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| 5734948772 | allusion | A reference in a work of literature to something outside of the work, especially to a well-known historical or literary event, person, or work. EXAMPLE: In HAMLET, Horatio says, "ere the mightiest Julius fell." | 0 | |
| 5734953710 | rhetorical techniques | The devices used in effective or persuasive language. | 1 | |
| 5734957418 | satire | Writing that seeks to arouse a reader's disapproval of an object by ridicule. (authors to note: verse--Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson; plays--Ben Jonson and Bernard Shaw; novels--Charles Dickens, Mark Twain or Joseph Heller.) | 2 | |
| 5734960898 | structure | The arrangement of materials within a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work. The most common units of structure are--play: scene, act; novel: chapter; poem: line, stanza | 3 | |
| 5734963626 | imagery | the sensory details of a work | 4 | |
| 5734966963 | narrative techniques | the methods involved in telling a story (examples: point of view, manipulation of time, dialogue, interior monologue, etc. | 5 | |
| 5742782336 | epigram | A pithy saying, often using contrast. It is also a verse form, usually brief and pointed | 6 | |
| 5742784691 | hyperbole | Deliberate exaggeration, overstatement. It is self-conscious, without the intention of being accepted literally. EXAMPLE: "The strongest man in the world." | 7 | |
| 5742786642 | jargon | The special language of a profession or group. | 8 | |
| 5742789465 | lyrical | songlike; characterized by emotion, subjectivity and imagination. | 9 | |
| 5742789466 | oxymoron | A combination of opposites; the union of contradictory terms. EXAMPLES: "feather of lead," "bright smoke," "cold fire," "jumbo shrimp." | 10 | |
| 5742801099 | parable | A story designed to suggest a principle, illustrate a moral, or answer a question. They are allegorical stories. | 11 | |
| 5742805720 | paradox | A statement that seems to be self-contradicting but, in fact, is true. | 12 | |
| 5742807735 | parody | A composition that imitates the style of another composition normally for comic effect. | 13 | |
| 5742809466 | personification | A figurative use of language which endows the nonhuman (ideas, inanimate objects, animals, abstractions) with human characteristics. | 14 | |
| 5742811113 | allegory | A story in which people, things, and events have another meaning. | 15 | |
| 5742813194 | ambiguity | Multiple meanings a literary work may communicate, especially two meanings that are incompatible. | 16 | |
| 5742813195 | apostrophe | Direct address, usually to someone or something that is not present. Keats's "Bright star! would I were steadfast" is an example to a star. | 17 | |
| 5742815815 | connotation | The implications of a word or phrase, as opposed to its exact meaning. | 18 | |
| 5742818760 | denotation | The dictionary meaning of a word. | 19 | |
| 5742820647 | rhetorical question | A question asked for effect, not in expectation of a reply. | 20 | |
| 5742822924 | soliloquy | A speech in which a character who is alone speaks his or her thoughts aloud. | 21 | |
| 5742824677 | stereotype | A conventional pattern, expression, character, or idea. As a character, it can be referred to as a stock character. | 22 | |
| 5742824678 | syllogism | A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them. It begins with a major premise ("All tragedies end unhappily.") followed by a minor premise ("HAMLET is a tragedy.") and a conclusion (Therefore, "HAMLET ends unhappily."). | 23 | |
| 5742830604 | alliteration | The repetition of identical or similar consonant sounds, normally at the beginning of words. | 24 | |
| 5742832823 | assonance | The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. EXAMPLE: "A Land laid waste with all its young men slain" repeats the same "a" sound in "laid," "waste," and "slain." | 25 | |
| 5742835347 | ballad meter | A four-line stanza rhymed abcb with four feet in lines one and three and three feet in lines two and four. | 26 | |
| 5742841143 | blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter | 27 | |
| 5742889756 | digression | The use of material unrelated to the subject of a work. | 28 | |
| 5742891952 | euphemism | A figure of speech using indirection to avoid offensive bluntness, such as "deceased" for "dead" or "remains" for "corpse." | 29 | |
| 5742894137 | metonymy | Substituting the name of one object for another object closely associated with it. EXAMPLE: The White house issued a statement today. | 30 | |
| 5742897175 | anaphora | Repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences. EXAMPLE: "We have petitioned; we have remonstrated, we have . . ." | 31 | |
