Terms : Hide Images
| 5539817570 | allegory | a work of literature that can be read on two or more levels-one literal and others symbolic | 0 | |
| 5539817571 | alliteration | repetition of the same consonant sound used within lines of poetry and prose | 1 | |
| 5539817572 | allusion | reference to a person, text or event outside the text | 2 | |
| 5539817573 | 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 | |
| 5539817574 | ambivalence | coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings | 4 | |
| 5539817575 | anachronism | something that is out of its proper or chronological order | 5 | |
| 5539817576 | analogy | comparison based on similarity | 6 | |
| 5539817577 | anecdote | brief story about an amusing or strange event | 7 | |
| 5539817578 | antagonist | principal character or force in opposition to the protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama | 8 | |
| 5539817579 | antecedent | the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun | 9 | |
| 5539817580 | anticlimax | something trivial or commonplace that follows a series or significant events -usually after a climactic event | 10 | |
| 5539817581 | 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. | 11 | |
| 5539817582 | 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" | 12 | |
| 5539817583 | antithesis | a figure of speech in which a thought is balanced with a contrasting thought in parallel arrangements of words and phrases, and is also the second of two contrasting or opposing parts. | 13 | |
| 5539817584 | aphorism | a terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or moral principle | 14 | |
| 5539817585 | apostrophe | a figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction such as liberty or love | 15 | |
| 5539817586 | apothesis | elevating someone or something to a god like status | 16 | |
| 5539817587 | archetype | a term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader | 17 | |
| 5539817588 | aside | piece of a dialogue intended for the audience and supposedly unheard by others on a stage | 18 | |
| 5539817589 | assonance | close repetition of similar vowels in conjunction with dissimilar consonant sounds | 19 | |
| 5539817590 | autobiography | biography of a person written by that person | 20 | |
| 5539817591 | 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." | 21 | |
| 5539817592 | blank verse | verse consisting of unrhymed lines, usually iambic pentameter | 22 | |
| 5539817593 | caesura | a pause withing a line of poetry that contributes to the rhythm of the line | 23 | |
| 5539817594 | 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 | 24 | |
| 5539817595 | catharsis | release of emotional tension, as after an overwhelming experience, that restores or refreshes the spirit | 25 | |
| 5539817596 | characterization | act of creating and developing a character | 26 | |
| 5539817597 | direct characterization | when the writer states or describes a character's traits | 27 | |
| 5539817598 | 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. | 28 | |
| 5539817599 | 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. | 29 | |
| 5539817600 | cliche | trite or overused expression or idea | 30 | |
| 5539817601 | climax | moment of great or culminating intensity in a narrative or drama, especially the conclusion of a crisis | 31 | |
| 5539817602 | colloquial | refers to a type of informal diction that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang expressions. | 32 | |
| 5539817603 | comic relief | a humorous scene or incident that alleviates tension in an otherwise serious work | 33 | |
| 5539817604 | complication | element that complicates the plot and prevents resolution | 34 | |
| 5539817605 | conceit | an unusual or surprising comparison between two very different things | 35 | |
| 5539817606 | conflict | opposition between characters or fores in a work of writing, drives/shapes plot | 36 | |
| 5539817607 | conontation | associative meanings of a word in addition to its literal sense (negative, positive, neutral) | 37 | |
| 5539817608 | consonance | repetition of consonant sound sin conjunction with dissimilar vowel sounds (as in blank and think or strong and string) | 38 | |
| 5539817609 | 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. | 39 | |
| 5539817610 | counter plot | also known as sub-plot, subsidiary action in a play or story which coincides with the main action | 40 | |
| 5539817611 | couplet | two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme and have the same meter | 41 | |
