| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Allegory | a work in which characters, settings or events stand for abstract ideas or other characters or events |
| Alliteration | the repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words |
| Allusion | a reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work or work of art that has some significance |
| analogy | a comparison between things to show how they are alike |
| Apostrophe | the addressing of a person who is dead or absent or an inanimate object |
| Assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds |
| Blank Verse | poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| Connotation | emotions or associations that a word suggests |
| Denotation | the literal meaning of a word |
| Dramatic Monologue | a poem in which a character speaks to one or more listeners |
| Flashback | a scene in a work that tells what happened at an earlier time |
| Free Verse | poetry that does not have a regular meter or rhyme scheme |
| Hyperbole | the use of exaggeration to express strong emotion or produce a comic effect |
| Imagery | language that appeals to the five senses and creates word pictures |
| Irony | contrast between the expected and reality |
| Dramatic Irony | occurs when the reader or audience knows something the character does not |
| Situational Irony | occurs when there is a contrast between what the reader expects to happen and what really does |
| Verbal Irony | occurs when someone says one thing but means something else |
| Meiosis | under-exaggeration for effect |
| Metaphor | a comparison between unlike things without using the words "like" or "as" |
| Meter | the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables of poetry |
| Mood | the feelings evoked in the reader by a piece of literature |
| Onomatopoeia | the sound of a word suggests the meaning of the word |
| Paradox | a situation or statement that seems to be a contradiction, but reveals a truth |
| Parody | a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of it |
| Personification | gives human characteristics to a non-human form |
| Repetition | reoccurring words or phrases |
| Rhyme | repetition of sounds at the ends of words |
| Rhythm | the musical quality of the work; the beat |
| Satire | a type of writing that makes fun of something in order to reveal a weakness |
| Simile | a comparison between unlike things using the words "like" or "as" |
| Style | the distinctive way in which a writer uses language |
| Symbol | anything that stands for or represents something else |
| Theme | the insight about life that is revealed in a literary work |
| Tone | the writer's attitude toward his/her subject, characters or audience |
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