| A | B |
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| anaphora | the use of the same word or phrase at the beginning of several successive clauses, sentences, lines, or verses, usually for emphasis or rhetorical effect. |
| antecedent | the word or phrase to which a pronoun refers. (sometimes after the pronoun in poetry) |
| antithesis | a balancing or contrasting of one term against another: Man proposes, God disposes. Pope |
| apostrophe | the addressing of someone or something usually not present (or incapable of response), as though present. |
| asyndeton | the leaving out of conjunctions in sentence constructions in which they would usually be used. |
| polysyndeton | the use of multiple conjunctions or coordinate clauses in close succession, as, in The bad news caused him to weep and cry and wail |
| juxtaposition | The placing of words or images next to one another for complementary or contrasting rhetorical or sound effect(s) |
| zeugma | The yoking together of an adjective or verb with two nouns: Here thou, great Anna! whom three realms obey, |
| allusion | a reference in literature or in art to previous literature, history, mythology, current events, or the Bible. |
| ambiguity | Term for words or phrases that can be read two or more ways, allowing the poet to say more than one thing at a time. |
| anachronism | an element in a story that is out of its time frame; sometimes used to create a humorous or jarring effect, but sometimes the result of poor research on the authors part. |
| archetype | a character, situation, or symbol that is familiar to people from all cultures because it occurs frequently in literature, myth, religion, or folklore. |
| bathos | Overly sentimental feelings expressed in trite statements. |
| pathos | the quality of a literary work or passage which appeals to the readers or viewers emotionsespecially pity, compassion, and sympathy. Pathos is different from the pity one feels for a tragic hero in that the pathetic figure seems to suffer through no fault of his or her own. |
| connotation | associations a word calls to mindwhat a word suggests beyond its basic definition |
| denotation | The dictionary definition of a word |
| diction | A writers word choice: elevated vs. colloquial, etc. |
| figure of speech | an expression in which the words are used in a non-literal sense to present a figure, picture, or image |
| imagery | anything that affects or appeals to the readers senses: sight (visual), sound (auditory), touch (tactile), taste (gustatory), or smell (olfactory). |
| synaesthesia | The description of a sense impression (smell, touch, sound etc) but in terms of another seemingly inappropriate sense (e.g. 'a deafening yellow') |
| metaphor | an implied comparison between two usually unrelated things indicating a likeness or analogy between attributes found in both things. |
| conceit | a far-fetched comparison between two seemingly unlike things; an extended metaphor that gains appeal from its unusual or extraordinary comparison. |
| simile | a direct or explicit comparison between two usually unrelated things indicating a likeness or similarity between some attribute found in both things; uses like or as to introduce the comparison. |
| personification | the giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects, ideas, or animals. |
| metonymy | A term is substituted for another term with which it is closely associated: crown or scepter stands duty for monarch; White House stands in for the President. (see Synecdoche) |
| synecdoche | A figure of speech in which the part signifies the whole, as when a ship's captain calls out, "All hands on deck!" (see Metonymy) |
| symbol | a word or image that signifies something other than what it literally represents. |
| hyperbole | an exaggeration for the sake of emphasis and is not to be taken literally: rivers of blood sweat to death |
| understatement (meiosis) | saying less than one means, or of saying what one means with less force than the occasion warrants. |
| pun | humorous play on words that have several meanings or words that sound the same but have different meanings. |
| oxymoron | A compact paradox; a figure of speech that combines two contradictory words, placed side by side: bittersweet; living death; wise fool |
| paradox | A statement or situation containing apparently contradictory or incompatible elements that nevertheless rings true upon closer examination |
| dramatic irony | An incongruity or discrepancy between what a character says or thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true |
| situational irony | An incongruity between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate or between what is anticipated and what actually comes to pass. |