| 5539817612 | heroic couplet | couplet written in rhymed iambic pentameter | 42 | |
| 5539817613 | denotation | specific or direct meaning of a word found in the dictionary, in contrast to its figurative or associative meanings | 43 | |
| 5539817614 | denouement | part of a literary work in which the complications of the plot are resolved or simplified (resolution) | 44 | |
| 5539817615 | 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 | 45 | |
| 5539817616 | 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 | 46 | |
| 5539817617 | diction | choice and use of words in speech or writing as a part of writer's style | 47 | |
| 5539817618 | didactic | a work that intends to teach an ethical, moral, or religious lesson | 48 | |
| 5539817619 | doggerel | a derogatory term used to describe poerty whose subject is trite and whose rhythm and sounds are monotonously heaved-handed | 49 | |
| 5539817620 | double entendre | a word or phrase having double meaning | 50 | |
| 5539817621 | elegiac | lamenting or mournful tone | 51 | |
| 5539817622 | end rhyme | rhyming words repeat at the end of lines | 52 | |
| 5539817623 | 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) | 53 | |
| 5539817624 | epic | a long narrative poem about the adventures of a hero of great historic or legendary importance | 54 | |
| 5539817625 | epiphany | comprehension of perception of reality by a sudden realization or discovery which changes a character | 55 | |
| 5539817626 | epistile | a kind of letter to a friend or audience | 56 | |
| 5539817627 | epigrammatical | tense and ingenious in expression | 57 | |
| 5539817628 | ethos | a means of persuasion based on the credibility/character of the person making a claim/appeal | 58 | |
| 5539817629 | euphemism | the substitution of a comfortable or inoffensive expression to replace one that might offend or suggest something unpleasant | 59 | |
| 5539817630 | exact rhyme | rhyme in which words have identical sounds like dear/snear | 60 | |
| 5539817631 | 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 | 61 | |
| 5539817632 | explicatoin | writing that presents a detailed analysis or thoughtful interpretation of a text. usually involving close reading and special attention to figurative language | 62 | |
| 5539817633 | exposition | part of a story that provides the background information to understand the characters and the action | 63 | |
| 5539817634 | extended metaphor | a comparison which continues to be elaborated through detail | 64 | |
| 5539817635 | eye rhyme | rhyme which gives the impression of exact rhyme but does not have identical sounds (come/home, forth/worth) | 65 | |
| 5539817636 | falling actrions | part of the narrative that follows the climax | 66 | |
| 5539817637 | farce | a type of comedy characterized by a wide range of humor, weird incidents, and often vulgar subject matter | 67 | |
| 5539817638 | fiction | literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact | 68 | |
| 5539817639 | figurative language | language which uses figures of speech (example: simile, metaphor., personification, etc.) | 69 | |
| 5539817640 | flat character | character which does not change, with few traits, static | 70 | |
| 5539817641 | foil | character that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another | 71 | |
| 5539817642 | 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 | 72 | |
| 5539817643 | foreshadowing | technique of arranging events and information so that later events are prepared for or shadowed before | 73 | |
| 5539817644 | free verse | verse with no regular meter or line length; depends on natural speech's rhythms | 74 | |
| 5539817645 | genre | category of artistic composition, marked by a distinctive style form, or content (example: epic, tragedy, lyric, etc.) | 75 | |
| 5539817646 | hero | the protagonist, central character in a work of literature | 76 | |
| 5539817647 | hubris | the most common defect in the tragic hero which leads to his or her downfall | 77 | |
| 5539817648 | hyperbole | figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or efrect | 78 | |
| 5539817649 | lamb | metrical foot consisting of unstressed and stressed syllable (U/) as in the word defeat | 79 | |
| 5539817650 | iambic pentameter | poetic line of five iambic feet | 80 | |
| 5539817651 | imagery | use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas | 81 | |
| 5539817652 | incongruity | something in the work which shows a discrepancy or ocntradiciton | 82 | |
| 5539817653 | verbal irony | when what is said is not what is meant, when meaning is contrary to the words | 83 | |
