Terms : Hide Images
| 10504770109 | Abstract/ abstraction: | language that describes qualities that cannot be perceived with the five senses | 0 | |
| 10504779853 | Allegory | From the Greek allegoria, the term loosely describes any writing in verse or prose that has a double meaning; acts as an extended metaphor | 1 | |
| 10504787249 | Alliteration | repeating a consonant sound in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound; consonance and assonance are two specific types | 2 | |
| 10504787250 | Allusion | a figure of speech which references a historical or literary figure, event or object; often, a reference in one literary work to a character or theme found in another literary work | 3 | |
| 10504793078 | Ambiguity | any wording, action, or symbol that can be read in divergent ways, often intentional by the author; may develop in a character, or an entire story | 4 | |
| 10504793079 | Anachronism | something out of place in time | 5 | |
| 10504794596 | Analogy | the relationship of similarity between two or more entities or a partial similarity on which comparison is based | 6 | |
| 10504797169 | Anaphora | The intentional repetition of beginning clauses for the purpose of emphasis | 7 | |
| 10504799347 | Anecdote | a short narrative account of an amusing, unusual, revealing, or interesting event, often used to support or demonstrate a specific point | 8 | |
| 10504801300 | Antanaclasis | rhetorical device in which a phrase or word is repeatedly used, though the meaning of the word changes in each case | 9 | |
| 10504806329 | Anthimeria | originated from the Greek word anti-heroes, meaning "one part for another"; it is a rhetorical device that uses a word in a new grammatical shape, often as a noun or verb | 10 | |
| 10504814127 | Antihero | non-hero or antithesis of a traditional hero | 11 | |
| 10504816342 | Aphorism | a brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life | 12 | |
| 10504816343 | Apostrophe | addressing someone or something, usually not present, as though present | 13 | |
| 10504819041 | Aposopesis | rhetorical device that can be defined as a figure of speech in which the speaker or writer breaks off abruptly, and leaves the statement incomplete | 14 | |
| 10504819042 | Archetype | pattern from which other later copies are made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life | 15 | |
| 10504821168 | Aside | a dramatic device in which a character speaks directly to the audience | 16 | |
| 10504821169 | Asyndeton | a stylistic device that takes away all conjunctions for emphasis | 17 | |
| 10504825160 | Ballad Meter | four line stanza with alternating iambic tetrameter and trimeter lines with a abcb or abab rhyme scheme | 18 | |
| 10504825161 | Bard | An ancient Celtic poet, singer and harpist who recited heroic poems by memory | 19 | |
| 10504826836 | Bildungsroman | a coming of age story | 20 | |
| 10504826837 | Blank Verse | lines of iambic pentameter without an end rhyme | 21 | |
| 10504828489 | Canon | works you would find in anthologies | 22 | |
| 10504828490 | Canto | a sub-division of an epic similar to a chapter | 23 | |
| 10504829476 | Caesura | a natural pause in a line of poetry cause by the rhythms of speech | 24 | |
| 10504832134 | Caricature | exaggerating or simplifying some characteristics of some | 25 | |
| 10504832135 | Catalectic Meter | metrically incomplete line of verse, lacking a syllable somewhere in the line or ending with an incomplete foot of meter | 26 | |
| 10504833296 | Chiasmus | A->B;B->A | 27 | |
| 10504833297 | Cliche | a phrase that has become lifeless through overuse | 28 | |
| 10504834876 | Colloquial | informal language found in certain regions | 29 | |
| 10504834877 | Comedy | upbeat drama where most characters end up married | 30 | |
| 10504835873 | Comedy of Errors | a dramatic work that is light and humorous or satirical; actions usually funny mistakes, etc. | 31 | |
| 10504835874 | Conceit | a fairly elaborate figure of speech, especially an extended comparison | 32 | |
| 10504838038 | Concrete | language that describes qualities perceived by the five senses | 33 | |
| 10504841387 | Conflict | opposition between two characters and drives the story | 34 | |
| 10504841388 | Connotation | extra tinge or taint on meaning of a word beyond the dictionary definition | 35 | |
| 10504841389 | Couplet | two lines of the same metric length and ending in a rhyme | 36 | |
| 10504842695 | Crisis | turning point of uncertainty and tension resulting from earlier conflict | 37 | |
| 10504842696 | Denotation | dictionary definition | 38 | |
| 10504844866 | Deus Ex Machina | unrealistic, divine intervention | 39 | |
| 10504845954 | Dialect | subset of a language spoken in specific way by group of people | 40 | |
