| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Abstract | Refers to an idea rather than an actual thing; the opposite of concrete. ex. love, evil, beauty, intelligence, pain. |
| Absurdism | Literature that blatantly rejects the notion of life, or the universe, as having some "deeper meaning" The characters usually experiance mental or emotional paralysis and feelings of isolation in response to the meaninglessness of their world. |
| Accent | Refers to a relatively strong stess placed on a particular syllable in a word or in a metrical food. |
| Allegory | A type of extended metaphor in which the elements of narrative (characters, actions, settings, and objects) represent abstract ideas |
| Alliteration | The repetition of initial sounds (usually consonants) in a series of words placed close together in verse or sometimes prose. |
| Allusion | A reference to some person, place, or thing from literary or cultural history. It is often indirect and noticing or understanding it may depend upon the reader's proir knowledge of the topic. |
| Anachronism | An object, person, or behavior that appears outside its appropriate historical time. |
| Analogy | A comparison of two fundamentally different things. The things being compared may be people, places, objects, actions, or abstract concepts. |
| Anapest | A metrical foot consisting f three syllables with the accent falling on the third syllable. |
| Anaphora | The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines of verse. |
| Anecdote | A brief narrative based in fact and involving an entertaining, exemplary or instructive incident. |
| Anthropomorphism | Personification; |
| Anticlimax | A stylistic device that occurs when a writer shifts from increasing emphasis and significance, to unexpected insignificance or triviality. |
| Antihero | A protagonist of a novel or play who lacks the qualities associated with a traditional hero or heroine. This character ay be dishonest, antisocial, ignorant, weak, inept, petty or even unlikeable. |
| Aphorism | A short statement delivered in memorable words and offering a principle, a general truth, or a wise observation about life. Sometimes reffered to as a maxim or sententia. |
| Epigram | A short, witty, carefully constructed, and often paradoxical statement. The use of tone is important for something implied. |
| Apostrophe | A poetic device in which an imaginary or absent person, a non-human creature, an object, or an abstract idea is directly addressed as if it were present. |
| Pathetic Fallacy | The tendancy of writers to portray nature as having human emotions; the conventional belief that nature may behave in sympathy with human experience. |
| Proverb | A short statement delivered in memorable words and offering a principle, a general truth, or a wise obsercation about life. Sometimes called an adage. Is passed down for many years through an oral tradition. |
| Repartee | A quick, witty comeback or clever response, especially to an attempted insult. |
| Witticism | A particular expression of wit; a brief, witty remark that neatly expresses an idea, an assertion, or a response. |
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