| 5539817654 | dramatic irony | when the audience or reader knows something that a character doesn't | 84 | |
| 5539817655 | situational irony | when what happens contradicts expectations | 85 | |
| 5539817656 | jargon | technical vocab peculiar to trade or profession | 86 | |
| 5539817657 | juxtapostion | to place things side by side for the purposes of comparing or contrasting | 87 | |
| 5539817658 | literal | primary, non-figurative meaning of words, dictionary meaning | 88 | |
| 5539817659 | litotes | the opposite of hyperbole- example: saying "not bad" to something that is very good or beautiful | 89 | |
| 5539817660 | logos | a means of persuasion by the use of reasoning | 90 | |
| 5539817661 | lyric poetry | typically does not tell a story; instead focuses on expressing the poet's/speaker's personal thoughts on feelings | 91 | |
| 5539817662 | 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) | 92 | |
| 5539817663 | 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 | 93 | |
| 5539817664 | 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. | 94 | |
| 5539817665 | metonymy | using vaguely suggestive, physical object to embody a more general idea | 95 | |
| 5539817666 | monologue | literary composition in which a single person speaks alone, with or without an audience ( also known as dramatic monologue) | 96 | |
| 5539817667 | mood | pervading impression or atmosphere of a literary work | 97 | |
| 5539817668 | motif | a conspicuous, recurring element, such as type of incident, a device, an object, a reference, or verbal formula | 98 | |
| 5539817669 | motivation | reason that explains or partially explains a character's thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech | 99 | |
| 5539817670 | myth | explanations of the natural order and cosmic forces; story which is not "true" and which involves supernatural elements | 100 | |
| 5539817671 | narrative | writing which tells a story, with a beginning, middle, and end | 101 | |
| 5539817672 | narrorator | person telling story | 102 | |
| 5539817673 | nonfiction | prose works other than fiction | 103 | |
| 5539817674 | octave | groups of eight lines of poetry, especially the first eight lines of Petrarchan sonnet, rhyming abba abba | 104 | |
| 5539817675 | ode | lyric poem which honors something and has a stately tone and style | 105 | |
| 5539817676 | omniscent | having total knowledge, knowing everything | 106 | |
| 5539817677 | 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 | 107 | |
| 5539817678 | oxymoron | figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combines | 108 | |
| 5539817679 | paradox | seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true ( example: standing is more tiring than walking) | 109 | |
| 5539817680 | parallelism | repetition of a sentence or pattern or grammatical structure | 110 | |
| 5539817681 | paraody | imitative use of words, style, attitude, tone and ideas of an author in such a way as to make them look ridiculous | 111 | |
| 5539817682 | pathos | quality which invokes feelings of tenderness, pity, or sorrow; a means persuading by appealing the reader's emotions | 112 | |
| 5539817683 | person | the speaker (first person "I") the individual addressed (second person "you") and the individual or thing spoken of ( third person "he/she/it") | 113 | |
| 5539817684 | persona | voice or character representing the speaker in the literary work | 114 | |
| 5539817685 | personfication | figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are given human qualities or are represented as possessing human form | 115 | |
| 5539817686 | plagarism | stealing of other people's words, dishonesty, in written work | 116 | |
| 5539817687 | plot | plan of vents or main story in a narrative or drama | 117 | |
| 5539817688 | poetic justice | term which conveys the idea that the evil are punished appropriately and the good rewarded as they should be | 118 | |
| 5539817689 | 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 | 119 | |
| 5539817690 | point of view | position of narrator in a piece of literature: first person, third person limited, third person omniscient | 120 | |
| 5539817691 | preface | intro to literary work | 121 | |
| 5539817692 | prologue | opening section of a work, a kind of interjection which is part of the work | 122 | |
| 5539817693 | prose | ordinary speech or writing, without metrical structure | 123 | |
| 5539817694 | protagonist | main character in a drama or other literary work | 124 | |
| 5539817695 | proverb | short, pithy saying in frequent and widespread use that expresses a basic truth or practical precept | 125 | |