| 10504845955 | Diction | choice of words | 41 | |
| 10504847567 | Didactic Literature | preachy writing that seeks to overly convince a reader | 42 | |
| 10504847568 | Doppelgänger | look-alike | 43 | |
| 10504850137 | Double Entendre | deliberate use of ambiguity in a phrase or image | 44 | |
| 10504850138 | Drama | composition in prose or verse presenting a narrative involving conflict | 45 | |
| 10504851487 | Dramatic Monologue | a poetic form in which the speaker addresses the listener directly | 46 | |
| 10504852845 | Dramatic Structure | exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement | 47 | |
| 10504852846 | Exposition | background information | 48 | |
| 10504854042 | Rising Action | basic internal conflict is complicated by the introduction of related secondary conflicts | 49 | |
| 10504854043 | Climax | turning point | 50 | |
| 10504855541 | Falling Action | conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist unravels | 51 | |
| 10504855542 | Denouement | outcome of a complex situation | 52 | |
| 10504857996 | Dynamic Character | character who changes over the course of the story | 53 | |
| 10504859256 | Static Character | unchanging characters | 54 | |
| 10504859257 | Elegy | any poem written in elegiac meter; poem dealing with the subject-matter common to the early Greco-Roman elegies | 55 | |
| 10504862644 | Elision | removal of an unstressed syllable, consonants, or letters from a word or phrase | 56 | |
| 10504863951 | Ellipsis | three successive periods (...) | 57 | |
| 10504863952 | Enjambment | line having no pause or end punctuation continues uninterrupted grammatical meaning into the next line | 58 | |
| 10504867456 | Epic Poetry | a long narrative traditionally beginning with the invocation of a muse and told in an elevated style and in medias res while recounting the superhuman exploits of an epic hero, whose actions will determine the future of their nation | 59 | |
| 10504869595 | Invocation of Muse | in Greco-Roman culture, the poet is simply a vessel for the gods to transmit a story, which this invocation shows; the storyteller asks for their talents from the gods | 60 | |
| 10504871012 | In Media Res | starting in the middle of the action, instead of a build up | 61 | |
| 10504871013 | Epic Simile | a simile that may be developed at great length throughout a canto or the entire epic | 62 | |
| 10504871014 | Epigraph | a brief quotation appearing at the start of a literary work | 63 | |
| 10504872591 | Epilogue | a conclusion added to a literary work such as a novel, play, or long poem | 64 | |
| 10504872592 | Epistolary | writing taking the form of a letter or letters to tell part or the entire story | 65 | |
| 10504874435 | Epistrophe | repetition of words at the end of successive phrases | 66 | |
| 10504874436 | Epitaph | final statement before a character's death | 67 | |
| 10504874437 | Epithet | a "nickname" attached to the name of the character | 68 | |
| 10504875664 | Eponym | name of a legend or real person associated with some other person | 69 | |
| 10504876579 | Etymology | the study of word origins | 70 | |
| 10504876580 | Euphemism | use of a mild phrase to describe something that usually is harsh, blunt such as death | 71 | |
| 10504877773 | Fable | tale designed to illustrate a moral lesson | 72 | |
| 10504880935 | Farce | form of low comedy to provoke laughter through exaggerated caricatures in improbable situations | 73 | |
| 10504891171 | Figurative Language | language employing figures of speech. | 74 | |
| 10504891172 | Simile | A comparison using "like" or "as" | 75 | |
| 10504892165 | Metaphor | a direct comparison of two objects | 76 | |
| 10504892166 | Flashback | method of narration where action is interrupted so that the reader can witness past events | 77 | |
| 10504892901 | Foil | a character whose purpose serves to contrast another character | 78 | |
| 10504892902 | Foot | basic unit of meter | 79 | |
| 10504894900 | Foreshadowing | a literary device which hints at later events | 80 | |
| 10504894901 | The Fourth Wall | separating the audience from the stage, it is a "barrier" through which an audience views the play | 81 | |
| 10504896164 | Frame Narrative | a story within a story | 82 | |
| 10504896165 | Free Verse | no meter or (necessarily) rhyme scheme | 83 | |
| 10504899994 | Hyperbole | exaggeration | 84 | |
| 10504899995 | Gallows Humor | grim humorin the face of desperate situations such as death | 85 | |
| 10504901031 | Genre | type, species, or class of composition | 86 | |
| 10504901032 | Gothic | a work in which the supernatural and horrific governs and pervades the action | 87 | |
| 10504902868 | Hamartia | tragic flaw (think Odysseus' pride); makes a character tragic | 88 | |
