| Term | Definition |
|---|
| personification | the giving of human characteristics to inanimate objects |
| antithesis | balancing or contrasting one term against another |
| allusion | a reference in literature to previous lit, history, mythology, current events or the Bible |
| denotation | dictionary definition of the word |
| connotation | the associations called up by a word that go beyond its dictionary definition |
| imagery | anything that affects or appeals to the reader's senses (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) |
| metaphor | a comparison between two unlike things without using like or as |
| simile | a comparison between two unlike things using like or as |
| onomatopoeia | the use of a word to imitate/represent natural sounds (buzz, crunch) |
| apostrophe | type of soliloquy where nature is addressed as though human |
| synecdoche | the technique of mentioning a part of something to represent the whole (All hands on deck) |
| metonymy | the substitution of a word naming an object for a another word closely associated with it (Pay tribute to the crown) |
| symbol | a word or image that signifies something other than what it literally represents |
| allegory | a narrative/description having a second meaning beneath the surface |
| paradox | a statement or situation containing apparent contradictory or incompatible elements |
| hyperbole | overstatement |
| litotes | understatement |
| verbal irony | saying the opposite of what one means |
| dramatic irony | the audience knows something the characters do not |
| situational irony | the outcome is different than what was predicted |
| alliteration | the repetition of the initial letter/sound in two or more words in a line of verse |
| foot | unit of meter |
| assonance | the similarity/repetition of a vowel sound in two or more words (base and fate) |
| blank verse | lines of iambic pentameter without end rhyme |
| consonance | repetition of consonant sounds within a line of verse (but Such a tide aS moving SeemS aSleep) |
| couplet | two-line stanza |
| dactyl | 3 syllables with a stress on the first syllable |
| free verse | don't have regular meter and don't contain rhyme |
| feminine rhyme | when the last two syllables of a word rhyme with one another (lawful/awful, lighting/fighting) |
| elegy | a poem that mourns that death of an individual |
| iamb | two-syllable foot with the stress of the second syllable |
| internal rhyme | the similarity occurring between two or more words in the same line of verse |
| anapest | three syllables with the stress of the last syllable |
| masculine rhyme | when one syllable of a word rhymes with another word (send/bend) |
| meter | the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables established in a line of poetry |
| oxymoron | combining of two contradictory words placed side by side (bitter sweet) |
| limerick | a five-line nonsense poem with anapestic meter (a-a-b-b-a) |
| ode | an exalted, complex rapturous lyric poem written about a dignified, lofty subject |
| ballad stanza | consists of four lines with a rhyme scheme of a-b-c-b; the 1st/3rd line=tetrameter and the 2nd/4th line=trimeter |
| triple rhyme | occurs when the last three syllables of a word or line rhyme (victorious/glorious) |
| dimeter | two-foot line |
| heptameter | seven-foot line |
| hexameter | six-foot line |
| monometer | one-foot line |
| tetrameter | four-foot line |
| trimeter | three-foot line |
| pentameter | five-foot line |
| octameter | eight-foot line |
| terza rima | a three-line stanza form with an interlaced rhyme scheme a-b-a, b-c-b, c-d-c, d-e-d etc. |
| trochee | a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable |
| enjambment | the running over of a sentence from one verse or stanza onto the next without stopping at the end of the first |
| caesura | a long pause that breaks a line of verse; usually done with punctuation |
| epithet | a descriptive word or phrase (swift-footed Achilles) |
| anthropomorphism | when the Gods' have human-like characteristics |
| hamartia | tragic flaw |
| anagnorisis | recognition of tragic flaw |
| hubris | excessive pride |
| peripetia | turning point (for the worse) |
| ad hominem | attacking the person presenting the argument rather than the argument |
| aside | an actor speaks to the audience; he/she is not heard by the other characters |
| deus ex machina | when the Gods intervene |
| catastrophe | final resolution in a Tragedy |
| denouement | series of events that follow the climax/conclusion |
| invective | insulting, abusive language/name calling |
| monologue | extended, uninterrupted speech by a single person |
| unities | three rules for drama (action, place, time) |
| bathos | unintentional incongruity |
| rhyme scheme | the pattern or sequence in which the rhyme occurs (1=a, 2=b, 3=c etc) |
| Italian sonnet | divided between an octave and sestet (Petrarchan) |
| Spenserian sonnet | nine-line stanza consisting of eight iambic pentameter lines followed by a line of iambic hexameter (from Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queen) |
| English Sonnet | three quatrains and a concluding couplet (Shakespearean) |
| end rhyme | consists of the similarity occurring at the end of two or more lines |
| slant rhyme | a rhyme based on an imperfect or incomplete correspondence of end syllable sounds |
| refrain | the repetition of one or more phrases or lines at intervals on a poem, usually at the end of a stanza |
| antecedent | the word or phrase to which a pronoun refers |
| heroic couplet | consists or two successive rhyming verses that contain a complete thought within two lines |
| rhymed verse | verse with end rhyme and usually with a regular meter |
| ottava rima | consists of eight iambic pentameter lines with the rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b-a-b-c-c |
| rhyme royal | stanza consisting of 7 lines in iambic pentanmeter |
| quatrain | four-line stanza |
| couplet | two-line stanza |
| quintet | five-line stanza |
| sestet | six-line stanza |
| septet | seven-line stanza |
| pun | humorous play on words that have several meanings or words that sound the same but have different meanings |
| aphorism | a terse statement that expresses a general truth or moral principle (folk proverb) |
| anecdote | a short and often personal story used to emphasize a point, to develop a character or theme or to inject humor |
| archetype | a generic, idealized model of a person, object, or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, patterned, or emulated |
| villanelle | consists of five tercets and a quatrain in which the first and third lines of the opening tercet recur alternately at the end of the other tercets and together as the last two lines of the quatrain |
| parable | a short story illustrating a moral or religious lesson |
| narrative | a story that describes a sequence of events |
| pastoral | a poem, play or story that celebrates and idealizes the simple life of sheperds |
| parody | imitation of a known work often involves mocking |
| anachronism | an element in a story that is out of its time frame; sometimes used to create a humorous or jarring effect, but sometimes the result of poor research on the author's part |
Combine with other sets
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