Terms : Hide Images
| 2130011231 | abstract/concrete | classifications of imagery | 0 | |
| 2130011232 | adage | a familiar proverb or saying | 1 | |
| 2130011233 | allegory | a literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions | 2 | |
| 2130011234 | alliteration | the repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words | 3 | |
| 2130011235 | allusion | a reference to something literary, mythological, or historical that the author assumes the reader will recognize | 4 | |
| 2130011236 | ambiguity | purposeful multiple meanings, as in pun and double entendre | 5 | |
| 2130011237 | anachronism | an event, object, custom, person, or thing that is out of its natural order in time | 6 | |
| 2130011238 | analogy | a comparison of two different things which are similar in some way | 7 | |
| 2130011239 | anaphora | the repetition of words of phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences | 8 | |
| 2130011240 | anecdote | a brief narrative that focuses on a particular incident or event | 9 | |
| 2130011241 | antagonist | person or force working against the protagonist | 10 | |
| 2130011242 | antecedent | the word, phrase, or clause to which a pronoun refers | 11 | |
| 2130011243 | anthropomorphism | an animal that takes on human characteristics (walking, talking, etc) | 12 | |
| 2130011244 | antihero | a central character or protagonist that lacks traditional qualities or virtues | 13 | |
| 2130011245 | antithesis | a statement in which two opposing or contrasting ideas are balanced | 14 | |
| 2130011246 | aposiopesis | stopping abruptly and leaving a statement unfinished (usually ends with a dash) | 15 | |
| 2130011247 | apostrophe | a device used wherein a character addresses a dead, absent, or imaginary person, thing or personified abstraction | 16 | |
| 2130011248 | archetype | a detail, image, or character type that occurs frequently in literature and myth and is thought to be considered universal | 17 | |
| 2130011249 | argument | a statement of the meaning or main point of a literary work | 18 | |
| 2130011250 | aside | in drama, a convention by which actors speak briefly to the audience, supposedly without being heard by the other actors on stage | 19 | |
| 2130011251 | assonance | repetition of a vowel sound | 20 | |
| 2130011252 | asyndeton | a construction in which elements are presented in a series without conjunctions | 21 | |
| 2130011253 | atmosphere | effect of physical environment; the pervasive mood or tone | 22 | |
| 2130011254 | ballad | a form of narrative poetry that presents a single dramatic episode. song-like and often have refrains | 23 | |
| 2130011255 | ballad stanza | a patterned stanza in a ballad | 24 | |
| 2130011256 | bathos | insincere or overly sentimental quality or writing/speech intended to evoke pity | 25 | |
| 2130011257 | bildungsroman | german term meaning "development novel"; the protagonist may or may not be young, but will go through a maturation process from innocence to a point of realization | 26 | |
| 2130011258 | blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter | 27 | |
| 2130011259 | cacophony | sonic device, the use of harsh and displeasing sounds. opposite of euphony | 28 | |
| 2130011260 | cadence | in a general sense, the beat or rhythm of poetry | 29 | |
| 2130011261 | canon | the collective works of a particular author, or a collective core of representative works in a genre | 30 | |
| 2130011262 | canto | like a chapter in a novel, a division in along epic or narrative poem | 31 | |
| 2130011263 | caricature | the exaggeration of specific features of appearance or personality | 32 | |
| 2130011264 | carp diem | latin for "seize the day". this is used to emphasize the brevity of life and the finality of death | 33 | |
| 2130011265 | catharsis | an outpouring of emotions, a "cleansing". aristotle said tragedy provided the audience with the opportunity to purge the emotions of pity and fear | 34 | |
| 2130011266 | caesura | a pause in a line of poetry resulting from a pause in the natural rhythm of the language and not necessarily indicated by punctuation | 35 | |
| 2130011267 | central idea | core of a writer's assertion | 36 | |
| 2130011268 | character | a fictional entity in a literary work | 37 | |
| 2130011269 | dynamic character | one that has a significant change in the story | 38 | |
| 2130011270 | round character | a well-developed character | 39 | |
| 2130011271 | static character | one that stays the same throughout the story | 40 | |
| 2130011272 | flat character | a character that is not fully developed | 41 | |
| 2130011273 | characterization | the method by which an author creates the appearance and personality of imaginary persons and reveals their character. considerations for the development of character are direct description, the character's actions, and external events or other characters that affect the character's "inner-self" | 42 | |
