| Term | Definition |
|---|
| allusion | a reference in writing to some piece of knowledge the writer presumes the reader already knows |
| antagonist | the character that opposes the protagonist |
| couplet | two consecutive lines in a verse that rhyme |
| dramatic aside | when the actor makes a comment to himself |
| dramatic irony | a situation where the audience knows something the character doesn't |
| foreshadowing | a hint from the author of what is going to happen next |
| closed form poetry | specific rules apply to the format of this type of poetry |
| open form poetry | poetry that does not conform to specific rules |
| hyperbole | an extreme exaggeration |
| visual imagery | an image made by the author referring to sight |
| tactile imagery | an image made by the author referring to touch |
| auditory imagery | an image made by the author referring to hearing |
| gustatory imagery | an image made by the author referring to taste |
| olfactory imagery | an image made by the author referring to smell |
| kinetic imagery | an image made by the author referring to movement |
| lyric poetry | poetry written on deep ideas or emotions that have a message to them |
| narrative poetry | poetry that tells a story either personal or objective |
| metaphor | a figure of speech which one thing is spoken of as if it were something else without using "like" or "as" (Juliet is the sun) |
| monologue | a long speech given by a character to other characters |
| paradox | a contradictory but true statement (less is more) |
| personification | when a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics (the sea danced) |
| protagonist | the main character of a literary work |
| pun | a play on words which capitalizes on a similarity of spelling or pronunciation between words with different meaning |
| quatrain | in verse, a stanza of four lines |
| rhyme scheme | a regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem (abab cdcd efef gg) |
| simile | a figure of speech involving a direct comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as" (I slept like a log) |
| soliloquy | a speech made by a play's character to himself when alone |
| sonnet | lyric poem of 14 lines, 10 syllables per line |
| symbol | an object that stands for something beyond itself and allow different interpretations |
| tone/mood | a feeling in a literary work stemming from a writer's attitude towards the subject |
Combine with other sets
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