| A | B |
|---|
| ballad | a long narrative poem that presents a single dramatic episode, which is often tragic or violent |
| blank verse | poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| burlesque | broad parody; a burlesque will take an entire style or form, such as pastoral poetry, and exaggerate it into ridiculousness |
| cacophony | harsh, awkward, or dissonant sounds used deliberately in poetry or prose; the opposite of euphony |
| caricature | descriptive writing that greatly exaggerates a specific feature of appearance of a facet of personality |
| catharsis | the emotional release that an audience member experiences as a result of watching a tragedy |
| chorus | in Greek drama, a group of characters who comments on the action taking place on stage |
| colloquialism | a word or phrase used in everyday conversation and informal writing that is sometimes inappropriate in formal writing |
| conceit | an elaborate figure of speech in which two seemingly dissimilar things or situations are compared |
| consonance | the repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after different vowel sounds, as in boost/best |
| conundrum | a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun; may also be a paradox or difficult problem |
| begging the question | the act of ignoring a problem or issue by assuming that it is already settled |
| bildungsroman | a novel about the education or psychological growth of the protagonist or main character |
| biography | the nonfictional story of a person's life, written by another person |
| black comedy | disturbing or absurd material presented in a humorous manner, usually with the intention of confronting uncomfortable truths |
| canon | a group of literary works commonly regarded as authoritative or central to the literary tradition |
| case structure | the logical outline of an argument, consisting of a claim supported by reasons and evidence |
| claim | a statement or assertion that is open to challenge and that requires support |
| climax | the moment of greatest intensity in a text, or the major turning point in the plot |
| closure | an ending or completion, or something that gives a sense of finality |
| connotation | the association or implied meaning that a word carries along with its literal meaning |
| conclusion | the end of an argument, the function of which is to summarize or draw together what has come before and/or to draw final inferences from what has already been stated |
| consequence | an inference or conclusion derived through logic, or the result following from a cause |
| convention | in writing, a practice or principle (such as a rule of spelling, grammar, or usage), that is accepted as true or correct |
| convincing | the process of making an audience believe or agree with something |
| cosmic irony | the depiction of fate or the universe as malicious or indifferent to human suffering, creating a painful contrast between our purposeful activity and its ultimate meaninglessness |
| conflict | the struggle between persons or forces in a work of drama or fiction |