| 2130011274 | chiasmus | a statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed ("susan walked in, and out rushed mary") | 43 | |
| 2130011275 | cliche | an expression that has been overly used to the extent that its freshness has worn off | 44 | |
| 2130011276 | climax | the point of highest interest in a literary work | 45 | |
| 2130011277 | colloquialism | informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing | 46 | |
| 2130011278 | comedy | literary genre in which the situation begins badly, progresses well and the hero triumphs | 47 | |
| 2130011279 | comic relief | a way to lighten a narrative. adding humor to the story | 48 | |
| 2130011280 | conceit | a "startling" extended metaphor, comparing two vastly different things | 49 | |
| 2130011281 | confidant(e) | the protagonist's intimate. | 50 | |
| 2130011282 | conflict | the struggle between opposing forces. can be an internal struggle within a character, or external struggle brought on by something outside the character | 51 | |
| 2130011283 | connotation | the implied or associative meaning of a word | 52 | |
| 2130011284 | consonance | repetition of a constant sound in any position | 53 | |
| 2130011285 | convention | the accepted form or style | 54 | |
| 2130011286 | couplet | two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme and are well written in the same meter, or patter on stressed and unstressed syllables | 55 | |
| 2130011287 | denotation | the literal meaning of a word | 56 | |
| 2130011288 | denouement | resolution, outcome replicating thought | 57 | |
| 2130011289 | deus ex machina | the "god machine". a contrived ending to a story or drama | 58 | |
| 2130011290 | dialogue | conversation between two or more people | 59 | |
| 2130011291 | diction | the word choices made by a writer | 60 | |
| 2130011292 | didactic | having the primary purpose of teaching or instructing | 61 | |
| 2130011293 | dissonance | harsh, inharmonious, or discordant sounds | 62 | |
| 2130011294 | doppleganger | mysterious double | 63 | |
| 2130011295 | dramatic perspective | teller presents just the facts | 64 | |
| 2130011296 | elegy | a formal poem presenting a meditation on death or another solemn theme. a dirge is a similar term that is a funeral song of lamentation | 65 | |
| 2130011297 | ellipsis | the omission of a word of phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context. also punctuation indicating omission ("...") | 66 | |
| 2130011298 | enjabment | running over of a sentence from one line or stanza to another | 67 | |
| 2130011299 | epic | a long narrative poem written in elevated style which presents the adventures of characters of high position and episodes that are important to the history of a race or nation | 68 | |
| 2130011300 | epigram | a saying or statement on the title page of a work, or sued as a heading for a chapter or other section of work | 69 | |
| 2130011301 | epilogue | the concluding section added to a novel, play, or long poem | 70 | |
| 2130011302 | epiphany | a moment of sudden revelation or insight | 71 | |
| 2130011303 | epitaph | an inscription on a tombstone or burial place | 72 | |
| 2130011304 | epithet | a term used to point out a characteristic of a person. homeric epithets are often compound adjectives ("swift-footed archilles") that become an almost formulaic part of a name. epithets can be abusive or offensive but are not so by definition. | 73 | |
| 2130011305 | eulogy | a formal speech praising a person who has died | 74 | |
| 2130011306 | euphemism | an indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant | 75 | |
| 2130011307 | euphony | soft, pleasing sounds. opposite of cacophony | 76 | |
| 2130011308 | exclamatory sentence | a sentence expressing strong feeling, usually punctuated with an exclamation mark | 77 | |
| 2130011309 | existentialism | a philosophy that focuses on the individual human being's experience of, recognition of, and triumph over the meaningless of existence. | 78 | |
| 2130011310 | expletive | an interjection to lend emphasis; sometimes, a profanity | 79 | |
| 2130011311 | fable | a brief story that leads to a moral, often using animals as characters | 80 | |
| 2130011312 | fantasy | a story that concerns an unreal world or contains unreal characters; can be merely whimsical, or it may present a serious point | 81 | |
| 2130011313 | farce | crude, often obscene literary genre | 82 | |
| 2130011314 | fiction | writing that is the product of the author's imagination, an invention rather than actual history or fact | 83 | |
| 2130011315 | figurative language | language employing one or more figures of speech | 84 | |
