| Term | Definition |
|---|
| rising action | a related series of incidents in a plot that build toward the point of greatest interest |
| colloquial | involving or using conversation |
| connotation | an idea or meaning associated with a word or thing |
| denotation | the direct meaning of a word or expression |
| dialect | a language considered as one of a group that have a common ancestor |
| dialogue | conversation between two or more persons |
| diction | style of speaking of writing as dependent upon choice of words |
| paradox | a statement that seems false but in reality is a possible truth |
| proverb | a short popular saying |
| slang | very informal usage in vocabulary |
| tone | the quality of a person's voice |
| voice | expression in spoken or written words |
| anecdote | a short account of a particular incident |
| narrative voice | describing a story or account of events |
| point of view | the position of the narrator in relation to the story |
| first person | a speaker referring to himself or herself |
| objective | not influenced by personal feelings |
| omniscient | having complete knowledge or awareness |
| limited | an inability to think imaginatively or independently |
| third person | referring to anything or to anyone other than the speaker or the one being addressed |
| unlimited | boundless |
| stream-of-consciousness | thought regarded as a succession of ideas and images constantly moving forward in time |
| theme | a subject of discourse |
| character | a person represented in a drama |
| allusion | The act of alluding; indirect reference |
| apostrophe | when a speaker or writer breaks off and directs speech to an imaginary person or abstract quality or idea |
| euphemism | an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the listener than the word or phrase it replaces |
| hyperbole | obvious and intentional exaggeration |
| litotes | understatement |
| metaphor | an indirect comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects. "is a" |
| onomatopoeia | a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing |
| personification | figure of speech that gives non-humans and objects human traits and qualities |
| simile | is a comparison of two unlike things, typically marked by use of "like", "as" or "than". |
| symbol | are objects, characters, or other concrete representations of ideas, concepts, or other abstractions |
| synecdoche | a term denoting a part of something is used to refer to the whole thing |
| understatement | is a form of speech in which a lesser expression is used than what would be expected |
| Alliteration | is a structuring device characterized by the reiteration of the initial consonant at the beginning of two consecutive or slightly separated words. Always avoid annnoying alliteration |
| Assonance | is the repetition of vowel sounds in non-rhyming words as in, "some ship in distress that cannot live." |
| Blank verse | is a type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no rhyme |
| Cacophony | refers to sound that is harsh and unpleasant-sounding |
| Cadence | rhythmic flow of a sequence of sounds or words |
| Caesura | a term to denote an audible pause that breaks up a line of verse |
| Conceit | an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs an entire poem or poetic passage |
| Connotation | the associated or secondary meaning of a word or expression, implied |
| Consonance | Repetition of two or more consonants but has different vowels, for example, the "i" and "a" followed by the "tter" sound in "plitter platter" |
| Controlling image | a literary device employing repetition so as to stress the theme of a work or a particular symbol. |
| Couplet | a pair of successive lines of verse that rhyme and are of the same length |
| Dirge | A mournful or elegiac poem or other literary work |
| Dissonance | is the deliberate avoidance of assonance |
| Dramatic monologue | which a character in fiction or in history delivers a speech explaining his or her feelings, actions, or motives |
| Elegy | poem which is a reflection on the death of someone |
| End-stopped line | A poetic line that has a pause at the end |
| Enjambment | is the breaking of a a phrase by the end of a line or between two verses (opp. is end-stop) |
| Epic | a long poetic composition, usually centered upon a hero, in which a series of great achievements or events is narrated in elevated style |
| Euphony | a pleasant sounding or harmonious combination or succession of words |
| Foot | the basic unit in their description of the underlying rhythm of a poem |
| Free verse | is a term describing various styles of poetry that are not written using strict meter or rhyme |
| Iamb | a short syllable followed by a long syllable (as in i-amb) |
| In media res | is a literary technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning |
| Lyric | a form of poetry that does not attempt to tell a story, more personal |
| Meter | poetic measure; arrangement of words in regularly measured, patterned, or rhythmic lines or verses |
| Octave | a group of eight lines of verse, esp. the first eight lines of a sonnet in the Italian form |
| Ode | a lyric poem typically of elaborate or irregular metrical form and expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion |
| Pentameter | a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet |
| Persona | the term is sometimes used in the criticism of poetry and fiction to refer to a "second self" |
| Quatrain | a poem or a stanza within a poem that consists of four lines |
| Refrain | is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse |
| Scansion | Scansion is the analysis of poetry's metrical and rhythmic patterns |
| Trochee | a metrical foot used in formal poetry. It consists of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one |
| Volta | turn; time |
| Pentameter | a pentameter is a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet |
| Iambic Pentameter | An iambic foot is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. da DUM |
| Masculine Rhyme | is a rhyme on a single stressed syllable at the end of a line of poetry (thee, phy/ spent, went) |
| Internal Rhyme | internal rhyme or middle rhyme, is rhyme which occurs within a single line of verse (Fingertips on the hip as i dip) |
| Synaesthesia | The description of one kind of sense impression by using words that normally describe another |
| Stanza | an arrangement of a certain number of lines, usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem |
| Italian Sonnet | consisting of an octave with the rhyme scheme abbaabba and of a sestet with one of several rhyme schemes, as cdecde or cdcdcd. |
| Feminine Rhyme | is a rhyme that matches two or more syllables at the end of the respective lines (painted, passion, acquainted, fashion) |
| End Rhyme | a rhyme that occurs in the last syllables of verses |
| External Rhyme | the last syllable in the last word of each line in a stanza rhymes |
Combine with other sets
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