| 10504905225 | Heroic Couplet | stanza of two rhymed, iambic pentameter couplets | 89 | |
| 10504905226 | Humours | four bodily fluids believed to control behavior and health | 90 | |
| 10504908035 | Hyperbaton | in version in the syntax | 91 | |
| 10504912202 | Idiom | commonly used phrase that works only on figurative level | 92 | |
| 10504912203 | Innuendo | remark about somebody or something, usually suggesting something bad, mean or rude | 93 | |
| 10504912204 | Invective | speech/writing that attacks, insults, or denounces | 94 | |
| 10504913167 | Irony | mode of expression, through words, events, or dramatic tension conveying a reality different from and usually opposite to appearance or expectation | 95 | |
| 10504913168 | Verbal Irony | sarcasm | 96 | |
| 10504916756 | Situational Irony | incongruity between what the audience expects versus what actually happens (ex. firehouse burning down) | 97 | |
| 10504916757 | Dramatic Irony | significance of a character's words or actions are clear to the audience although unknown to the character | 98 | |
| 10504918050 | Juxtaposition | arrangement of ideas next to one another for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development | 99 | |
| 10504918051 | Kenning | two word phrase describing something through a metaphor | 100 | |
| 10504919311 | Laureate | Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution | 101 | |
| 10504919312 | Litotes | understatement for rhetorical effect | 102 | |
| 10504920311 | Malapropism | a word humorously misused | 103 | |
| 10504920312 | Melodrama | work that exaggerates plot or characters to appeal to the emotions | 104 | |
| 10504921776 | Memoir | an individual writing about their life (biography) | 105 | |
| 10504921777 | Meter | rhythm in a poem through stresses and unstressed syllables | 106 | |
| 10504924426 | Iambic | unstressed, stressed | 107 | |
| 10504924427 | Trochaic | stressed, unstressed | 108 | |
| 10504926200 | Anapestic | unstressed, unstressed, stressed | 109 | |
| 10504953593 | Dactylic | stressed, unstressed, unstressed | 110 | |
| 10504953594 | Spondaic | stressed, stressed | 111 | |
| 10504963670 | Rising Meter | iambs and anapests that employ strong stress at the end | 112 | |
| 10504963671 | Falling Meter | spondees and dactyls that employ no/little stress at the end | 113 | |
| 10504964736 | Monometer | one foot | 114 | |
| 10504964737 | Dimeter | two feet | 115 | |
| 10504964738 | Trimeter | three feet | 116 | |
| 10504965805 | Tetrameter | four meet | 117 | |
| 10504965806 | Pentameter | five feet | 118 | |
| 10504966757 | Hexameter | six feet | 119 | |
| 10504966758 | Heptameter | seven feet | 120 | |
| 10504967871 | Octameter | eight feet | 121 | |
| 10507996951 | Metonymy | part standing in for the whole (specifically words implying a another word or larger idea) | 122 | |
| 10508000668 | Motif | A recurring theme, subject or idea | 123 | |
| 10508000669 | Muses | the nine daughters of Atlas, and goddesses of the arts and sciences | 124 | |
| 10508002670 | Novel | extended fictional prose narrative focusing on a few primary characters but often involving scores of secondary characters | 125 | |
| 10508002671 | Ode | ancient form of poetic song, usually celebratory | 126 | |
| 10508004812 | Onomatopoeia | words that sound similar to their meaning | 127 | |
| 10508005938 | Oxymoron/Paradoxes | the use of contradiction that make sense (ex. loving hate) | 128 | |
| 10508009846 | Parallelism | use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; adds balance and rhythm to sentences, giving ideas a smoother flow because of the repetition it employs | 129 | |
| 10508012967 | Parody | a satirical work imitating another | 130 | |
| 10508013883 | Personification/Anthropomorphism | giving human qualities to animals or objects | 131 | |
| 10508015593 | Point of View | the perspective from which a story is told | 132 | |
| 10508018022 | Omniscient | all-knowing | 133 | |
| 10508018023 | Polysyndeton | deliberate use of multiple conjunctions when making a list | 134 | |
| 10508019646 | Portmanteau | a new word formed by joining two others and combining their meanings | 135 | |
| 10508021707 | Prose | works not written in regular meter | 136 | |
| 10508021708 | Prosody | the mechanics of poetry | 137 | |
| 10508021709 | Protagonist | the hero or central character of a literary work | 138 | |
| 10508023816 | Pun | play on words | 139 | |
| 10508026710 | Quatrain | stanza or poem of four lines | 140 | |
| 10508026711 | Red Herring | false clue that leads readers or characters towards a false conclusion | 141 | |
| 10508028377 | Refrain | repetition of one or more phrases or lines at intervals in a poem | 142 | |