| 2130011316 | flashback | the insertion of an earlier event into the normal chronological order of a narrative | 85 | |
| 2130011317 | foil | character's illuminator through contrast | 86 | |
| 2130011318 | foot | the basic unit of rhythmic measurement in a line of poetry | 87 | |
| 2130011319 | foreshadowing | the presentation of a material in such a way that the reader is prepared for what is to come later in the work | 88 | |
| 2130011320 | free verse | poetry with no regular rhyme or rhythm | 89 | |
| 2130011321 | genre | a major category or type or literature | 90 | |
| 2130011322 | gothic | literature which calls to mind gloom, mystery, and fear | 91 | |
| 2130011323 | gothic novel | a type of novel characterized by mystery, horror and the supernatural, often with haunted castles, secret passage ways, ghosts, etc. | 92 | |
| 2130011324 | heroic couplet | two rhymed lines in iambic pentameter that are a complete thought | 93 | |
| 2130011325 | homily | a sermon, or a moralistic lecture | 94 | |
| 2130011326 | hubris | excessive pride or arrogance that results in the downfall of the protagonist of a tragedy | 95 | |
| 2130011327 | hyporbole | intentional exaggeration to create effect | 96 | |
| 2130011328 | idiom | an expression in a given language that cannot be understood from the literal meaning of the words in the expression; or, a regional speech or dialect | 97 | |
| 2130011329 | idyllic | an adjective to describe a description of a picturesque country life, an idealized story of happy innocence. also referred to as pastoral | 98 | |
| 2130011330 | image | a sensory detail | 99 | |
| 2130011331 | imagery | the use of figures of speech to create vivid images that appeal to one of the senses | 100 | |
| 2130011332 | in medias res | latin meaning "in the middle of things" | 101 | |
| 2130011333 | inference | a conclusion that one draws (infers) based on premises or evidence | 102 | |
| 2130011334 | interior monologue | the presentation to the reader of the flow of a character's inner emotional experience | 103 | |
| 2130011335 | stream of consciousness | a particular type of interior monologue, is an attempt to represent the inner workings of a character's mind, to re-create the continuous, chaotic flow of half-formed and discontinuous thoughts, memories, sense impressions, random associations, images, feelings, and reflections that constitute a character's consciousness | 104 | |
| 2130011336 | irony | the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning; or, congruity between what is expected and what actually occurs | 105 | |
| 2130011337 | verbal irony | what is said and what is meant | 106 | |
| 2130011338 | situational irony | what is expected to happen and what actually happens; at times, the direct opposite of what is expected to happen | 107 | |
| 2130011339 | dramatic irony | what people know and what others do not; what the audience knows and what the characters do not | 108 | |
| 2130011340 | cosmic irony | the "greater forces" are indifferent to or ineffective in the human condition | 109 | |
| 2130011341 | jargon | the specialized language or vocabulary of a particular group or profession | 110 | |
| 2130011342 | juxtaposition | placing two elements side by side to present a comparison or contrast | 111 | |
| 2130011343 | legend | a narrative handed down from the past, containing historical elements and usually supernatural elements | 112 | |
| 2130011344 | limited narrator | a narrator who presents the story as it is seen and understood by a single character and restricts information to what is seen, heard, thought, or felt by that one character | 113 | |
| 2130011345 | litotes | a type of understatement in which an idea is expressed by negating its opposite (describing a particularly horrific scene by saying, "it was not a pretty picture") | 114 | |
| 2130011346 | lyric poetry | characterized by emotion, subjectively, and imagination; song-like | 115 | |
| 2130011347 | malapropism | the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar | 116 | |
| 2130011348 | melodrama | excessive appeal to the emotions | 117 | |
| 2130011349 | metaphor | a direct comparison of two different things. an extended metaphor is a metaphor that continues throughout the work and may be the controlling or central idea in the work. | 118 | |
| 2130011350 | meter | the patterned repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables | 119 | |
| 2130011351 | metonymy | substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it ("the pen [writing] is mightier than the sword [war]") | 120 | |
| 2130011352 | mood | the emotion atmosphere of a work | 121 | |
| 2130011353 | motif | a standard theme, element, or dramatic situation that recurs in various works | 122 | |
