Terms : Hide Images
| 7301714908 | Adage | a proverb or saying made familiar by long use ex: "No bees, no honey" "A stitch in time saves nine. sentence: This goes to prove the adage or old saying: "You get what you pay for." | 0 | |
| 7301714909 | Allegory | an extended metaphor of two things that has symbolic meaning ex/sentence: Alice in Wonderland is an example of a political allegory, or form of extended metaphor, in which the story depicts 19th century British imperialism. | 1 | |
| 7301714910 | Alliteration | the repetition of same consonant sounds ex: "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, / The furrow followed free. sentence: Tongue twisters are filled with many alliterations or repetition of consonant sounds. | 2 | |
| 7301714911 | Allusion | brief reference to a historical, mythological, or literary figure, event or object sentence: The author's new book contains an allusion, or brief reference, to the Bible. | 3 | |
| 7301714913 | Amplification | to add more details in order to clarify a topic sentence: My friend told me an amplified, or detailed, version of her story, when she could have simply summarized it with one sentence. | 4 | |
| 7301714914 | Anadiplosis | repetition in which a word or phrase coming last in one sentence or line is repeated at the beginning of the next ex: as in these lines from Bartholomew Griffin's Fidessa: For I have loved long, I crave reward, Reward me not unkindly: think of kindness, Kindness becommeth those of high regard, Regard with clemency a poor man's blindness. sentence: In the poem, the poet utilized an anadiplosis when line ended with "love" and it was repeated at the beginning the next phrase. | 5 | |
| 7301714915 | Analogy | the comparison of two alike things which something unfamiliar is explained by being compared to something familiar sentence: I used an analogy to compare the similarity between my brother and a vacuum cleaner after he ate three bowls of dinner. | 6 | |
| 7301714916 | Anapest | a poetic foot consisting of three syllables, with two unaccented syllables followed by an accented one. (--/) ex: The following lines from Shelley's "The Cloud" are anapestic: "Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb" sentence: An example of an anapest, or poetic foot, from Shelley's "The Cloud" is "Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb" because it consists of two unaccented syllables followed by an accented one. | 7 | |
| 7301714917 | Anaphora | repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of adjacent clauses ex/sentence: The poem was a great example of anaphora as it started each line with the same two words of "I am." | 8 | |
| 7301821619 | Anecdote | short narrative that gives details of an event ex/sentence: My friend always tells me anecdotes, or short narratives, from his fun times in Japan. | 9 | |
| 7413229572 | Antagonist | - character directly opposed to the protagonist - a rival, opponent, or enemy of the protagonist ex: the joker in batman sentence: The antagonist, or enemy, of the next Marvel movie is rumored to kidnap the protagonist's family. | 10 | |
| 7413229573 | Antihero | a protagonist of a play or novel that lacks the usual qualities of a hero, meaning they can be clumsy, dishonest, or dumb sentence: Harry is the antihero in the play because he is very clumsy protagonist that messes up a lot compared to the hero. | 11 | |
| 7413229574 | Antimetabole | repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical order ex: Moliere's sentence, "One should eat to live, not live to eat." sentence: The poem has many antimetaboles, in which the poet repeats clauses in reverse grammatical order. | 12 | |
| 7413229575 | Antithesis | a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences or ideas ex: "Man proposes, God disposes." sentence: An example of an antithesis, or figure of speech, is "Man proposes, God disposes" because of the strong contrasting ideas. | 13 | |
| 7413229576 | aphorism | a statement of principle presented in a to the point manner that implies expression and authorship ex: "Simplicity, Simplicity, Simplicity!" - Thoreau sentence: My grandpa often ends his anecdotes with aphorisms, or statements of principles, that act as life lessons or tips for us as we grow older. | 14 | |
| 7413229577 | Apostrophe | a figure of speech in which a statement to a character or a nonexistent personage is directly addressed as though present ex: "And chiefly, Thou, O spirit, that dost prefer.." sentences: In the play, the author used an apostrophe when the character talked to the moon, a nonexistent personage, as if it was present. | 15 | |
| 7413229578 | Archetype | an image, a detail, a plot pattern, or character in literature that evokes emotions bc it touches the unconscious memory and calls into play illogical but strong responses sentence: My English class did a unit of identifying common archetypes, characters that evoke strong emotions, in novels we were reading. | 16 | |
| 7413229579 | Aside | action where an actor directly addresses the audience but not heard by the other actors on the stage sentence: The actor in the play revealed his evil plan to the audience in an aside, but his plans were unknown to the rest of the actors in the stage. | 17 | |
| 7413229580 | Assonance | pattern of the same stressed vowel sounds without regard to consonants ex: talking and walking → repetition of "ah" sound sentence: I got a bad grade on my poem because my use of assonance was not correct since it didn't stress the same pattern of the vowel sounds. | 18 | |
