Terms : Hide Images
| 3585053161 | alexandrine | one line of iambic hexameter | 0 | |
| 3585053775 | alliteration | repetition of beginning consonant sounds in words (righteous rapture; singsong syllable; sing a song of sixpence; big, black bear) | 1 | |
| 3585055585 | allusion | reference, without explanation, to previous, well-known literature, history, Bible, mythology, or other common knowledge | 2 | |
| 3585057450 | anachronism | something out of its place in the context of time (e.g. Victorian foxhunting during Arthurian times) | 3 | |
| 3585058625 | anadiplosis | repetition of an important word in a phrase or clause (often last word) in the next phrase or clause (e.g. "truth brings freedom; freedom brings responsibility") | 4 | |
| 3585059970 | analogy | comparison of two dissimilar things that are alike in some way, often using simile or metaphor (e.g. "He reminded me of a pig eating his swill"). | 5 | |
| 3585061472 | anaphora | a device of repetition in which the same expression (word or words) is repeated at beginning of two or more lines, clauses or sentences (see epistrophe) | 6 | |
| 3585066111 | antagonist | character who opposes the main character (protagonist); often the villain | 7 | |
| 3585066904 | antihero | character, usually the protagonist, who faces problems in a story, but who often goes against traditional societal standards (e.g. Holden Caulfield) | 8 | |
| 3585068223 | antithesis | contrasted ideas in parallel form (Give me liberty or give me death.) | 9 | |
| 3585068774 | aphorism | wise saying, usually short and written, reflecting a general truth (e.g. "Haste makes waste.") | 10 | |
| 3585069514 | apostrophe | speaking to something that cannot answer (Death, hear me cry and tell me you will spare me now.) | 11 | |
| 3585069964 | assonance | resemblance or similarity in sound between vowels followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables (lake and fate) | 12 | |
| 3585070691 | asyndeton | a form of condensed expression in which words/phrases are presented in series, sep. by commas (ex. veni, vidi, vici) NO conjunctions | 13 | |
| 3585072290 | ballad | songlike, narrative poetry; usually simple, rhyming verse using abcb rhyme scheme | 14 | |
| 3585072838 | blank verse | poetry that consists of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter | 15 | |
| 3585073226 | caesura/cesura | pause in a line of poetry before the end of a line | 16 | |
| 3585075514 | catharsis | therapeutic release of emotion upon identifying with, and being moved by, literature | 17 | |
| 3585078737 | classicism | movement of ancient Greece and Rome that employed strict forms, accented reason, and embraced restraint (the neo-classicists emulated these ideas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries) | 18 | |
| 3585079966 | cliche | trite idea or statement | 19 | |
| 3585080239 | climax | highest point in the plot (before outcome is revealed) | 20 | |
| 3585080810 | cinquain | five-line poetic form, with 22 total syllables divided according to set pattern | 21 | |
| 3585083230 | conceit | a simile or metaphor used to convey a fanciful idea (Petrarchan or metaphysical) | 22 | |
| 3585084680 | concrete | opposing of abstract. Refers to nouns that can be perceived with the five senses. | 23 | |
| 3585085223 | conflict | opposing elements or characters (problems) | 24 | |
| 3585086017 | connotation | surrounding feelings and associations added to word meaning (e.g. mother-kindly, nurturing, etc.) | 25 | |
| 3585088804 | consonance | repetition of similar consonant sounds, with changes in intervening vowel sounds | 26 | |
| 3585090852 | contractions | shortening words by leaving out letters for poetic or other effect (o'er=over, 'tis= it is) | 27 | |
| 3585091772 | couplet | two consecutive, rhymed lines of poetry; rhyme pattern aa | 28 | |
| 3585094246 | denotation | dictionary definition of a word | 29 | |
| 3585094856 | denouement | outcome, resolution, solution of a plot | 30 | |
| 3585095284 | diction | word usage or choice | 31 | |
| 3585095619 | didactic | describes literary works meant to teach a moral or lesson | 32 | |
| 3585095818 | doggerel | jerky, rude composition in verse; poorly executed attempt at poetry, with trivial subject matter | 33 | |
| 3585096704 | double entendre | deliberately ambiguous statement, one of whose possible meanings is risque/suggestive of some impropriety | 34 | |
| 3585098588 | elegy | poetic form lamenting the death of a person or decline of a situation | 35 | |
| 3585099455 | ellipsis | three dots that indicate words have been left out of a quoted passage or that time has passed (...). When words are omitted but no three dots are there, the literary device is also called ellipsis. | 36 | |
| 3585101560 | enjambment | device of continuing the sense and grammatical construction of a verse or couplet into the next | 37 | |
| 3585102357 | epanalepsis | a figure of speech in which one word or one phrase is repeated after intervening text (ex. "The king is dead; long live the king!") | 38 | |
| 3585103754 | epic | long, narrative poem, usually telling of heroic deeds, events of historic importance, or religious or mythological subjects | 39 | |
| 3592224141 | epistrophe | the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences (See anaphora). | 40 | |
| 3592224721 | epigraph | a short quotation at the beginning of a book or chapter that relates to the theme | 41 | |
| 3592226067 | epitaph | inscription on tombstone | 42 | |
| 3592226163 | eponym | person whose name is the source of a new word | 43 | |
| 3592226847 | euphemism | "nicer" word for a less pleasant subject | 44 | |
| 3592227041 | fable | story with moral about life, often with personified animals | 45 | |
| 3592227898 | farce | short humorous piece with low comedy | 46 | |
| 3592228438 | figure of speech | use or arrangements of words for specific effects | 47 | |
| 3592229801 | first-person narrator | person telling the story uses "I," "we" and is often a character in a story | 48 | |
| 3592231594 | foil | character opposite or different from the protagonist, used to highlight the protagonist's traits; incidents or settings may also be used as foils | 49 |