| 2130011354 | motivation | a character's incentive or reason for behaving in a certain manner; that which impels a character to act | 123 | |
| 2130011355 | myth | a traditional story presenting supernatural characters and episodes that help explain natural events | 124 | |
| 2130011356 | narrative | a story or narrated account | 125 | |
| 2130011357 | narrative poetry | verse that tells a story | 126 | |
| 2130011358 | narrator | the one who tells the story (first-person, third-person, limited, or omniscient) | 127 | |
| 2130011359 | nemesis | a character's arch-rival | 128 | |
| 2130011360 | non sequitur | an inference that does not follow logically from the premises (literally, "does not follow") | 129 | |
| 2130011361 | novel | a lengthy fictional narrative in prose dealing with characters, incidents, and settings that imitate those found in real life. | 130 | |
| 2130011362 | ode | a lyric poem with a dignified tone in praise of someone, something, or an important occasion | 131 | |
| 2130011363 | omniscient narrator | a narrator who is able to know, see, and tell all, including the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters | 132 | |
| 2130011364 | onomatopoeia | a word formed with the imitation of natural sounds | 133 | |
| 2130011365 | oxymoron | an expression in which two words that contradict each other are joined | 134 | |
| 2130011366 | parable | a simple story that illustrates a moral or religious lesson | 135 | |
| 2130011367 | paradox | an apparently contradictory statement that actually contains some truth | 136 | |
| 2130011368 | parallelism | the use of corresponding grammatical or syntactical forms | 137 | |
| 2130011369 | paraphrase | a restatement of a text in a different form of in different words, often for the purpose of clarity | 138 | |
| 2130011370 | parody | a humorous imitation of a serious work | 139 | |
| 2130011371 | parenthetical | a comment that interrupts the immediate subject, often to qualify or explain | 140 | |
| 2130011372 | pastoral | latin for "shepherd". originally, a poem that had to do with shepherds and rural living. it has evolved to include rural settings, and descriptions of the simple, charming rural life | 141 | |
| 2130011373 | pathos | the quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pity | 142 | |
| 2130011374 | pedantic | characterized by an excessive display of learning or scholarship | 143 | |
| 2130011375 | personification | endowing non-human objects or creatures with human qualities or characteristics | 144 | |
| 2130011376 | picaresque novel | life story of a rascal, a rogue, a "picaro". a picaresque novel follows the episodic adventures of the "picaro" | 145 | |
| 2130011377 | poetry | the creative experience in verse. literature in its most intense, most imaginative, and most rhythmic forms | 146 | |
| 2130011378 | plot | the action of a narrative or drama | 147 | |
| 2130011379 | point of view | the vantage point from which a story is told | 148 | |
| 2130011380 | polysyndeton | the use, for rhetorical effect, of more conjunctions than is necessary or natural | 149 | |
| 2130011381 | prologue | the introductory part of a literary work | 150 | |
| 2130011382 | prose | all forms of writing similar to everyday speech. the language of essays, novels, and short stories. lacks the rhythmic pattern of poetry. | 151 | |
| 2130011383 | protagonist | character around which the action is centered | 152 | |
| 2130011384 | pun | a play on words, often achieved through the use of words with similar sounds but different meanings | 153 | |
| 2130011385 | realism | accuracy in the portrayal of life or reality. also known as verisimilitude | 154 | |
| 2130011386 | refrain | repetition of line or phrase at regular intervals (like chorus) | 155 | |
| 2130011387 | rhetoric | the art of presenting ideas in a clear, effective, and persuasive manner | 156 | |
| 2130011388 | rhetorical question | a question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer | 157 | |
| 2130011389 | rhetorical devices | literary techniques used to heighten the effectiveness of expression | 158 | |
| 2130011390 | rhyme | the repetition of sounds | 159 | |
| 2130011391 | end rhyme | repetition of the same sound at the end of the lines | 160 | |
| 2130011392 | initial rhyme | repetition of the same sound at the beginning of the lines | 161 | |
| 2130011393 | internal rhyme | rhyme that occurs within lines | 162 | |
| 2130011394 | off rhyme/slant rhyme | inexact but close rhyme | 163 | |
| 2130011395 | slight rhyme | words that look like they should rhyme but don't | 164 | |
| 2130011396 | rhythm | naturally occurring patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables | 165 | |
