| Term | Definition |
|---|
| aberrant | departing from the right, normal, or usual course; deviating from the ordinary, usual, or normal type; exceptional; abnormal |
| abridge | to reduce in scope : diminish; to shorten by omission of words without sacrifice of sense |
| abscond | to leave quickly and secretly, especially to avoid legal action |
| absurdist tradition | twentieth-century works that depict the absurdity of the modern human condition, often with implicit reference to humanity's loss or lack of religious, philosophical, or cultural roots |
| acumen | keen insight; shrewdness; expertise |
| adjective | a word that modifies a noun, as by color, size, location, etc. |
| adverb | a word that qualifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb, as to define time, place, manner, degree, etc. |
| alliteration | the repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together |
| allusion | a reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture |
| altruism | unselfish regard for the welfare of others |
| amiable | having or showing pleasant, good-natured personal qualities; affable; friendly; sociable; agreeable; willing to accept the wishes, decisions, or suggestions of another or others |
| apodictic | incontestable because of having been demonstrated or proved to be demonstrable; necessarily true or logically certain |
| apostrophe | a technique by which a writer address an inanimate object, an idea, or a person who is either dead or absent |
| appease | to calm or soothe, as by granting concessions; to satisfy or please |
| astute | having or showing shrewdness and perspicacity; crafty, wily |
| ballad | a song or poem that tells a story |
| banal | commonplace; trite |
| belie | to give a false impression of; to show (something) to be false or wrong |
| bemuse | to bewilder or confuse (someone) |
| blank verse | poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| bolster | to prop us; to reinforce; or, a long pillow |
| brink | the edge, especially of a precipice |
| cadence | the natural, rhythmic rise and fall of a language as it is spoken |
| caesura | a pause or break within a line of poetry |
| cerebral | of the brain or the intellect |
| characterization | the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character |
| chide | to scold quietly |
| circumspect | careful to consider all consequences and possible consequences; prudent |
| cloister | to seclude from the world in or as if in a cloister (a place or state of seclusion) |
| concrete poem | a poem in which the words are arranged on a page to suggest a visual representation of the subject |
| confounded | bewildered; confused; perplexed |
| conjunction | a word that connects other words, phrases, or clauses |
| copacetic | fine; completely satisfactory; ok |
| couplet | two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry |
| curtail | to cut short; to reduce; to lessen |
| deft | skillful; dexterous |
| defunct | no longer existing; dead |
| deign | to condescend reluctantly and with a strong sense of the affront to one's superiority that is involved; stoop |
| deluge | a great flood of water; inundation; flood; a drenching rain; downpour; anything that overwhelms like a flood |
| diadem | a crown; royal dignity or authority |
| diffident | lacking confidence; shy; insecure |
| discern | to detect; to recognize or identify as separate and distinct : discriminate |
| dulcet | sweet to the taste; pleasing to the ear; generally pleasing or agreeable |
| ebb | to flow back or away, as the water of a tide; to decline or decay; fade away |
| effusive | unduly demonstrative; lacking reserve; pouring out; overflowing |
| elation | a feeling or state of great joy or pride; exultant gladness; high spirits |
| elegy | a poem of mourning, usually about someone who had died |
| emulate | to try to equal or excel; imitate with effort to equal or surpass |
| encroach | to intrude on the possession or rights of another |
| epic | a long narrative poem, written in heightened language, which recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society |
| euphemism | a word or phrase substituted for one that may be offensive |
| extended metaphor | a metaphor that is extended or developed over a number of lines or two incongruous elements; incongruity can also be used for humor |
| external conflict | the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story; it can exist between two people, between a person and nature or a machine, or between a person and a whole society |
| foot | a metrical unit of poetry |
| free verse | poetry that does not conform to regular meter or rhyme scheme |
| gratuitous | given freely; without cause |
| gregarious | fond of the company of others; sociable; living in flocks or herds, as animals |
| guile | craftiness; cunning |
| homonym | a word that sounds like another, but that differs in meaning and often spelling |
| hyperbole | a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration, or overstatement, for effect |
| iamb | a metrical foot in poetry that has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in the word protect |
| iambic pentameter | a line of poetry that contains five iambic feet |
| imagery | the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person, a thing, a place, or an experience |
| immutable | unchangeable; changeless |
| impede | to slow the progress of; to obstruct |
| incite | to provoke to action; to instigate |
| inconceivable | unimaginable; unthinkable; unbelievable; incredible |
