Allegory
A literary work in which characters, objects, or actions represent abstractions
Alliteration
the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
Allusion
A reference to another work of literature, person, or event
Amplification
involves repeating a word or expression while adding more detail to it, in order to emphasize what might otherwise be passed over
Analogy
A comparison of two different things that are similar in some way
Anaphora
the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses
Antithesis
the direct opposite, a sharp contrast
Aphorism
A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life.
Apostrophe
A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love.
Appositive
A word or phrase that renames a nearby noun or pronoun.
Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds
Asyndeton
the omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence.
Atmosphere
a surrounding influence or environment
Attitude
feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events
Bildungsroman
A coming of age story
Blank Verse
Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter
Caesura
A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.
Canon
an established set of principles or code of laws, often religious in nature
Catachresis
an extravagant, implied metaphor using words in an alien or unusual way
Chiasmus
a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases
Cliche
a worn-out idea or overused expression
Colloquialism
A word or phrase (including slang) used in everyday conversation and informal writing but that is often inappropriate in formal writing (y'all, ain't)
Connotation
All the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests
Consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds
Couplet
Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme
Denotation
The dictionary definition of a word
Diction
A writer's or speaker's choice of words
Didactic
instructive
Double Entendre/Pun
Terms used for words that can reflect a double meaning. In particular, a pun is a word used in a witty way so that its similarity to another word is emphasized.
Dramatic Irony
Irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play.
Elegy
a sad or mournful poem
End Rhyme
A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line
Episodic Structure
made up of a series of chapters or stories linked together by the same character, place, or theme but held apart by their individual plot, purpose, and subtext.
Epistolary novel
A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters
Epithet
A descriptive name or phrase used to characterize someone or something
Eponym
a person whose name is, or is thought to be, the source of the name of something
Euphemisms
a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.
Euphony
pleasant, harmonious sound
Fable
A brief story that leads to a moral, often using animals as characters
Foreshadowing
A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader.
Grotesque
absurd; distorted
Heroic Couplet
two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with the thought usually completed in the two-line unit
Hyperbole
exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Internal Rhyme
A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line
Juxtaposition
Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts
Metaphor
A comparison without using like or as
Meter
instrument for measuring
Metonymy
A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something that is associated with it
Mock Heroic
An imitation or burlesque of something heroic
Octave
an eight-line stanza
Onomatopoeia
A word that imitates the sound it represents.
Oxymoron
A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.
Paradox
A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
Parallelism
Phrases or sentences of a similar construction/meaning placed side by side, balancing each other
Personification
A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes
Point of View
the perspective from which a story is told
Prose
Any writing that is not poetry
Quatrain
A four line stanza
Refrain
A line or set of lines repeated several times over the course of a poem.
Rhetorical Question
A question asked merely for rhetorical effect and not requiring an answer
Rhyme Scheme
A regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem
Satire
A literary work that criticizes human misconduct and ridicules vices, stupidities, and follies.
Sestet
six line stanza
Simile
A comparison using "like" or "as
Situational Irony
An outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected
Slant Rhyme
rhyme in which the vowel sounds are nearly, but not exactly the same (i.e. the words "stress" and "kiss"); sometimes called half-rhyme, near rhyme, or partial rhyme
Soliloquy
A long speech expressing the thoughts of a character alone on stage
Sonnet
a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line.
Symbol
A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.
Synecdoche
a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa
Syntax
Sentence structure
Tercet
three line stanza
Theme
Central idea of a work of literature
Thesis
Focus statement of an essay; premise statement upon which the point of view or discussion in the essay is based.
Tone
Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character
Understatement
A statement that says less than what is meant
Verbal Irony
A figure of speech in which what is said is the opposite of what is meant
Villanelle
A 19 line form using only two rhymes and repeating two of the lines according to a set pattern
Volta
The turning point in a sonnet