| A | B |
|---|
| NARRATION | the telling of a story in writing or speaking |
| ALLITERATION | beginning several consecutive words with the same sound |
| LITOTES | irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is |
| SETTING | the time and place in which events in a literary work take place |
| PARADOX | when the elements of a statement contradict each other |
| UNDERSTATEMENT | the opposite of hyperbole |
| SYMBOL | anything that has both a meaning in and of itself and stands for something else as well |
| SIMILE | comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as" |
| MOOD | the atmosphere or predominant emotion in a literary work |
| FIGURE OF SPEECH | word or phrase describing one thing in terms of something else |
| RHYME | repetition of sounds in two or more words appearing close to each other in a poem |
| SHIFT | a change or movement in a piece resulting from an insight |
| PUN | a play on words that sound the same but have sharply diverse meanings |
| POINT OF VIEW | the perspective from which a narrative is told |
| ALLUSION | reference to a mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing |
| TONE | the writer or speaker's attitude toward a subject, character, or audience |
| ASSONANCE | repetition of accented vowel sounds in a series of words |
| STRUCTURE | the framework or organization of a literary work |
| SYNTAX | the arrangement of words and the order of grammatical elements in a sentence |
| SUSPENSE | the quality of a piece that causes tension or uncertainty in the reader |
| IMAGERY | descriptive words that appeal to the senses |
| DETAILS | the facts revealed by an author that support the attitude or tone of a piece |
| MOTIVATION | circumstance that prompts a character to act in a certain way |
| HYPERBOLE | deliberate, extravagant, outrageous exaggeration |
| METAPHOR | comparison of unlike things NOT using "like" or "as" |
| VERBAL IRONY | when a speaker says one thing while meaning the opposite |
| APOSTROPHE | form of personification in which the absent or the dead are addressed directly |
| END RHYME | rhyme that occurs at the end of lines of poetry |
| STYLE | the writer's characteristic use of language |
| DICTION | word choice intended to convey a certain effect |
| THEME | the central message of a literary work |
| FLASHBACK | a scene that interrupts the action in a narrative to show a previous event |
| SYNECDOCHE | a form of metaphor in which a part of something is used to signify the whole |
| FORESHADOWING | the use of hints or clues to suggest future action |
| IRONY | when speech or circumstances are the opposite of what is expected |
| RHYME SCHEME | the pattern of end rhymes |
| ANTAGONIST | the opposing force operating against the main character of a narrative |
| PLOT | the sequence of events in a narrative piece |
| ANTITHESIS | direct juxtaposition of structurally parallel words or phrases for the purpose of contrast |
| PERSONIFICATION | the kind of metaphor that gives inanimate objects or abstract ideas human characteristics |
| REPETITION | the deliberate use of any language element more than once |
| INTERNAL RHYME | the rhyme of words within a line of poetry |
| PROTAGONIST | the central character of a drama or novel |
| PROSODY | the study of sound and rhythm in poetry |
| SOUND DEVICES | stylistic techniques that convey meaning through sound |
| CONSONANCE | repetition of a consonant sound within a series of words |
| ONOMATOPOEIA | use of words that mimic the sounds they describe |
| OXYMORON | a form of paradox that combines a pair of opposite terms into a single unusual expression |
| SARCASM | the use of verbal irony in which something praised is actually being insulted |
| SLANT RHYME | approximate rhyme |