| 5742899467 | aphorism | Concise statement which expresses succinctly a general truth or idea, often using rhyme or balance. EX.: Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. | 32 | |
| 5742901438 | syntax | Manner in which words are arranged by a writer into sentences. | 33 | |
| 5742903129 | diction | Having to do with a writer's choice of words. | 34 | |
| 5742904685 | genre | Major category or type of literature. | 35 | |
| 5742904686 | onomatopoeia | Word used to imitate the natural sound. EX.: "Buzz" and "fire crackled" | 36 | |
| 5742907350 | syllepsis | Linking of words with 2 other words in strikingly different ways. EX.: The migrants "exhausted their credit, exhausted their friends." | 37 | |
| 5742909527 | tautology | Needless repetition which adds no meaning. EX.: "Widow woman," "free gift" | 38 | |
| 5742911543 | non sequitur | Inference that does not logically follow from the premise. EX.: Richard Nixon said it was obvious he was honest b/c his wife had a simple cloth coat. | 39 | |
| 5742913735 | synecdoche | Using 1 part of an object to represent the entire object. EX.: Sam traded his old jalopy to get himself a new set of wheels. | 40 | |
| 5742915813 | ellipsis | Omission of a word or phrase that is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context. EX.: Kathleen wants to be a firefighter, Sara, a nurse. | 41 | |
| 5742918610 | motif | standard theme or dramatic situation which recurs. | 42 | |
| 5742921552 | pathos | The quality in a work that prompts the reader to feel pity or sorrow. | 43 | |
| 5742921553 | antithesis | A statement in which 2 opposing ideas are balanced. EX.: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times...." | 44 | |
| 5742923853 | chiasmus | Statement consisting of 2 parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed. EX.: Out went the taper as she hurried in. | 45 | |
| 5742927928 | epiphany | Moment of sudden revelation or insight. | 46 | |
| 5742927929 | litotes | Type of understatement in which something affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite. EX.: My parents were not overjoyed when I came home past my curfew. | 47 | |
| 5742929823 | invective | Intensely vehement, highly emotional verbal attack. EX.: You are a lying, cheating, immoral bully. | 48 | |
| 5742931898 | tone | Attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward a subject. | 49 | |
| 5742933349 | pejorative | disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect | 50 | |
| 5742933350 | sardonic | characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; cynical; sneering; sarcastic | 51 | |
| 5742935661 | caesura | (Latin: "a cutting") A break or pause in a line of poetry, dictated, usually, by the natural rhythm of the language...In [Old English] verse the caesura was used...to indicate the half line. | 52 | |
| 5742937632 | kenning | a compact metaphor that functions as a name or epithet; it is also, in its more complex forms, a riddle in miniature—"helmet bearer" = "warrior" | 53 | |
| 5742940990 | epistles | literary letter, is a formal composition written in the form of a letter addressed to a distant person or group of people. Unlike common personal letters, which tend to be conversational and private compositions, epistles are carefully-crafted works of literature, intended for a general audience | 54 | |
| 5742944831 | cacophony | the use of seemingly harsh, unmusical sounds | 55 | |
| 5742944832 | catharsis | Aristotle's word for the pity and fear an audience experiences upon viewing the downfall of a hero | 56 | |
| 5742947923 | hubris | the pride or overconfidence which often leads a hero to overlook divine warning or to break a moral law | 57 | |
| 5742950322 | Metaphysical Poetry | represents a revolt against the conventions of Elizabethan love poetry and especially the typical Petrarchan conceits (like rosy cheeks, eyes like stars, etc | 58 | |
| 5742952561 | novel of manners | A novel focusing on and describing in detail the social customs and habits of a particular social group. Usually these conventions function as shaping or even stifling controls over the behavior of the characters. Examples: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice | 59 | |
| 5742954224 | pseudonym | A "false name" or alias used by a writer desiring not to use his or her real name. Sometimes called a nom de plume or "pen name," | 60 | |
| 5742956356 | verisimilitude | How fully the characters and actions in a work of fiction conform to our sense of reality; To say that a work has a high degree of this means that the work is very realistic and believable--it is "true to life." | 61 | |
| 5742959469 | mock heroic | imitating the style of heroic poetry in order to satirize an unheroic subject | 62 |
