Terms : Hide Images
| 7205035716 | Allegory | A story in which the narrative or characters carry an underlying symbolic, metaphorical, or possibly an ethical meaning. The story and characters represent values beyond themselves. | 0 | |
| 7205035717 | Alliteration | the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words | 1 | |
| 7205035718 | Allusions | A reference to a person, place, or event meant to create an effect or enhance the meaning of an idea. | 2 | |
| 7205035719 | Ambiguity | A vagueness of meaning; a conscious lack of clarity meant to evoke multiple meanings and interpretation. | 3 | |
| 7205035720 | Analogy | A comparison that points out similarities between two dissimilar things. | 4 | |
| 7205035721 | Anapest | a metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable. | 5 | |
| 7205035722 | Antagonist | A character or force in a work of literature that, by opposing the protagonist, produces tension or conflict. | 6 | |
| 7205035723 | Antithesis | A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas by means of a grammatical arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences. | 7 | |
| 7205035724 | Apostrophe | A rhetorical device in which a speaker addresses a person or personified thing not present. | 8 | |
| 7205035725 | Archetype | An abstract or ideal conception of a type; a perfectly typical example; an original model or form. | 9 | |
| 7205035726 | Aside | a short comment or speech that a character delivers directly to the audience or to himself, while other actors on the stage cannot listen. | 10 | |
| 7205035727 | Assonance | The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in a group of words or lines in poetry and prose. | 11 | |
| 7205035728 | Ballad | A simple narrative verse that tells a story that is sung or recited. | 12 | |
| 7205035729 | Bildungsroman | A German word referring to a novel structured as a series of events that take place as the hero travels in quest of a goal. | 13 | |
| 7205035730 | Blank Verse | Poetry written in iambic pentameter, the primary meter used in English poetry and the words of Shakespeare and Milton. The lines generally do not rhyme. | 14 | |
| 7205035731 | Cacophony | Grating, inharmonious sounds. | 15 | |
| 7205035732 | Caesura | A pause somewhere in the middle of a verse, often (but not always) marked by punctuation. | 16 | |
| 7205035733 | Canon (Literary) | The works considered most important in a national literature or period; works widely read and studied. | 17 | |
| 7205035734 | Catharsis | A cleansing of the spirit brought about by the pity and terror or a dramatic tragedy. | 18 | |
| 7205037995 | Character/Characterization | any person, animal, or figure represented in a literary work. used step by step in literature to highlight and explain the details about a character in a story. | 19 | |
| 7205037996 | Climax (literary) | The high point, or turning point, or a story or play. | 20 | |
| 7205038247 | Comic Relief | comic episodes in a dramatic or literary work that offset more serious sections. | 21 | |
| 7205043691 | Conflict | involves a struggle between two opposing forces usually a protagonist and an antagonist. | 22 | |
| 7205043692 | Connotation | The suggested or implied meaning of a word or phrase. Contrast with denotation. | 23 | |
| 7205043693 | Consonance | The repetition of two or more consonant sounds in a group of words or a line of poetry. | 24 | |
| 7205043833 | Convention | defining features of particular literary genres, such as novel, short story, ballad, sonnet, and play. | 25 | |
| 7205043834 | Couplet | Two successive rhyming lines in a verse and has the same meter to form a complete thought. | 26 | |
| 7205043835 | Dactyl | a metrical foot, or a beat in a line, containing three syllables in which first one is accented followed by second and third unaccented syllables (accented/unaccented/unaccented) in quantitative meter such as in the word "humanly." | 27 | |
| 7205044138 | Denotation | The dictionary definition of a word. Contrast with connotation. | 28 | |
| 7205044139 | Deus Ex Machina | In literature, the use of an artificial device or gimmick to solve a problem. | 29 | |
| 7205044374 | Diction | The choice of words in oral and written discourse. | 30 | |
| 7205044375 | Dramatic Irony | A circumstance in which the audience or reader knows more about a situation than a character. | 31 | |
| 7205045943 | Dramatic Monologue | a poem in the form of a speech or narrative by an imagined person, in which the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character while describing a particular situation or series of events. | 32 | |
| 7205054287 | Elegy | A poem or prose selection that laments or meditates on the passing or death of something or someone of value. | 33 | |
| 7205054288 | Empathy | A feeling of association or identification with an object or person. | 34 | |
| 7205055407 | Enjambment | In poetry, the use of the successive lines with no punctuation or pause between them. | 35 | |
| 7205055408 | Epic Poem | An extended narrative poem that tells of the adventures and exploits of a hero that in generally larger than life and is often considered a legendary figure. | 36 | |
| 7205055409 | Epigram | A concise but ingenious, witty, and thoughtful statement. | 37 | |
| 7205055564 | Eponymous | named after its central character or creator. | 38 | |
| 7205055565 | Ethos | an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader. | 39 | |
| 7205055566 | Euphony | pleasant, harmonious sound | 40 | |
| 7205055567 | Exposition | The background and events that lead to the presentation of the main idea or purpose of a work of literature. | 41 | |
