| Term | Definition |
|---|
| cacophony | Harsh, discordant sounds, unpleasant to the ear. "fingers on a chalkboard" |
| cadence | the natural rythmic rise and fall of a language as it is normally spoken |
| carpe diem | "seize the day" expresses the idea that you only live each day once |
| catharsis | emotional cleansing feeling of relief |
| chlasmus | the opposite of parallel construction; inverting the second of two phrases that would other wise be in parallel form |
| colloquial | of or relating to slang or regional dialect, used in farmiliar everyday conversation. In writing, an informal style that reflects the way people spoke in a distinct time or place |
| comic relief | humor that provides a relief of tension "the nurses speeches in R&J and the grave digging scene in hamlet" |
| conceit | a far-fetched comparison between two seemingly unlike things; an extended metaphor that gains its appeal from the unusual "flea to a marraige bed" |
| connotation | associations a word brings to mind; home-warmth and security |
| consonance | same conconant sound in words with different vowel sounds "tick-tock ping-pong" |
| conventional character | a character with traits that are expected and traditional. female-wants love, men-adventerous "wear the pants of the family" |
| couplet | two successive rhyming lines of the same ayllables with matching cadence |
| dactyl | foot of poetry with three syllables, one stressed and then two unstressed "waltz-ish beat" |
| denotation | the dictionary or literal meaning of a word "home=house |
| denouement | the outcome or clarification at the end of the story, the winding down from the climax to the ending |
| deus ex machina | litteraly when god intervenes and solves an unsolvable conflict...the quick and unexplained solution to a problem that can't be solved |
| diction | the deliberate choice of a style of language for a desired effect or tone. Words chosen to achieve a particular effect of formal informal or colloquial |
| didactic | the authors primary purpose is to teach or moralize. "Fables" |
| distortion | exaggeration or streatching of the truth to achieve a desired effect. |
| elegy | a poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died |
| enjambment | in poetry, the running over of a sentence from one verse or stanza to another without stopping |
| epigram | a short clever poem with a witty turn of thought. |
| epigraph | short quotation at the beginning of a literary work that suggests theme "twilight-fire and ice" |
| epithet | commonly used descriptive word or phrase used to chracterize a person or thing. , can be damaging or abusive "big apple for new york, four eyes for kid with glasses |
| epiphany | eureka moment. sudden flash of insight |
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