| 7413229581 | Asyndeton | condensed form of expression in which there is a lack of conjunctions that would usually be present ex: Caesar's "Veni, vidi, vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered) sentence: A famous asyndeton is "I came, I saw, I conquered" due to the lack of conjunctions that would usually be present. | 19 | |
| 7554603788 | Aubade | lyric about dawn or a morning serenade/song of lovers parting at dawn sentence: The aubade, or morning serenade, playing on the radio seemed to parallel the events in the book where the couple were sad because they were leaving each other at dawn. | 20 | |
| 7554603789 | Balance | a structure in which parts of the whole (words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence) are set off against each other so as to emphasize a contrast ex: Macaulay's sentence, "The memory of other authors is kept alive by their works; but the memory of Johnson keeps many of his works alive" is an example. sentence: The poet utilized balance in her poem when she successfully structured phrases to emphasize a contrast between them. | 21 | |
| 7554603790 | Ballad | form of verse to be sung or recited characterized by its presentation of a dramatic or exciting episode in a simple narrative form sentence: The original ballad, or form of verse, sung at the dance told the story of a girl's struggle to find her place in a new school in a simple narrative form. | 22 | |
| 7554603791 | Bathos | the effect resulting from the unsuccessful effort to achieve sublimity and instead causing an anticlimax and ridiculousness ex: from the Pope: Advance the fringed curtains of thy eyes And tell me who comes yonder. Here the author (Temple) fails because of the (unintentional) anticlimax resulting from the effort to treat poetically a commonplace idea. sentence: His lighthearted joke in the middle of a serious essay created a bathos, or unexpected ridiculousness, in the paper. | 23 | |
| 7554603792 | Blank Verse | unrhymed, regular verse usually in iambic pentameter commonly used for long poems sentence: Shakespeare wrote most of his poems in blank verse, meaning that they were unrhymed, dramatic verses that followed the iambic pentameter structure. | 24 | |
| 7554603793 | Blazon | a rationally ordered poem of praise of blame, proceeding detail by detail sentence: Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 is an example of a blazon due to its ordered structure of praise of blame and specific details. | 25 | |
| 7554603794 | Caesura | a pause or break in a line of verse sentence: In classical literature, the caesura characteristically divided a foot between two words near the middle of a line to create a pause. sentence 2: The brief caesura, or break, in the middle of the long verse made the actor able to catch his breath. | 26 | |
| 7554603795 | Canto | section or division of a long poem originally designated as a part to be sung sentence: I decided that I would take a break before I reached the canto of the poem since it was a long section that I was going to sing. | 27 | |
| 7554603796 | carpe diem poem | a poem that refers to the common moral/theme found in literature that the reader should make the most out of life ex: Robert Herrick's familiar: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying. sentence: I filled my journal with carpe diem poems which encourages me to live each day the fullest and make the best out of life. | 28 | |
| 7554603797 | catalog | a list of people, things, or attributes extended to great length ex: The Bible has many catalos, the most notable example being the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew, chapter 1. sentence: I read thought the catalog, or length list, of Matthew 1 and could hardly remember the various names by the end. | 29 | |
| 7715655884 | catharsis | the process by which an unhealthy emotional state, produced by an imbalance of feelings, is corrected and emotional health restored (the process of releasing and being relieved from strong emotions of pity and fear) sentence: In a greek tragedy, the audience undergoes catharsis, which is the process of releasing pity and fear is corrected and emotional health is restored. | 30 | |
| 7715655885 | chiasmus | pattern in which the second part is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed ex: Coleridge's line, "Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike." sentence: In my English class last year, we studied rhetorical devices where chiasmus was commonly found in speeches, in which the second part of a clause is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed. | 31 | |
| 7715655886 | chorus | In ancient Greek, a group of singers and dancers in festivals that sang the songs or summarize actions of the play sentence: In my English class, we analyzed the chorus in Antigone, which represents the citizens of Thebes who comment on the actions of a play and offer wisdom to the characters while singing and dancing. | 32 | |
| 7715655887 | cliche | a word or phrase that is used so often it has become a stereotype and is worn sentences: The new book is stereotypical and worn out because it follows the same cliche plot, of the girl and boy falling in love with each other, as any other romance book. | 33 | |
| 7715655888 | closed couplet | two lines with the same rhyme scheme aa that are independent statements and stand alone from whatever precedes/follows it sentence: The closed couplet at the end of the poem are two lines following the same AA pattern in which they are independent statements. | 34 | |