| 5539817696 | pseudonym | name other than his/her own taken by the author | 126 | |
| 5539817697 | pun | play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words | 127 | |
| 5539817698 | quatrain | stanza or poem of four lines | 128 | |
| 5539817699 | 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 | 129 | |
| 5539817700 | refrain | phrase, line, or lines repeated at intervals during a poem | 130 | |
| 5539817701 | resolution | the conclusion of a plot's conflicts and complications | 131 | |
| 5539817702 | rhetoric | art or study of using language effectively and persuasively | 132 | |
| 5539817703 | rhyme scheme | arrangement of rhymes in a poem or stranza | 133 | |
| 5539817704 | rhythm | patterned, recurring alternations of contrasting elements of sound or speech | 134 | |
| 5539817705 | rising action | part of a drama or story in which conflicts are complicated/build toward comes before the climax | 135 | |
| 5539817706 | round character | character which is dynamic and complex, has many traits | 136 | |
| 5539817707 | sarcasm | a form of verbal irony used to express contempt or to ridicule | 137 | |
| 5539817708 | satire | literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit | 138 | |
| 5539817709 | scansion | analysis of verse into metrical patterns | 139 | |
| 5539817710 | sestet | group of six lines, especially the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet | 140 | |
| 5539817711 | setting | time, place, and circumstances in which writing takes place | 141 | |
| 5539817712 | simile | figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as | 142 | |
| 5539817713 | slang | language of the street, common, informal language | 143 | |
| 5539817714 | slant rhyme | rhyme that is not true, either deliberate so or because of incompetence (example : other/powder) | 144 | |
| 5539817715 | soliloquy | dramatic form of discourse in which a character reveals his or her thoughts when alone, unaware of the presence of other characters | 145 | |
| 5539817716 | sonnet | 14 line verse form usually having one of several conventional rhyme schemes and written in iambic pentameter | 146 | |
| 5539817717 | stanza | groups of lines in poetry | 147 | |
| 5539817718 | sterotype | 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 | 148 | |
| 5539817719 | stream of conciousness | literary technique that presents the thought and feelings of a character as they develop | 149 | |
| 5539817720 | style | way in which something is said, done or expressed | 150 | |
| 5539817721 | subjectivity | personal expirience and feeling, the opposite of objectivity, where the writeer is outside the work, detached from it | 151 | |
| 5539817722 | subtext | what is implied but not written | 152 | |
| 5539817723 | suspense | anxiety or apprehension resulting from an uncertain, undecided, or mysterious situation | 153 | |
| 5539817724 | symbol | something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something intagible | 154 | |
| 5539817725 | synecdoche | a figure of speech by which a part Is put for the whole | 155 | |
| 5539817726 | synthesis | description of one kind of sense impression by using words that usually describe another, as in I heard a blinding roar | 156 | |
| 5539817727 | syntax | sentence construction | 157 | |
| 5539817728 | tetremeter | line of verse consisting of four metrical feet | 158 | |
| 5539817729 | theme | central idea of work | 159 | |
| 5539817730 | thesis | main idea of a work | 160 | |
| 5539817731 | tone | general quality, effect, or atmosphere; writers' attitude (especially towards readers), manner, mood | 161 | |
| 5539817732 | topic sentence | main, focusing idea of a paragraph | 162 | |
| 5539817733 | 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 | 163 | |
| 5539817734 | transition | word, phrase, sentence, or series of sentences connecting one part of discourse to another | 164 | |
| 5539817735 | trope | another word for figurative language | 165 | |
| 5539817736 | 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 | 166 | |
| 5539817737 | vernacular | standard native language of a country or locality; everyday language spoken by a people as distinguished from the literary language | 167 | |
| 5539817738 | verse | line of metrical writing | 168 | |
| 5539817739 | vignette | sketch or short composition | 169 | |
| 5539817740 | voice | distinctive style or manner of expression of an author or a character in a book | 170 | |
| 5539817741 | 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 | 171 |