| insipid | uninteresting; dull; lacking flavor |
| interior monologue | a narrative technique that records a character’s internal flow of thoughts, memories, and ideas |
| interjection | a word or phrase used in exclamation; a cry or inarticulate utterance expressing an emotion |
| internal conflict | the struggle between opposing forces within a person’s mind |
| lament | to express grief, sorrow, or remorse; or an expression of sorrow or affliction |
| laudable | worthy of praise |
| lethargic | sluggish; listless; apathetic |
| lissome | lithe; easily flexed; nimble |
| lyric poem | a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or thoughts of a speaker |
| magic realism | a genre developed in latin america that juxtaposes the everyday with the marvelous or magical |
| metaphor | a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles |
| meter | a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry |
| metonymy | a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing is referred to by something closely associated with it |
| mitigate | to become or make less intense or severe |
| noun | a word that names a person, place, thing, etc. |
| objective reporting | a style of writing or reporting in which the writer keeps his or her feelings at a distance |
| octave | an eight-line poem, or the first eight lines of a petrarchan, or italian, sonnet |
| ode | a lyric poem, usually long, on a serious subject and written in dignified language |
| odious | deserving or causing hatred; hateful; detestable; highly offensive; repugnant; disgusting |
| onomatopoeia | the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning |
| panacea | a remedy for all ills or difficulties; cure-all |
| paradox | a statement that appears self-contradictory but that reveals a kind of truth |
| peruse | to study thoroughly; to scrutinize |
| piety | devotion or reverence |
| placate | to appease or pacify |
| placid | pleasantly calm or peaceful; unruffled; tranquil; serenely quiet or undisturbed |
| preamble | an introductory statement; preface; introduction; the introductory part of a statute, deed, or the like, stating the reasons and intent of what follows; a preliminary or introductory fact or circumstance |
| preposition | a word that shows the relationship of a noun or a pronoun to another word in a sentence |
| prodigious | extraordinary or impressive |
| pronoun | a designation that substitutes for a noun |
| pule | to whine or whimper |
| quatrain | a poem consisting of four lines, or four lines of a poem that can be considered as a unit |
| rebuttal | argument or proof that contradicts or opposes |
| refrain | a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several times in a poem |
| reiterate | to say or do again or repeatedly; repeat, often excessively |
| repetition | the repeating of a sound, syllable, word, phrase, line, stanza, or metrical pattern is a basic unifying device in all poetry |
| reproach | a condemnation; disgrace; or, to criticize or rebuke |
| rigorous | characterized by strictness, severity, or harshness, as in dealing with people, rules, or discipline; severely exact or accurate; precise |
| rudimentary | consisting in first principles; fundamental; of a primitive kind |
| satire | a type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an attempt to bring about a change; it can cover a wide range of tones, from gentle spoofing to savage mockery |
| sestet | six lines of poetry, especially the last six lines of a petrarchan, or italian sonnet |
| simile | a figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles |
| sonnet | a fourteen-line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter, that has one of two basic structures (petrarchan, or italian, and english, elizabethan, or shakespearean) |
| spondee | a metrical foot consisting of two syllables, both of which are stressed |
| stoic | impassive; characterized by a calm, austere fortitude; unmoved by joy or grief |
| subjective reporting | a style of writing or reporting in which the writer openly expresses emotions and attitudes towards events and characters |
| superable | capable of being overcome; surmountable |
| tactile | relating to the sense of touch; that may be touched or perceived by touch |
| tepid | moderately warm, lukewarm; lacking in passion, force, or zest; marked by an absence of enthusiasm or conviction |
| terse | short and to the point |
| toilsome | involving hard work; difficult |
| transgression | infringement or violation of a law, command, or duty |
| transmogrify | to change in appearance or form, especially strangely or grotesquely; transform |
| transpose | to change the relative position, order, or sequence of; cause to change places; interchange |
| trochee | a metrical foot made up of an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable, as in the word taxi |
| umbrage | a feeling of pique or resentment at some often fancied slight or insult |
| venerate | to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference; to honor |
| veracity | devotion to the truth, truthfulness; conformity with truth or fact, accuracy; something true |
| verb | a word that expresses action, existence, or occurrence |
| vilify | to speak of abusively; to defame |
| wane | to diminish; to decline or decrease gradually; or a decreasing; a period of decline |
| whodunit | a narrative dealing with a murder or a series of murders and the detection of the criminal; detective story |
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