| Term | Definition |
| Allegory | an extended metaphor |
| Apostrophe | direct address to a deceased or absent person |
| Ballad | narrative poem composed in short stanzas for singing |
| carpe diem | "sieze the day" in latin |
| consonance | similar consonant sounds especially at the end of a word |
| decorum | requirement of political society |
| elegy | mournful, meancholy poem |
| alliteration | repetition of sounds |
| anti-hero | character who lacks heroing qualities |
| assonance | repetition of vowel sounds |
| blank verse | unrhymed lines of ten syllables each |
| conceit | elaborate metaphor |
| epic | lengthy narrative poem |
| figues of speech | any device to describe something that is not literally true |
| haiku | 17 syllable japanese poem |
| hyperbole | emphasis through exageration |
| imagery | langauge to create a picture |
| limerick | light verse rhyming in aabba |
| metaphor | indirect comparision without a comparing word |
| couplet | two rhyming lines |
| doggerel | crudely written verse |
| euphony | agreeable sounds |
| free verse | poetry without structure |
| lyric | poem of limited length expressing thoughts |
| onomatopoeia | words whose sounds imitate natural sounds |
| pastoral poetry | poetry which deals with the life of shephards or rustics |
| quatrain | stanza of four lines |
| scansion | method of determining meter of a poem |
| simile | compares unlike things using like or as |
| synecdoche | using a part to stand for the whole or vice versa |
| sonnet | a 14-line peom in pentameter verse form |
| madrigal | song designed for several voices |
| metonymy | name of an object is substituted for a related item |
| refrain | a repeated line |
| rhythm | measured flow |
| stress | the emphasis |
| trimeter | a line of verse with three metrical feet |
| verse | a stanza of several lines |
| Catharsis | an audience response of pity and fear |
| Denouement | final unraveling of plot |
| Hamartia | The protagonists great flaw |
| Climax | the turning point of the action |
| Hubris | overwhelming pride and overconfidence |
| Tragic Hero | not perfect but better than most |
| Allusion | referencing a literary work outside |
| Attitude | speaker...disposition towards a subject |
| details | parts that make up the larger story |
| diction | word choice |
| irony | intent and actual meaning differ |
| narrative techniques | methods in telling a story |
| point of view | vantage point from which a story is told |
| satire | seeks to arouse a reader's disapproval or an object by ridicule |
| setting | background of a story |
| strategy | use of specific language for a certain effect |
| style | characteristic manner of expression of an author |
| structure | arrangement of materials within a work |
| symbol | something that is itself and a sign for something else at the same time |
| syntax | arrangement of words in a sentence |
| theme | main thought expressed by a work |
| tone | manner in which an author expresses their attitude |
| diction leads to | tone |
| Tone reveals | attitude |