| 7715655889 | colloquialism | an expression used in informal conversation but not accepted universally in formals speech or writing sentence: I got points off on my formal essay because I used a few colloquialisms, or informal expressions, thus throwing off the tone. | 35 | |
| 7715655890 | complaint | a Middle Age poem that includes the poet complaining about his mistress, looking for the remedy for unhappiness, and regrets the sorry state of the world sentence: In light of finals approaching, we wrote complaint poems to relieve our negative stress in words. | 36 | |
| 7715655891 | conceit | an extended metaphor that designates a fanciful notion, usually expressed through an analogy between dissimilar things sentence: The conceit, or extended metaphor, relating potatoes and artists to human nature spanned over a couple of chapters in the novel. | 37 | |
| 7715655892 | consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds in the middle or at the end of words ex: mill/ball, torn/burn, river/ever sentence: In order to make sure my sonnet rhymed, I checked that the respective last words of lines had the same consonance, or consonant sounds. | 38 | |
| 7715655893 | couplet | two consecutive lines of verse with end rhymes sentence: By the time I got to the couplet, or two consecutive lines of verse with end rhymes, I was touched by the incredible language and emotion from the poet. | 39 | |
| 7915835830 | dactyl | a foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented sentence: In my english class, we practiced finding dactyl in sonnets, thus meaning that we looked for poetic foots consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables. | 40 | |
| 7915835831 | diction | author's word choice, including vocabulary and syntax ex: He foolishly wrote that the author uses diction in his essay even though that just means the author uses words. | 41 | |
| 7915835832 | dissonance | harsh and inharmonious sounds; a marked break in the music of poetry, which may be intentional sentence: The dissonance, or harsh sound, in the poem emphasized the sudden discomfort felt by the poet. | 42 | |
| 7915835833 | dramatic irony | the words or acts of a character may carry a meaning unperceived by the character but understood by the audience. sentence: Through the use of dramatic irony, the audience was well aware of the antagonist's plot to act revengeful even though the other characters were clueless about his plans. | 43 | |
| 7915835834 | dramatic monologue | a poem that reveals "a soul in action" through the speech of one character in a dramatic situation sentence: The character's dramatic monologue, or poem, revealed his internal conflict and terrible situation he's currently experiencing. | 44 | |
| 7915835835 | dynamic character | a character who develops or changes as a result of the actions of the plot sentence: In the movie, the bully proved to be a dynamic character by changing his behavior to being friendly by the end. | 45 | |
| 7915835836 | eclipsis | omission of material that may be necessary for full clarity sentence: My friend talks in slang and eclipsis, thus meaning that she omits material that makes it hard to understand and clarify what she's saying. | 46 | |
| 7915835837 | elegy | a sustained and formal poem setting forth meditations on death or another solemn theme sentence: I read an elegy, or formal poem, at my grandma's funeral to honor her death. | 47 | |
| 7915835838 | ellipsis | omission of one or more words that, while essential to a grammatic structure, are easily supplied sentence: I used a lot of ellipsis, or omission of words, to cut down the length of my essay, so it would stay within the world limit. | 48 | |
| 7915835839 | English sonnet | a sonnet consisting of three quatrains followed by a couplet with the rhyming pattern sentence: Shakespeare is famous for his English sonnets that contain three quatrains followed by a couplet. | 49 | |
| 8694589295 | enjambment | continuation of the of a line on to the next verse or couplet occurring in run-on lines sentence: I barely had moments to take a breath while reading the poem because the enjambment, or continuation of a line, caused there to be few ends of sentences. | 50 | |
| 8694589296 | epic | long narrative poem that is important to history or a nation that highlights adventure surrounding a central hero and the development of that character sentence: The Odyssey is an important epic, or long narrative poem, for Greek culture that we study today. | 51 | |
| 8694589297 | epic simile | elaborated comparison; a more ornate and complex simile sentence: I marvelled at the epic simile, or elaborated comparison, that spanned half the chapter. | 52 | |
| 8694589298 | epigram | a pithy saying that is characterized by compression, balance, and polish sentence: I started my essay with an epigram, a pithy saying, to grab the reader's attention. | 53 | |
| 8694589299 | epigraph | a quotation on the title page of a book or motto of a section of work sentence: The book I was reading opened up with an epigraph, or short quotation, to illustrate the upcoming themes. | 54 | |
| 8694589300 | epilogue | concluding statement applied to the final remarks of novel addressed to the audience sentence: I eagerly turned the page, expecting another chapter to continue the action, but instead was met with the epilogue explaining the concluding statement of the novel and characters. | 55 | |
| 8694589301 | epiphany | sudden insight of divine being sentence: The character had a epiphany, or sudden insight, that resulted in her change of heart. | 56 | |