| 7205064156 | Fable | A short tale often featuring nonhuman characters that act as people whose actions enable the author to make observations or draw useful lessons about human behavior. | 42 | |
| 7205064157 | Fantasy (Genre) | A story containing unreal, imaginary features. | 43 | |
| 7205064559 | Figurative Language | In contrast to literal language, it implies meanings. It includes metaphors, similes, and personification, among many others. | 44 | |
| 7205065257 | First-Person Narrative | A narrative told by a character involved in the story, using pronouns such as I and we. | 45 | |
| 7205065258 | Flashback | A return to an earlier time in a story or play in order to clarify present action or circumstances. It might also be a character's account of the past, a dream, or a sudden association with past events. | 46 | |
| 7205065261 | Foil (character) | A minor character whose personality or attitude contrasts with that of the main character. Juxtaposing one character against another intensifies the qualities of both, to advantage or sometimes to disadvantage. | 47 | |
| 7205065724 | Foot (Poetic) | A unit of stressed and unstressed syllables used to determine the meter of a poetic line. | 48 | |
| 7205065725 | Foreshadowing | Providing hints of things to come in a story or play. | 49 | |
| 7205065726 | Form (Poetic) | A poem that follows a certain pattern - rhyme scheme or meter - or has a certain topic/focus, or all of the above. | 50 | |
| 7205067582 | Free Verse | A kind of poetry without rhymed lines, rhythm, or fixed metrical feet. | 51 | |
| 7205067583 | Genre | A term used to describe literary forms, such as a novel, play, and essay. | 52 | |
| 7205067870 | Hyperbole | Overstatement; gross exaggeration for rhetorical effect. | 53 | |
| 7205077632 | Iamb | a metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable. | 54 | |
| 7205077633 | Iambic Pentameter | a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable | 55 | |
| 7205077786 | Idyll | A lyric poem or passage that describes a kind of ideal life or place. | 56 | |
| 7205077787 | Imagery | visually descriptive or figurative language | 57 | |
| 7205077788 | Impressionism | the depiction (as in literature) of scene, emotion, or character by details intended to achieve a vividness or effectiveness more by evoking subjective and sensory impressions than by recreating an objective reality | 58 | |
| 7205077979 | In Media Res | A narrative that starts not at the beginning of events but at some other critical point. | 59 | |
| 7205077980 | Irony | A mode of expression in which the intended meaning is the opposite of what is stated, often implying ridicule or light sarcasm; a state of affairs or events that is the reverse of what might have been expected. | 60 | |
| 7205077981 | Logos | Appeal to logic | 61 | |
| 7205078206 | Loose Sentence | A sentence that follows the customary word order of English sentences, i.e., subject-verb-object. The main idea of the sentence is presented first and is then followed by one or more subordinate clauses. | 62 | |
| 7205078207 | Lyric Poetry | Personal, reflective poetry that reveals the speaker's thoughts and feelings about the subject. | 63 | |
| 7205078511 | Magical Realism (Genre) | realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy. | 64 | |
| 7205078512 | Melodrama | A literary form in which events are exaggerated in order to create an extreme emotional response. | 65 | |
| 7205078513 | Metaphor | A comparison without using like or as | 66 | |
| 7205078775 | Metaphysical Poetry | The work of poets, particularly those of the seventeenth century, that uses elaborate conceits, is highly intellectual, and expresses the complexities of love and life. | 67 | |
| 7205078776 | Meter | The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables found in poetry. | 68 | |
| 7205078777 | Metonymy | A figure of speech that uses the name of one thing to represent something else with which it is associated. | 69 | |
| 7205078782 | Monologue | a long speech by one actor in a play or movie, or as part of a theatrical or broadcast program. | 70 | |
| 7205079094 | Mood (Literary) | The emotional tone in a work of literature. | 71 | |
| 7205079095 | Moral | A brief and often simplistic lesson that a reader may infer from a work of literature. | 72 | |
| 7205079096 | Motif | A phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature. | 73 | |
| 7205079100 | Myth | An imaginary story that has become an accepted part of the cultural or religious tradition of a group or society. They are often used to explain natural phenomena. Almost every culture has one of these to account for the creation of the world and its inhabitants. | 74 | |
| 7205086915 | Narrative | A form of verse of prose that tells a story. | 75 | |
| 7205086916 | Narrative Poem | poetry that tells a story, often making the voices of a narrator and characters as well | 76 | |
| 7205087239 | Narrator | The person who tells the story | 77 | |
| 7205087778 | Non Sequitur | A statement or idea that fails to follow logically from the one before. | 78 | |
| 7205087779 | Octave | eight line stanza | 79 | |
| 7205087780 | Ode | A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject. | 80 | |
| 7205087951 | Onomatopoeia | A word that imitates the sound it represents. | 81 | |
| 7205087952 | Oxymoron | a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction | 82 | |
| 7205088842 | Parable | A story consisting of events from which a moral or spiritual truth may be derived | 83 | |
| 7205088843 | Paradox | a statement that seems contradictory but is actually true | 84 | |
