| A | B |
|---|
| Literal Language | That which uses words in their usual meaning without exaggeration or imagination |
| denotation | the dictionary definition of a word |
| figurative language | departs from ordinary language (the strictly literal) to make meaning more vivid and to achieve special effects. |
| connotation | what the word suggests beyond its strict dictionary definition. |
| figure of speech | a device that permits an author to say one thing and mean another; words are used in a non-literal way in order to convey a forceful or vivid memory |
| imagery | words or phrases that use description to create pictures or word images in the reader's mind--word pictures that appeal to the senses and summon up the mental picture. |
| purpose of imagery | to help the reader re-create in his own mind the situation which the writer imagines so the reader can react as if he had experienced the situation firsthand. |
| metaphor | A comparison in which one thing is said to be another. |
| implied metaphor | a comparison that is not directly stated; the comparison is implied or suggested. |
| dead metaphor | a metaphor which has become so commonplace that it has lost its force, and we forget that it is not literally true. |
| extended metaphor | a metaphor which is exteded throughout the entire poem. |
| simile | a direct comparison made between two unlike things, using a word of comparison such as like, as, or than. |
| symbol | something in a literary work which maintains meaning while at the same time standing for something broader than itself. |
| paradox | a statement that reveals a kind of truth, although it seems to be self-contradictory and untrue |
| oxymoron | puts together two opposing or contradictory ideas into a statement that contradicts itself |
| hyperbole | a gross exaggeration |
| Irony | a contrast or discrepancy between what is stated and what is really meant; or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen |
| onomatopoeia | when the sounds of word imitates or suggests its meaning |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in a group of words close together (in the same line). |
| consonance | repetition of internal consonant sounds within a line of poetry |
| alliteration | repetition of initial consonant sounds within a line of poetry |
| synecdoche | a part of something that refers to a whole |
| pun | a play on words-a word which means two different things at the same time and results in humor |
| allusion | a reference to a famous person or event in life, history, or literature |
| personification | a figure of speech in which something non-human (things, ideas, or animals) is given human characterisitcs or feelings |
| apostrophe | a figure of speech in which a writer speaks directly to an idea, to a quality, to an object, or to a person who is not present |
| rhyme | the repetition of two or more words in which the last vowel sound and the last consonant sound are the same |
| beginning rhyme | rhyme that occures in the first words of two or more lines of poetry |
| end rhyme | when a rhyme occurs at the end of a line |
| internal rhyme | rhyme that occures within a line of poetry |
| exact rhyme | the exact equivealence in rhyming sounds (fear/near) |
| slant rhyme | there is a similarity to the rhyming sounds instead of an exact rhyme. |
| rhyme scheme | the pattern in which end rhyme ocurs throughout a stanza or an entire poem. |
| masculine rhyme | a rhyme consisting of only one syllable |
| feminine rhyme | a rhyme consisting of two or more syllables |
