| A | B |
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| lyric poetry | a song like poem that expresses a speaker's feelings |
| free verse | poetry with no set rhythm (meter) or rhyme scheme |
| blank verse | Unrhymed lines of poetry, usually in iambic pentameter rhythm. |
| rhythm | the repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them in words close together in a poem |
| accented syllable | (stressed syllable) labeled with an accent mark; "The rhymically significant stress in the articulation of words, giving some syllables more relative prominence than others." |
| unaccented syllable | (unstressed syllable) labeled with a small u |
| meter | a generally regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry |
| rhyme | the similarity of ending sounds existing between two words |
| rhyme scheme | the sequence in which rhyme occurs. The first end sound is represented as the letter "a", the second is "b", etc. |
| slant rhyme | a rhyming sound that is approximate but not exact |
| end rhyme | rhymes at the end of a line |
| internal rhyme | rhyme that occurs within lines |
| stanza | in a poem, a group of consecutive lines that forms a single unit; couplet - two lines; quatrain - four lines; sestet - six lines; octave - eight lines |
| couplets | a pair of rhyming lines in a poem, often set off from the rest of the poem. Shakespeare's sonnets all end in couplets. |
| mood (in poetry) | the overall emotion created by the poem |
| narrative poetry | a poem that tells a story |
| ode | a complex, generally long lyric poem on a serious subject |
| sonnet | fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in iambic pentameter; Shakespearean - the English sonnet which has three four-line units followed by a rhymed couplet |
| ballad | song that tells a story with rhythm, possessing a tragic ending, usually dealing with the topic of love |
| assonance | repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds in words that are close together |
| rhetorical question | A question asked for an effect, not actually requiring an answer. |
| connotation | A meaning, association, or emotion suggested by a word, in addition to its dictionary definition, or denotation. |
| denotation | The precise, literal meaning of a word, without emotional associations or overtones. |
| loaded language | Words with strong connotations or emotional associations. |
| characterization | a person or an animal in a story, play, or other literary work. |
| antagonist | The character or force that opposes or blocks the protagonist, or main character, in a narrative |
| protagonist | The main or central character in fiction or drama. |
| dynamic/round character | A character that changes as a result of a story's events. |
| static/flat character | A character that does not change much in the course of a literary |
| foil | A character who serves as a contrast to another character to highlight differences between them |
| archetypal character | a character who represents a certain type of person |
| foreshadowing | The use of clues or hints to suggest events that will occur later in a plot. |
| cliff hanger | A fiction work, often presented in installments, which ends in suspense or whose outcome is in doubt to the very end. |
| flashback | Interruption in the present action of a plot to show events that happened at an earlier time. |
| prologue | An introduction to a literary work which often sets the scene, introduces the conflict and introduces the main characters. |
| epilogue | A concluding section or statement in a work of literature which often comments on or draws conclusions from the work as a whole. |
| dialogue | conversation between two or more characters. |
| narrator | One who tells a story. |
| alliteration | the repetition of the same or very similar consonant sounds in words that are close together |
| apostrophe | (not punctuation) a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something nonhuman as if it were present and capable of responding |
| hyperbole | (exaggeration) a figure of speech that uses overstatement to express strong emotion or to create a comic effect |
| idiom | an expression peculiar to a particular language that means something different from the literal meaning of each word |
| metaphor | a comparison between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be another thing |
| onomatopoeia | use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests the meaning |
| oxymoron | a figure of speech that combines apparently contradictory words |
| paradox | a statement or situation that seems to be a contradiction but reveals a truth |
| personification | a figure of speech in which a nonhuman thing or quality is talked about as if it were human |
| simile | a comparison between two unlike things, using a word such as like, as than, or resembles |
| aphorism | A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life. |
| imagery | language that appeals to the senses - sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell and creates a visual picture within the reader's mind |
| symbolism | the conscious and artful use of symbols (symbol) a person, place, thing or event that stands for itself and something beyond itself as well |
| suspense | Suspense in fiction results primarily from two factors: the reader's identification with and concern for the welfare of a convincing and sympathetic character, and an anticipation of violence. |
| point of view or perspective | All literature must be narrated or recorded by someone, and an author must decide who that someone will be. The decision is an important one, since the selection of narrator determines the perspective, or point of view, from which the story will be told, as well as the amount and kind of information a reader will be given. |
| first person point of view | A character in the story who speaks in the first person voice. |
| third person objective point of view | A narrator, not a character in the story, who speaks in the third person voice and can tell only what is observable through the five senses. |
| third person omniscient point of view | A narrator, not a character in the story, who speaks in the third person voice and can tell the thoughts and feelings of characters within the story. |
| third person limited omniscient point of view | A narrator, a character in the story, who speaks in the third person voice and can tell the thoughts and feelings of only one character within the story. |
| irony | A contrast between expectation and reality. |
| verbal irony | A contrast between what is said or written and what is really meant. |
| dramatic irony | When the audience or the reader knows something a character does not know. |
| situational irony | When what happens is very different from what we expected would happen. |
| verisimilitude | the appearance of truth, or realism, in a story; the sense that what one reads is "real," or at least realistic and believable. Verisimilitude is achieved by a writer or storyteller when he presents striking details which lend an air of authenticity to a tale. |
| tone | author’s feelings or emotions about a topic or person |
| mood | reader’s feelings or emotions as he or she reads text |
| allegory | a story in which the characters represent abstract qualities or ideas |
| parody | a literary work that imitates the style of another literary work |
| plot | the chain of events in a story; the series of related events that make up a story |
| exposition | the opening of the story, where the setting, the characters and their conflict are introduced to the reader |
| setting | The where and when the events of a text are set. |
| time | could include specific time or date, a time period in history, season of the year |
| place | where the story mostly happens; usually a more general category such a hometown rather than school, church, or home |
| initiating event | the first action/happening in the story |
| conflict | a struggle or clash between opposing characters or opposing forces |
| rising action(s) | the actions or events which increase the conflict in the story |
| climax | the most exciting moment (event) in the plot of the story; the exciting or tense moment, usually toward the end of the story, when we realize what the outcome of the conflict will be; a crucial decision is made that helps determine how the story will end |
| falling action(s) | the action that occurs after the climax and winds down the story |
| resolution | the moment when all the problems are resolved one way or another and the story is closed |
| denouement (day-noo-MAWN) | the resolution of the conflict in a plot after the climax; tying up the loose ends or wrapping up the story |
| prose | any writing that is not poetry |
| poetry | a type of rhythmic, compressed language that uses figures of speech and imagery designed to appeal to emotion and imagination |
