| A | B |
|---|
| allegory | a story in which characters and events represent qualities or concepts |
| alliteration | the repetition of initial consonant sounds |
| allusion | the expression of an idea in language which gives more than one meaning and leaves uncertainty as to the meaning |
| anapest | meter having two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable |
| analogy | a similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them |
| anaphora | the rhetorical device of repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences for emphasis and rhythm |
| anathema | a thing or person greatly detested; a formal curse or condemnation; any strong curse |
| antagonist | the character in a narrative or play who is in conflict with the main character |
| antecedent | the word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun |
| anti-climax | using a sequence of ideas that abruptly diminish in dignity or importance at the end of a sentence; generally for satirical effect |
| anti-hero | a protagonist who is the antithesis of a hero--graceless, inept, stupid, sometimes dishonest |
| antimetabole | repeating words in reverse order for suprise and emphasis |
| antithesis | a contrast or opposition of thoughts, usually in two phrases, clauses, or sentences |
| aphorism | a terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or a moral principle |
| apostrophe | addressing someone or something, usually not present, as though present |
| archetype | the original pattern, or model from which all other things of the same kind are made; a perfect example of a type or group |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words |
| asyndeton | the practice of leaving out the usual conjunctions between coordinate sentence elements |
| atmosphere | the emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects that are described |
| attitude | the position or posture assumed in connection with an action, feeling, mood |
| aside | a statement delivered by an actor in such a way that the other characters on stage are presumed not to have heard him |
