| A | B |
|---|
| acronyn | a word formed from the intial letter |
| allegory | a story in which each aspect of the story has a symbolic meaning outside the tale itself |
| alliteration | the repetition of initial consonant sound |
| allusion | a reference to another work or famous figure |
| anachronism | misplaced in time |
| anagram | a phrase made by transposing the letters of another used to conceal proper names or hide messages |
| analogy | a comparison |
| anaphora | repetition of a word at the begging of two or more successive phrases |
| antagonist | a person who is opposed with other |
| antihero | a protagonist who is markedly unheroic |
| antiphrasis | use of a phrase to convey an idea exactly opposite to its real significance |
| antithesis | a figure of speech characterized by strongly contrasting words |
| aphorism | a concise statement by a known author of a moral given in pointed words |
| apostrophe | a figure of speech wherein the speaker talks directly to something that is nonhuman |
| archetype | a symbol which culture relates without prior knowledge |
| aside | a speech made by an actor to t;he audience |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words |
| ballad | a long narrative in regular meter and rhyme |
| bathos | the effect resulting from the unsuccessful effort to achieve dignity; dropping from sublime to ridiculous |
| blank verse | poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter that resembles the natural rhythm of spoken english |
| burlesque | a broad parody exaggerates into ridiculousness |
| cacaphony | deliberately harsh, awkward sounds |
| caesura | a break or pause in a line of verse |
| cadence | the beat or rhythm of poetry |
| catharsis | emotional release that an audience experieces as the result of watching a tragedy |
| climax | the highest or intense point |
| comedy | amusing play with happy ending |
| conceit | surprising connection between two seemingly dissimilar things |
| conflict | a fight or contend |
| conundrum | a riddle whose answers involves a pun |
| consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds at the end |
