| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Alliteration | words in a series that begin with a the same or similar consonants |
| Allusion | an indirect reference to something or someone |
| Anachronism | something present in the wrong historical setting |
| Anaphora | the use of the same word or phrase at the beginning of recurring lines in speech |
| Apostrophe | :the direct address to the absent as present, the inanimate as living, or to the abstract as personal |
| Assonance | the similarity of two or more vowel sounds or the repetition of two or more consonant sounds, especially in words that are close together in a poem |
| Blank Verse | unrhymed poetry that has a regular rhythm and line length |
| Consonance | a close similarity between consonants or groups of consonants, especially at the ends of words |
| Couplet | two lines of verse that form a unit alone or as part of a poem, especially two that rhyme and have the same meter |
| Direct Address | the use of a term or name for the person spoken to, as in securing the attention of that person |
| Dramatic Foil | characters in literature whose differing characteristics are emphasized by those traits that are opposed in another character |
| Enjambment | the continuation of meaning, without pause or break, from one line of poetry to the next |
| Euphemism | a word or phrase used in place of a term that might be considered too direct, harsh, unpleasant, or offensive |
| Extended Metaphor | a metaphor where there is a single main subject to which additional subjects and metaphors are applied |
| Foreshadowing | to indicate or suggest something, usually something unpleasant, that is going to happen |
| Hyperbole | deliberate and obvious exaggeration used for effect |
| Iambic Pentameter | the most common rhythm in English poetry, consisting of five iambs in each line |
| Irony | something said or written that uses humor based on words suggesting the opposite of their literal meaning |
| Litotes | a deliberate understatement, often expressed negatively |
| Metaphor | the use to describe somebody or something of a word or phrase that is not meant literally but by means of a vivid comparison expresses something about him, her, or it |
| Metonymy | a figure of speech in which an attribute of something is used to stand for the thing itself |
| Onomatopoeia | the formation or use of words that imitate the sound associated with something |
| Oxymoron | a phrase in which two words of contradictory meaning are used together for special effect |
| Personification | an embodiment or perfect example of something |
| Pun | a humorous use of words that involves a word or phrase that has more than one possible meaning |
| Synecdoche | a figure of speech in which the word for part of something is used to mean the whole |
| Simile | a figure of speech that draws a comparison between two different things, especially a phrase containing the word "like" or "as" |
| Soliloquy | the act of speaking while alone, especially when used as a theatrical device that allows a character's thoughts and ideas to be conveyed to the audience |
| Stichomythy | An ancient Greek arrangement of dialogue in drama, poetry, and disputation in which single lines of verse or parts of lines are spoken by alternate speakers |
| Zeugma | a figure of speech in which an adjective or verb is used with two nouns but is appropriate to only one of them or has a different sense with each |
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