| Term | Definition |
|---|
| elegy | a type of lyric poem that expresses mourning usually over the death of an individual |
| epic | a long poem celebrating the deeds of a society's hero |
| exposition | the beginning of the story that gives background information (ex. setting) |
| falling action | occurs after the climax, where the excitement of the climax begins to die down |
| figurative language | the use of language to describe one thing in terms of something else |
| flashback | a scene in a story that interrupts present action to tell about events that happened at an earlier time |
| foreshadowing | hints given by the author that tell what is to come |
| hyperbole | an exaggeration for effect |
| iambic pentameter | a pattern of 5 groups of stressed/unstressed syllables |
| imagery | words/phrases that use description to create pictures in the reader's mind |
| irony | a contrast between what is expected to happen and what actually happens |
| foil | a charcter used to contrast with another character |
| allegory | an entire story that represents abstract 9intangible) ideas (ex. war, love, obsession, fear) |
| dystopia | an imperfect society |
| communism | an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless, social organization based on common ownership |
| egalitarianism | political belief that everyone must be treated as equals from birth |
| dramatic monologue | a dramatic poem in which one character speaks to one or more other characters, whose replies are not given in the poem |
| literal language | language meant to be taken literally |
| lyric poetry | verse, usually brief, that focuses on the emotions or thoughts of the speaker |
| metaphor | a comparison of two unlike things without using "like" or "as" |
| meter | a regularized rhythmic pattern in a line of poetry |
| motivation | the reason behind a character's actions |
| narrative poetry | a poem tht tells a story |
| approximate rhyme | rhyme in which the final sounds of words are similar but not identical (ex. love, prove) |
| exact rhyme | words that exactly repeat a sound (ex. love, dove) |
| internal rhyme | rhyme occuring within a line (ex. "The moaning and groaning of the bells.") |
| narrator | the person telling the story |
| octave | an 8 line stanza |
Combine with other sets
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