| A | B |
|---|
| Allegory | objects/events representing others through entire piece of literature |
| Alliteration | Repetition of first syllable through multiple words |
| Aphorism | Original short phrase - musing on life |
| Apostrophe | Direct speech to an inanimate object |
| Assonance | Repetition of the vowel sound in multiple words |
| Cacophony | harsh, discordant sounds |
| Hyperbole | Extreme exaggeration |
| Imagery | Sensory details |
| Irony | Contrast of what is and what appears to be |
| Metaphor | Comparison of two or more objects without like, as, than, or resembles |
| Metonymy | Term subbed for another; "White House" for the president or the presidency |
| Mood | Overall atmosphere of the work |
| Onomatopoeia | Sounds in word form: buzz; swoosh, slap |
| Paradox | Statements that seem to contradict themselves but are nevertheless true. |
| Personification | Comparison giving human or animalistic qualities to inanimate objects |
| Purpose | the reason the author is writing |
| Romantic(ism) | Around the beginning of the 19th century, this movement sprang up in both Europe and America as a reaction to everything that had come before it: the rationalism of the 18th century Age of Reason and, especially in America, the strict doctrines of Puritanism. |
| Satire | Using wit to imitate; ridicule |
| Symbol | Comparison where an object represents an idea |
| Synecdoche | Part for the whole; the crown spoke = the king spoke |
| Tone | Author's attitude for a subject reflected in diction |
| Understatement | Deliberately stated as less for dramatic impact |
| Allusion | Reference to a statement, person, place, or event that is famous. |
| Anapest | Foot of three syllables two unstressed followed by one stressed |
| Aside | Part of an actor's lines supposedly not heard by others on the stage and intended only for the audience. |
| Bildungsroman | Type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist. |
| Chiasmus | Reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases |
| Conceit | Elaborate, fanciful metaphor, especially of a strained or far-fetched nature. |
| Consonance | Repetition of the cpnsonant sounds in multiple words |
| Couplet | Pair of rhymed lines |
| Dactyl | Foot of three syllables, one stressed then two unstressed |
| Darwinism | Theory that species originate by descent, with variation, from parent forms, through the natural selection of those individuals best adapted for the reproductive success of their kind |
| Digression | Passage or section that deviates from the central theme in speech or writing. |
| Enjambment | Running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break. |
| Epistolary | Novel written in the form of a series of letters |
| Euphemism | Substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. |
| Euphony | Agreeableness of sound; pleasing effect to the ear, especially a pleasant sounding or harmonious combination or succession of words |
| Existentialism | Philosophical attitude opposed to rationalism and empiricism, that stresses the individual's unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for the authenticity of his or her choices. |
| Feminism | Doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men |
| Flashback | Device in the narrative of a motion picture, novel, etc., by which an event or scene taking place before the present time in the narrative is inserted into the chronological structure of the work |
| Foil | Character with opposing traits to the main character whose purpose is to illustrate the main character |
| In medias res | In or into the middle of events or a narrative |
| Litotes | Understatement, especially that in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary, as in “not bad at all |
| Marxism | The doctrine on economics, politics, and society where political and social structures are determined by the economic conditions of people. It calls for a classless society in which all means of production are commonly owned |
| Meter | Rhythmic arrangement of syllables in verse, usually according to the number and kind of feet in a line |
| Trochee | a foot of two syllables with one stressed then one unstressed syllable |
| Modern | Ppertaining to, or characteristic of contemporary styles of art, literature, music, etc., that reject traditionally accepted or sanctioned forms and emphasize individual experimentation and sensibility |
| Naturalism | View of the world that takes account only of natural elements and forces, excluding the supernatural or spiritual; a manner or technique of treating subject matter that presents, through volume of detail, a deterministic view of human life and actions |
| Parable | Short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson. |
| Pastoral | Poem, play, or the like, dealing with the life of shepherds, commonly in a conventional or artificial manner, or with simple rural life generally; a bucolic. |
| Picaresque | Ppertaining to, characteristic of, or characterized by a form of prose fiction, originally developed in Spain, in which the adventures of an engagingly roguish hero are described in a series of usually humorous or satiric episodes that often depict, in realistic detail, the everyday life of the common people |
| Postmodern | Noting or pertaining to architecture of the late 20th century, appearing in the 1960s, that consciously uses complex forms, fantasy, and allusions to historic styles, in contrast to the austere forms and emphasis on utility of standard modern architecture. |
| Pun | Humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words |
| Repetition | The use of reiteration in writing, often for added emphasis |
| Simile | Metaphor using like, as, than, or resembles |
| Soliloquy | In a play, a speech given by a character, while alone, to express his thoughts |
| Sonnet | Poem, properly expressive of a single, complete thought, idea, or sentiment, of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with rhymes arranged according to one of certain definite schemes, being in the strict or Italian form divided into a major group of 8 lines (the octave) followed by a minor group of 6 lines (the sestet), and in a common English form into 3 quatrains followed by a couplet. |
