| Term | Definition |
|---|
| ad hominem argument | From the Latin meaning "to or against the man," this is an argument that appeals to emotion rather than reason, to feeling rather than intellect. |
| allegory | The device of using character and/or story elements symbolically to represent an abstraction in addition to the literal meaning. |
| alliteration | The repetition of sounds, especially initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words (as in "she sells sea shells"). |
| allusion | A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. |
| ambiguity | The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage. |
| analogy | A similarity or comparison between two different things or the relationship between them. |
| antecedent | The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun. |
| aphorism | A terse statement of known authorship which expresses a general truth or moral principle. |
| apostrophe | A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. The effect may add familiarity or emotional intensity. |
| atmosphere | The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author's choice of objects that are described. |
Combine with other sets
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