| 2130011397 | romantic | a term describing a character or literary work that reflects the characteristics of Romanticism, the literary movement beginning in the 18h century that stressed emotion, imagination, and individualism | 166 | |
| 2130011398 | rhyme scheme | end rhyme expressed alphabetically | 167 | |
| 2130011399 | sarcasm | harsh, cutting language or time intended to ridicule | 168 | |
| 2130011400 | satire | the use of humor to emphasize human weakness or imperfections in social institutions. horatian satire: mildly corrective; juvenalian satire: harsh and bitter. | 169 | |
| 2130011401 | scansion | the analysis of the meter of a poem | 170 | |
| 2130011402 | scene | a real or fictional episode; a division of an act in a play | 171 | |
| 2130011403 | setting | the time, place, and environment in which action takes place | 172 | |
| 2130011404 | short story | brief fictional narrative in prose | 173 | |
| 2130011405 | simile | a comparison of two things using "like", "as", or other specifically comparative words | 174 | |
| 2130011406 | situation | the circumstance at a given moment in a story or poem | 175 | |
| 2130011407 | soliloquy | when a character on stage expresses his or her inner thoughts without addressing anyone else on stage | 176 | |
| 2130011408 | sonnet | a fourteen line poem. the two most recognized are english (shakespearean, elizabethan) and italian (petrarchan) | 177 | |
| 2130011409 | the english sonnet | 3 quatrains and an ending couplet. the rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. first two quatrains set the theme or situation, answered or furthered by the third quatrain, and summarized or finalized by the ending couplet. | 178 | |
| 2130011410 | the italian sonnet | divided into an octave/octet (8 lines) and a sested (6 lines). the rhyme scheme differs, but a common pattern is abba, abba, cde, cde. the octave is more uniform in rhyme scheme than the sestet. the octave will present the theme, problem, or situation which is then answered or resolved in the sestet | 179 | |
| 2130011411 | stanzas | the section or division of a poem | 180 | |
| 2130011412 | structure | the arrangement or framework of a sentence, paragraph, or entire work | 181 | |
| 2130011413 | style | the choices a writer makes; the combination of distinctive features of a literary work | 182 | |
| 2130011414 | syllepsis | a construction in which one word is used in two different senses ("after he threw the ball, he threw a fit") | 183 | |
| 2130011415 | syllogism | a three-part deductive argument in which a conclusion is based on a major premise and a minor premise ("all men are mortal; socrates is a man; therefore, socrates is mortal") | 184 | |
| 2130011416 | symbol | an object that is used to represent something else | 185 | |
| 2130011417 | synecdoche | using one part of an object to represent the entire object (for example, referring to a car as just "wheels") | 186 | |
| 2130011418 | synesthesia | describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ("a loud color", "a sweet sound") | 187 | |
| 2130011419 | syntax | the manner in which words are arranged into sentences | 188 | |
| 2130011420 | theme | a central idea of a work | 189 | |
| 2130011421 | thesis | the primary position taken by a writer or speaker | 190 | |
| 2130011422 | tone | the attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience | 191 | |
| 2130011423 | topic | the subject treated in a paragraph or work | 192 | |
| 2130011424 | tragedy | a work in which the protagonist, a person of high degree, is engaged in a significant struggle and which ends in his ruin or destruction | 193 | |
| 2130011425 | tragic hero | the central character in a tragedy who experiences a tragic downfall. the tragic hero has a tragic flaw which is the error, misstep, frailty, or flaw that causes the downfall of the tragic hero. also referred to as hamartia. | 194 | |
| 2130011426 | trilogy | a work in three parts, each of which is a complete work in itself | 195 | |
| 2130011427 | trite | overused and hackneyed | 196 | |
| 2130011428 | tropes | the generic name for a figure of speech such as image, symbol, simile, and metaphor | 197 | |
| 2130011429 | turning point | the point in a work in which a very significant change occurs | 198 | |
| 2130011430 | understatement | the deliberate representation of something as lesser in magnitude than it actually is; a deliberate under-emphasis | 199 | |
| 2130011431 | vernacular | the everyday speech of a particular country or region, often involving nonstandard usage | 200 | |
| 2130011432 | zeugma | the use of a word to modify two or more words ("he closed the door and his heart on his lost love") | 201 | |
| 2130011433 | zeitgeist | german for "the spirit of the age". the moral, emotional, or intellectual characteristics of a particular age. | 202 |
