| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Bootless | without result, gain, or advantage; unavailing; useless. |
| Scope | extent in space; a tract or area |
| Lyre | a musical instrument of ancient Greece consisting of a soundbox made typically from a turtle shell, with two curved arms connected by a yoke from which strings are stretched to the body, used esp. to accompany singing and recitation |
| Lament | to mourn for or over. |
| Terrestrial | of or pertaining to land as distinct to water |
| Copse | a thicket of small trees or bushes; a small wood |
| Sullen | showing irritation or ill humor by a gloomy silence or reserve |
| Crypt | a subterranean chamber or vault, esp. one beneath the main floor of a church, used as a burial place, a location for secret meetings, etc |
| Specter | a visible incorporeal spirit, esp. one of a terrifying nature; ghost; phantom; apparition |
| Dregs | the least valuable part of anything |
| Fervor | great warmth and earnestness of feeling |
| Blast | a sudden and violent gust of wind |
| Elaborate | worked out with great care and nicety of detail; executed with great minuteness |
| Alienated | to make indifferent or hostile |
| Chiasmus | a reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases, as in "He went to the country, to the town went she." |
| Feminine rhyme | a rhyme either of two syllables of which the second is unstressed (double rhyme), as in motion, notion, or of three syllables of which the second and third are unstressed (triple rhyme), as in fortunate, importunate. |
| Fulcrum | the support, or point of rest, on which a lever turns in moving a body. |
| Allusion | a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of something, either directly or by implication: an allusion to Shakespeare |
| Synecdoche | a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in ten sail for ten ships or a Croesus for a rich man. |
| Half rhyme | rhyme in which either the vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables are identical, as in eyes, light; years, yours. |
| Caesura | Prosody. a break, esp. a sense pause, usually near the middle of a verse, and marked in scansion by a double vertical line, as in know then thyself ‖ presume not God to scan. |
| Internal rhyme | a rhyme created by two or more words in the same line of verse. |
| Litotes | understatement, esp. that in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary, as in "not bad at all." |
| Enjambment | the running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break. |
| Present participle | Grammar. a participle form, in English having the suffix -ing, denoting repetition or duration of an activity or event: used as an adjective, as in the growing weeds, and in forming progressive verb forms, as in The weeds are growing |
| Periodic structure | sentence in which the main clause or its predicate is withheld until the end; for example, Despite heavy winds and nearly impenetrable ground fog, the plane landed safely. |
| Cadence | (in free verse) a rhythmic pattern that is nonmetrically structured. |
| Syntax | the study of the rules for the formation of grammatical sentences in a language. |
| Vignette | a decorative design or small illustration used on the title page of a book or at the beginning or end of a chapter |
| Acerbic | sour or astringent in taste |
| Aphoristic | of, like, or containing aphorisms |
| Blithe | joyous, merry, or gay in disposition; glad; cheerful |
| Chatty | characterized by friendly and informal talk or writing, often about minor or personal matters |
| Defiant | boldly resistant or challenging |
| Earnest | serious in intention, purpose, or effort |
| Euphemistic | the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt. |
| Flippant | frivolously disrespectful, shallow, or lacking in seriousness; characterized by levity: The audience was shocked by his flippant remarks about patriotism. |
| Florid | reddish; ruddy; rosy |
| Indignant | feeling, characterized by, or expressing strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base |
| Lilting | rhythmic swing or cadence |
| Maudlin | tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental |
| Metaphysical | concerned with abstract thought or subjects, as existence, causality, or truth |
| Offhand | cavalierly, curtly, or brusquely: |
| Pathos | the quality or power in an actual life experience or in literature, music, speech, or other forms of expression, of evoking a feeling of pity or compassion |
| Pedantic | overly concerned with minute details or formalisms, esp. in teaching. |
| Plaintive | expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful |
| Prosaic | of or having the character or form of prose rather than poetry. |
| Sardonic | characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; cynical; sneering |
| Surreal | having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic |
| Urbane | reflecting elegance, sophistication |
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