| 7205089099 | Parallel Plot | The writer weaves two or more dramatic plots that are usually linked by a common character and a similar theme. | 85 | |
| 7205089100 | Parody | imitation of a particular writer, artist or a genre, exaggerating it deliberately to produce a comic effect. | 86 | |
| 7205089101 | Pathos | appeal to emotion | 87 | |
| 7205089318 | Periodic Sentence | A sentence that departs from the usual word order of English sentences by expressing its main though only at the end. In other words, the particulars in the sentence are presented before the idea they support. | 88 | |
| 7205089319 | Personification | the giving of human qualities to an animal, object, or idea | 89 | |
| 7205089575 | Plot | The interrelationship among the events in a story; the plot line is the pattern of events, including exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. | 90 | |
| 7205089576 | Point of View | The perspective from which a story is told | 91 | |
| 7205089578 | Protagonist | the main character in a literary work | 92 | |
| 7205090159 | Pun | a humorous play on words | 93 | |
| 7205090160 | Quatrain | A four line stanza | 94 | |
| 7205097098 | Realism | The depiction of people, things, and events as they really are without idealization or exaggeration for effect. | 95 | |
| 7205097099 | Resolution | the unfolding or solution of a complicated issue in a story. | 96 | |
| 7205097100 | Rhetoric | The language of a work and its style; words, often highly emotional, used to convince or sway an audience | 97 | |
| 7205097836 | Rhetorical Question | may have an obvious answer but the questioner asks it to lay emphasis to the point. | 98 | |
| 7205098245 | Rhetorical Stance | Language that conveys a speaker's attitude or opinion with regard to a particular subject. | 99 | |
| 7205098246 | Rhyme | the repetition of sounds at the ends of words | 100 | |
| 7205098247 | Rhyme Scheme | A regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem | 101 | |
| 7205098702 | Rhythm | The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry | 102 | |
| 7205098703 | Romanticism | 19th century artistic movement that appealed to emotion rather than reason | 103 | |
| 7205099248 | Satire | A literary style used to poke fun at, attack, or ridicule an idea, vice, or foible, often for the purpose of inducing change | 104 | |
| 7205099249 | Scansion | the action of scanning a line of verse to determine its rhythm | 105 | |
| 7205099250 | Sestet | a six-line stanza | 106 | |
| 7205099662 | Sestina | A poem of thirty-nine lines and written in iambic pentameter | 107 | |
| 7205099663 | Setting | The total environment for the action in a novel or play. It includes time, place, historical milieu, and social, political, and even spiritual circumstances | 108 | |
| 7205099664 | Simile | A comparison using "like" or "as" | 109 | |
| 7205099915 | Soliloquy | An important monologue given by a character in a play who is alone on the stage. | 110 | |
| 7205099916 | Sonnet | a fourteen line poem with a precise rhyme scheme and meter | 111 | |
| 7205100078 | Spondee | a foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables. | 112 | |
| 7205100079 | Stanza | A fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem | 113 | |
| 7205100080 | Structure | The structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer. | 114 | |
| 7205100274 | Style | The manner in which an author uses and arranges words | 115 | |
| 7205100275 | Subplot | an additional, minor plot - involves a secondary main conflict | 116 | |
| 7205100641 | Subtext | The implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of a work of literature | 117 | |
| 7205100642 | Symbol/Symbolism | an object, person, situation, events or actions that have a deeper meaning in context. The use of one object to evoke ideas and associations not literally part of the original object | 118 | |
| 7205100925 | Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part signifies the whole ("fifty masts" for fifty ships) or the whole signifies the part ("days" for life, as in "He lived his days in Canada"). Also when the name of the material stands for the thing itself ("pigskin" for football) | 119 | |
| 7205101164 | Syntax | The organization of language into meaningful structure; every sentence has a particular pattern of words | 120 | |
| 7205101165 | Tercet | three line stanza | 121 | |
| 7205101166 | Theme | The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life | 122 | |
| 7205101167 | Tone | The author's attitude toward the subject being written about. The spirit or quality that is the work's emotional essence | 123 | |
| 7205101347 | Tragedy | A form of literature in which the hero is destroyed by some character flaw and a set of forces that cause the hero considerable anguish | 124 | |
| 7205101348 | Tragic Hero | A protagonist with a fatal flaw which eventually leads to his demise | 125 | |
| 7205102017 | Trochee | a foot consisting of one long or stressed syllable followed by one short or unstressed syllable. | 126 | |
| 7205102018 | Trope | The generic name for a figure of speech such as image, symbol, simile, and metaphor | 127 | |
| 7205102154 | Understatement | the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is. | 128 | |
| 7205102155 | Verbal Irony | A discrepancy between the true meaning of a situation and the literal meaning of the written or spoken words | 129 | |
| 7205102156 | Verse | A synonym for poetry. Also a group of lines in a song or poem; also a single line of poetry | 130 | |
| 7205102771 | Villanelle | A French verse form calculated to appear simple and spontaneous but consisting of nineteen lines and a prescribed pattern of rhymes | 131 |
