| Term | Definition |
|---|
| aphorism | a brief saying embodying a moral (ex. Imitation is suicide) |
| apostrophe | when an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important object is directly addressed |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds |
| asyndeton | omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses (veni, vidi, vici) |
| blank verse | A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| cacophony | language that is discordant and difficult to pronounce |
| caesura | a natural pause or break |
| caricature | a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others |
| colloqialism | the use of informal expressions appropriate to everyday speech rather than to the formality of writing |
| canon | a group of literary works that are considered the most important of a particular time period or place |
| conceit | an unusual way of showing or describing something |
| concrete language | names or describes the perceptible and material world (girl, necklace, car) |
| connotation | an implied meaning of a word (he's hot=he's cute) |
| consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds (lady lounges lazily) |
| Deduction | the drawing of a conclusion by reasoning |
| Denotation | the literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning |
| diction | the writer's choice of words based on their clarity and effectiveness |
| dissonance | a harsh, disagreeable combination of sounds |
| dramatic irony | creates a discrepancy between what a character believes or says and what the reader or audience member knows to be true |
| emotional appeal | persuades audiences by arousing the emotions (pathos) |
| end-stopped | that has a pause at the end |
Combine with other sets
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