| 10508028378 | Rhetorical Question | A question asked for effect, not in expectation of a reply | 143 | |
| 10508029471 | Rhyme | matching similarity of sounds in two or more words | 144 | |
| 10508029472 | End Rhyme | the rhyming of the final syllables of a line | 145 | |
| 10508029473 | Internal Rhyme | inside a line | 146 | |
| 11192176330 | Masculine Rhyme | final syllable of one line mimics the sound of another | 147 | |
| 10508032004 | Feminine Rhyme | final two syllables of one line mimic the sound of another | 148 | |
| 10508033126 | Slant Rhyme/Off Rhyme | words rhymed with similar but not identical sounds | 149 | |
| 10508036755 | Eye Rhyme | Word comprised of similar spellings, though not pronunciation | 150 | |
| 10508036756 | Rhyme Scheme | pattern of rhyme in a poem | 151 | |
| 10508038263 | Roman a Clef | a novel about real life, overlaid with a facade of fiction | 152 | |
| 10508038264 | Satire | ridicule of any stupidity or vice in the form of scathing humor | 153 | |
| 10508038265 | Scansion | divide the poetry into feet by pointing out different syllables based on their lengths | 154 | |
| 10508041012 | Setting | environment in which a story unfolds | 155 | |
| 10508041013 | Short Story | short, fictional, prose tale | 156 | |
| 10508047002 | Soliloquy | monologue spoken by an actor at a point in the play when the character believes that they are alone | 157 | |
| 10508048238 | Sonnet | a lyric poem consisting of 14 lines and usually in iambic pentameter | 158 | |
| 10508049816 | Petrarchan/Italian Sonnet | octave and a sestet turn; abba- octet, efg-sestet | 159 | |
| 10508051069 | Shakespearean/English Sonnet | three quatrains and a couplet turn; abab rhyme scheme | 160 | |
| 10508056410 | Spoonerism | accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to humorous effect | 161 | |
| 10508056411 | Stanza | essentially a poetic "paragraph" | 162 | |
| 10508057184 | Stream of Consciousness | character's perceptions, thoughts, and memories are presented in an apparently random form, without regard for logical sequence, chronology, or syntax | 163 | |
| 10508057185 | Style | way an author writes a literary work | 164 | |
| 10508057186 | Symbol | object or idea that represents something else | 165 | |
| 10508058584 | Universal Symbol | meaning could be understood and agreed upon by almost anyone, regardless of cultural background | 166 | |
| 10508058585 | Conventional Symbol | symbol whose meaning has been established by and for a specific culture | 167 | |
| 10508060471 | Literary Symbol | can only be understood within a certain literary context | 168 | |
| 10508061855 | Synesthesia | neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway | 169 | |
| 10508063038 | Synecdoche | a part of an object that stands in for the whole of it | 170 | |
| 10508063039 | Syntax | standard word order and sentence structure | 171 | |
| 10508069999 | Terza Rima | A three-line stanza rhymed aba, bcb, cdc. | 172 | |
| 10508070000 | Theme | central idea or statement that unifies and controls an entire literary work | 173 | |
| 10508070001 | Tone | prevailing mood or atmosphere in a literary work | 174 | |
| 10508070002 | Tragedy | serious play in which the chief character, by some peculiarity of psychology, passes through a series of misfortunes leading to a final, devastating catastrophe | 175 | |
| 10508075205 | Tricolon | three parallel clauses, phrases, or words, which happen to come in quick succession without any interruption | 176 | |
| 10508075206 | Uncanny | concept often used to discuss elements of horror found in the gothic | 177 | |
| 10508078618 | Understatement/Meiosis | lessens or minimizes the importance of what is meant | 178 | |
| 10508078619 | Unities | unity of place, time, and action | 179 | |
| 10508081004 | Universality | appealing to readers and audiences of any age or any culture | 180 | |
| 10508081005 | Unreliable Narrator | imaginary storyteller or character who describes what he witnesses accurately, but misinterprets those events because of faulty perception, personal bias, or limited understanding | 181 | |
| 10508081888 | Verisimilitude | having the appearance of truth | 182 | |
| 10508086521 | Villanelle | genre of poetry consisting of nineteen lines - five tercets and a concluding quatrain | 183 | |
| 10508088318 | Willing Suspension of Disbelief | setting aside our beliefs about reality in order to enjoy the make-believe of a play, a poem, film, or a story | 184 | |
| 10508088319 | Zeugma | grammatical construction in which a single word is used in relation to two other parts of a sentence although the word grammatically or logically applies to only one | 185 | |
| 10508097501 | Zoomorphism | animal attributes are imposed upon non-animal objects, humans, and events | 186 |