| 8694589302 | epitaph | inscription used to mark burial places; commemorative verses or lines appearing on tombs sentence: We chose a Bible verse to be the epitaph, commemorative verses, on my grandma's grave. | 57 | |
| 8694589303 | epithet | an adjective to point out a characteristic of a person or things sentence: I used multiple epithets, or adjectives, in my narrative to point out the character's persona. | 58 | |
| 8694589304 | euphemism | device in which indirectness replaces directness of statement to avoid offensiveness sentence: To avoid offending his classmate that just lost her grandpa, he used a euphemism, or a less harder terms for the word "death". | 59 | |
| 9032045154 | Euphony | pleasing sounds; opposite of cacophony, the subjective impression of unpleasant sound sentence: I heard a euphony, or pleasing sounds, of string instruments from outside the orchestra hall. | 60 | |
| 9032045155 | Eye Rhyme | rhyme that appears correct from the spelling but is not so from the pronunciation, as "watch" and "match" or "love" and "move." sentence: Some people get often confused with eye rhyme since it appears correct but it is not once pronouncing the words. | 61 | |
| 9032045156 | The Fates | Greeks and Romans believed that the Fates controlled the birth, life and death of all human beings; they were three sisters who controlled the thread of life: Clotho held the distaff; Lachesis spun the thread; and Atropos cut the thread to end life. sentence: Through reading greek and roman literature in English class, I learned that The Fates are the ones that control the birth, life and death of all human beings | 62 | |
| 9032045157 | Feminine Rhyme | rhyme in which the rhyming stressed syllable are followed by an undifferentiated identical unstressed syllable, as waken and forsaken; aka double rhyme sentence: The fourth line of the sonnet had a feminine rhyme, or double rhyme, causing the iambic pentameter to be slightly thrown off. | 63 | |
| 9032045158 | Figurative Language | intentional departure from the normal order, construction, or meaning of words; embodies one or more figures of speech. sentence: I filled my creative writing assignment with figurative language, or complex figures of speech, to make it more poetic. | 64 | |
| 9032045159 | Flashback | device by which a work presents material that occurred prior to the opening scene of the work. sentence: The movie included a flashback to the main character's childhood showing his background. | 65 | |
| 9032045160 | Flat Character | a character with one recognizable characteristic sentence: If some of the people at my school were characters in a book, they would be flat characters since I know so little about them. | 66 | |
| 9032045161 | Foil | applied to any person who through contrast underscores the distinctive characteristics of another sentence: My English teacher taught me that in the novel Hamlet, Laertes serve as foils to Hamlet due to their contrasting characters. | 67 | |
| 9032045162 | Foot | the unit of rhythm in verse sentence: I wrote a short poem with an iamb foot, a unit of rhythm in a verse, which is 2 syllables. | 68 | |
| 9032045163 | Foreshadowing | presentation of material in a work that later events are prepared for; result from a mood or atmosphere sentence: The threading note the main character received note foreshadowed, or hinted, her death later on in the novel. | 69 | |
| 9441321133 | Form | parts of a work of art in relation to its total effect; organization of rhythmic units. sentence: | 70 | |
| 9441321134 | Frame Story | a story within a story sentence: The book I am reading includes a frame story, or a story within a story, about a fantasy tale. | 71 | |
| 9441321135 | Free Verse | verse that has no specific rhyme or mete sentence: Slam poetry is a powerful display of free verse, verses that have no specific rhyme. | 72 | |
| 9441321136 | Great Chain of Being | belief that everything partakes of a hierarchical system, extending upward from inanimate matter to things that have life but do not reason to the rational human being, to angels, and finally to God sentence: The Plato passage discussed the Great Chain of Being, the belief that everything partakes of a hierarchical system . | 73 | |
| 9441321137 | Half Rhyme | imperfect rhyme usually with consonance sentence: My sister got a 50 on her poetry assignment because he used mostly half rhyme, which is knows are imperfect rhyme. | 74 | |
| 9441321138 | Hamartia | error, frailty, mistaken judgment, or misstep through which the fortunes of the hero of a tragedy are reversed. sentence: The hero showed his hamartia, or judgmental error, when he chose to kill the man instead of allowing him to live. | 75 | |
| 9441321139 | Heroic Couplet | iambic pentameter with lines rhymed in pairs sentence: The poet used a heroic couplet in her poem, which means that it was iambic pentameter with lines rhyming in pairs. | 76 | |
| 9441321140 | Hubris | excessive pride or insolence that results in the misfortune of the protagonist of a tragedy sentence: Harry's hubris, or excessive pride, caused him to lose his best friends. | 77 | |
| 9441321141 | Hyperbole | exaggeration to prove a point; to heighten effect or provide humor sentence: I used a hyperbole in my poem to exaggerate how hot it was outside. | 78 | |
| 9441321142 | Idiom | a use of words peculiar to a given language; an expression that cannot be translated literally. sentences: For non native English speakers, idioms are hard to identity since they are words peculiar to a that language. | 79 |
