Terms : Hide Images
| 146675629 | alliteration | The repetition of accented consonant sounds at the beginning of words that are close to each other, usually to create an effect rhythm, or emphasis. | |
| 146675630 | allusion | A reference in literature or in art to previous literature, history, mythology, pop culture/current events, or the Bible. | |
| 146675631 | ambiguity | Quality of being intentionally unclear. Their events or situations can be interpreted in more than one way. This device is especially beneficial in poetry, as it tends to grace the work with the richness and depth of multiple meanings. | |
| 146675632 | antecedent | The word or phrase to which a pronoun refers. It often precedes a pronoun in prose (but not necessarily in poetry). | |
| 146675633 | anticlimax | An often disappointing, sudden end to an intense situation. | |
| 146675634 | antihero | A protagonist who carries the action of the literary piece but does not embody the classic characteristics of courage, strength, and nobility. | |
| 146675635 | antithesis | A concept that is directly opposed to a previously presented idea. | |
| 146675636 | aphorism | a terse statement that expresses a general truth or moral principle; sometimes considered a folk proverb. | |
| 146675637 | apostrophe | A rhetorical (not expecting an answer) figure of direct address to a person, abject, or abstract entity. | |
| 146675638 | apotheosis | Elevating someone to the level of God. | |
| 146675639 | archetype | A character, situation, or symbol that is familiar to people from all cultures because it occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore. | |
| 146675640 | anachronism | An element in a story that is out of its time frame; sometimes used to create a humorous or jarring effect. Beware: This can also occur because of careless or poor research on the author's part. | |
| 146675641 | analogy | Clarifies or explains an unfamiliar concept or object, or one that cannot be put into words, by comparing it with one which is familiar. By explaining the abstract in terms of the concrete, it may force the reader to think more critically about a concept. They tend to appear more often in prose than poetry and they enliven writing by making it more interesting, entertaining, and understandable. | |
| 146675642 | analysis | The process of examining the components of a literary work. | |
| 146675643 | anapest | The poetic foot (measure) that follows the pattern unaccented, unaccented, accented. The poet is usually trying to convey a rollicking, moving rhythm with this pattern. | |
| 146675644 | anecdote | A short and often personal story used to emphasize a point, to develop a character or a theme, or to inject a humor. | |
| 146675645 | antagonist | A character who functions as a resisting force to the goals of the protagonist. The antagonist is often a villain, but in a case where the protagonist is evil, the antagonist may be virtuous. | |
| 146675646 | cacophony | Harsh, discordant sounds, unpleasant to the ear; the sound of nails scratching a blackboard is cacophonous. Cacophony is used by poets for effect. | |
| 146675647 | carpe diem | Latin for "seize the day"; frequent in 16th- and 17th- centiry court poetry. Expresses the idea that you only go around once; refers to the modern saying that "life is not a dress rehearsal." | |
| 146675648 | catharsis | In his Poetics, Aristotle write that a tragedy should "arouse pity and fear in such a way as to accomplish this of such emotion in the audience." The term refers to an emotional cleansing or feeling of relief. | |
| 146675649 | chiasmus | The opposite of parallel construction; inverting the second of two phrases that would otherwise be in parallel form | |
| 146675650 | colloquial | Of or relating to slang or regional dialect, used in familiar everyday conversation. In writing, an informal style that reflects the way people spoke in a distinct time and/or place. |
