| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Alliteration | Repetition of initial letter in two or more words |
| Allusion | reference to an historical or literary figure |
| Anachronism | false assignment of an event, person or language |
| antithesis | in which opposite or contrasting statements are balanced against each other |
| Apostrophe | words addressed to an absent person thing or idea |
| Assonance | Similarity of sound between vowels; not perfect rhymes |
| Blank verse | unrhymed verse; 5 stressed lines; iambic pentameter |
| Bon Mot | clever saying |
| Cacophony | Harch sounds deliberately use to achieve a particular effect; oposite of euphony |
| Caesura | A break in the metrical porgress of vers |
| Colloquialism | informal conversation; slang |
| Connotation | An additional suggested or implied meaning of words; opposite with denotation |
| consonance | repeated identical consonant sounds; final consonants in the stressed syllables agree but the vowels that preced them differ |
| couplet | 2 successive lines rhyming aa and containing with two lines a complete independent statement, a stanza consisting of two successive lines of verse |
| denotation | exact meaning of a word |
| diction | use of words in oral or written form; 4 stages: formal, informal, colloquial, slang |
| elision | omission of part of a word for ease of pronunciation (tow words together). ex. th'orient for the orient |
| Enjambement | device of continuting the sense and grammatical construction of a verse or couplet on into the next. One line wraps into the other |
| Epithet | Adjective or phrase highlighting a characteristic of a person or thing |
| Euphony | Pleasing, smooth sounds--produced by long vowels rather than consonants/ Opposite of cacophony |
| Foil | when contrasting qualities are juxtaposed, they elevate the quality or enhance it |
| Hamartia | A human weakness which leads to action or inaction, contribution to the downfall of the hero. Often called tragic flaw |
| Hubris | Overweening pride which results in the misfortune of the protagonist of a tragedy. Results from too much pride, amibition, or overconfidence |
| hyperbole | figure of speech containing an exaggeration for emphasis |
| Irony | Speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words that carry the opposite meaning |
| Juxtaposition | Arrangement of 2 or more ideas or objects sid-by-side in moments for the pupose of comarision, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense or character developpement |
| Leitmotif | recurring theme (leading motive) |
| Malapropism | an inappropriateness of speech resulting from the use of one word for another which has some similarity |
| Metonymy | a figure of speech in which the name for one thing is substituted for that of another with which is closely assosiated ("crown" monarchy) |
| Motif | a recurring image or symbole |
| nemesis | a just punishment |
| Onomatopoeia | the use of words in which the sense is suggested by the sound (hiss) |
| Oxymoron | a phrase briging 2 incongruous and contradictory terms together (wise fool) |
| Paradox | a statement that seems contradictory and yet is true. Used to attract attention and provide emphasis ("In mh beinning is my end") |
| Pathetic Fallacy | Attributing human passions to inanimate things |
| Pathos | portrayal of an inident in such a way as to arouse feelings of pity or sadness in the reader or audience |
| Syncope | Cutting short words through the omission of a letter or syllable (Ev'ry) |
| Synecdoche | A form of metaphor in which the part mentioned signifies the whole (All hands on deck means all the crew) |
| Type or Stock Character | qualities make him/her appear as representative of a class or type (wicked stepmother, wise old man) |
| Understatement | a form of irony in which something is intentionally represented as less than it is in fact ("a scratch, a scratch") |
| Versimilitude | appearance or semblance of truth and reality. |
| litote | when the understatement expresses an affirmative with a negative |
Combine with other sets
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