| A | B |
|---|
| Allegory | a story or tale with two or more levels of meaning--literal and symbolic. Ex: "The Minister's Black Veil" |
| Alliteration | the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Ex: "Suddenly, my soul grew stronger . . ." |
| Allusion | a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. Ex: the bust of Pallas in "The Raven" |
| Ambiguity | the effect created when words suggest and support two or more divergent interpretations |
| Analogy | an extended comparison of relationships, based on the idea that the relationship between one pair of things is like the relationship between another pair |
| Anecdote | a brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event, often told to illustrate a point. Ex: the story of the speckled ax in Franklin's autobiography |
| Antagonist | a character or force in conflict with the main character, or protagonist |
| Aphorism | a short statement that makes a witty or wise observation about life. Ex: the sayings in "Poor Richard's Almanack" |
| Apostrophe | occurs when a speaker directly addresses an absent person or personified quality, object, or idea |
| Archetypal elements | patterns in literature found all around the world. An archetypal character could be the evil stepmother. |
| Assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in the middle of words. Ex: uncertain purple curtain |
| Autobiography | a form of nonfiction in which a person tells his or her life story |
| Ballad | a songlike poem that tells a story, often one dealing with adventure and romance |
| Biography | a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person |
| Blank verse | poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| Character | round: complex and multifaceted flat: one who is one-dimensional dynamic: changes static: doesn't change |
| Characterization | the act of creating a character, through words, thoughts and actions; descriptions of the character's appearance or background; what other characters say about the character; the ways in which other characters react to the character |
| Cinquain | a five-line stanza of poetry |
| Classicism | an approach to literature that stresses reason, balance, clarity, ideal beauty, and orderly form in imitation of the arts of ancient Greece and Rome |
| Climax | the high point of interest or suspense in a literary work |
