End Rhyme | Occurs at the end of two or more lines | 76 | |
| 8809377407 | Internal Rhyme | Occurs in the middle of a line | 77 | |
| 8809380246 | Slant Rhyme | Consists of similar but not identical sounds (also called half-rhyme, near-rhyme, imperfect-rhyme, or off-rhyme). | 78 | |
| 8809385972 | Stanza | A division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together, usually recurring in a pattern. | 79 | |
| 8809390213 | Couplet | 2 lines | 80 | |
| 8809390264 | Tercet | 3 lines | 81 | |
| 8809392394 | Quatrain | 4 lines | 82 | |
| 8809395409 | Cinquain | 5 lines | 83 | |
| 8809397460 | Sestet | 6 lines | 84 | |
| 8809397461 | Septet | 7 lines | 85 | |
| 8809399812 | Octave | 8 lines | 86 | |
| 8809401811 | Alexandrine | A poem in iambic pentameter | 87 | |
| 8809404853 | Blank Verse | An unrhymed poem with a set metrical pattern (usually iambic pentameter). | 88 | |
| 8809410325 | Caesura | A pause near the middle of a line | 89 | |
| 8809413245 | Free Verse | A poem without a set metrical pattern or rhyme | 90 | |
| 8809415772 | Spenserian Stanza | A poetic form consisting of 9 lines, 8 in iambic pentameter and 9th in iambic hexameter, with a rhyme scheme of ababbccbcc. | 91 | |
| 8809426691 | Terza Rima | Tercets, typically in iambs, with an interlocking rhyme pattern of aba, bcb, cdc, etc. | 92 | |
| 8809435992 | Descriptive Poem | A poem that describes the world surrounding the speaker. Though often emotional, a descriptive poem is focused outward, whereas a lyric poem is focused inward. | 93 | |
| 8809444790 | Lyric Poem | Any poem with one speaker who expresses strong thoughts and emotions. most poems, especially modern poems, are lyric poems. | 94 | |
| 8809456783 | Ballad | A narrative poem that tells the tales of ordinary people. It is typically organized into quatrains, or cinquains and follows a simple, musical rhythm. | 95 | |
| 8809464755 | Dramatic Monologue | A long lyric poem spoken by a character who often uwittingly reveals his or her hidden desires and actions over the course of the poem. The speaker is distinct from the poet. | 96 | |
| 8809479624 | Elegy | A lyric poem that mourns the dead. It has no set metric or stanzaic pattern, but usually takes the following structure: reminiscing about the dead; lamenting the reason for death; resolving the grief by concluding that death leads to immortality. | 97 | |
| 8809496264 | Epic Poem | A long narrative poem in an elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero. | 98 | |
| 8809501402 | Ode | A lyric poem if moderate length on a serious subject, written in an elevated style, and structured in an elaborate stanza pattern. | 99 | |
| 8809511127 | Pastoral Poem | A lyric poem whose subject is an idealized version of rural life. Shepherds are often the speakers or central figures. | 100 | |
| 8809519130 | Sestina | A lyric poem with 6 sestets and a a final tercet. All stanzas have the same six words at the line-ends in 6 different sequences that follow a fixed pattern. All 6 words appear in the final tercet. | 101 | |
| 8809530414 | Sonnet | A lyric poem consisting of 14 lines | 102 | |
| 8809537923 | Shakespearean/English Sonnet | Consists of three quatrains and a concluding couplet; usually written in iambic pentameter. | 103 | |
| 8809545146 | Petrarchan/Italian Sonnet | Consists of an octave with a rhyme scheme of abbaabba and a sestet with a rhyme scheme of two or three new sounds (c, d, and sometimes e) that vary in arrangement. | 104 | |
| 8809556359 | Spenserian Sonnet | Consists of 3 quatrains locked together by a rhyme scheme of abab, bcbc, cdcd and a concluding couplet (ee) | 105 | |
| 8809563680 | Villanelle | A 19-line lyric poem with two rhymes throughout, consisting of 5 tercets and a quatrain. The first and third lines of the opening tercet recur alternately at the end of the other tercets and repeat at the end of the final quatrain. | 106 |
