| A | B |
|---|
| connotation | the additional meaning associated with a word other that its dictionary meaning |
| alliteration | the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of closely-related words |
| imagery | the use of words that appeal to the reader's senses or emotions |
| ballad | a type of narrative poetry that was meant to be sung; it usually is in quatrains with an "abcb" rhyme scheme |
| rhyme | the repetition of syllable sounds at the ends of words |
| end rhyme | the use of rhyming words at the ends of lines of poetry |
| internal rhyme | the use of rhyming words within lines |
| rhyme scheme | the charting of the end rhymes in a poem |
| near rhyme/slant rhyme | words in which the rhyming sounds are similar but not identical |
| rhythm/meter | the pattern of beats or stresses in a line of poetry or prose |
| foot | a unit of rhythm consisting of strongly and weakly stressed syllables |
| dimeter | a two-foot line |
| trimeter | a three-foot line |
| tetrameter | a four-foot line |
| pentameter | a five-foot line |
| hexameter | a six-foot line |
| heptameter | a seven-foot line |
| octameter | an eight-foot line |
| iamb | a foot with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable |
| trochee | a foot with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable |
| anapest | a foot with 2 unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable |
| dactyl | a foot with a stressed syllable followed by 2 unstressed syllables |
| spondee | a foot with 2 stressed syllables |
| repetition | the use of repeated sounds, words, phrases, sentences, or other elements |
| onomatopoeia | the use of sound words |
| dramatic monologue | a poem in which a single speaker utters the entire poem at a critical moment in his/her life to a silent listener |
| simile | a figure of speech in which 2 unlike things are compared using "like" or "as" |
| metaphor | a figure of speech that makes an implied comparison between 2 unlike things |
| personification | a figure of speech in which an idea, animal, or thing is given human characteristics |
| allusion | a reference to some person, event, or work or art or literature that the author expects you to recognize |
| hyperbole | an exaggeration |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables containing dissimilar consonant sounds |
| consonance | the repetition of final consonant sounds in stressed syllables containing dissimilar vowel sounds |
| denotation | the dictionary meaning of a word |
| apostrophe | a figure of speech in which an absent person or thing is addressed as if it were present |
| tone | the author's attitude toward the subject he/she is writing about |
| mood | the atmosphere or feeling created in a literary work |
| trope | any rhetorical or figurative device in which a word, phrase, or image is used in a way that it was not normally intended |
| symbol | an object, person, etc., that represents something other than its regular meaning |
| free verse | a type of poem that has no regular meter or line length and depends on natural speech rhythms |
| villanelle | A 19-line poem of fixed form consisting of five tercets and a final quatrain on two rhymes, with the first and third lines of the first tercet repeated alternately as a refrain closing the succeeding stanzas and joined as the final couplet of the quatrain |
| syntax | the arrangement of and relationship among words, phrases, and clauses forming sentences: sentence structure |
| diction | word choice used by an author |
| sonnet | a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter that has a strict rhyming pattern |
| paradox | a statement that seems to be contradictory but actually has valid meaning |
| irony of situation | a contrast between what is expected to happen and what really does happen |
| dramatic irony | when the reader or audience knows more than the characters do |
| foreshadowing | hints or clues the author gives of events that are coming later |
| flashback | a scene that goes back in time to an event that occurred earlier |
| 1st Person Plural Narrator | narrator tells the story from the "we" perspective-- the narrator is a member of a group that acts as a unit |
| enjambment | the running over from one line to another in a poem |
| short story | a story that you can read in one sitting |
| short short | an extremely short story that usually creates shock or surprise |
