| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Allegory | a narrative in which the characters, behavior, and even the setting demonstrate multiple levels of meaning and significance |
| Alliteration | the sequential repetition of a similar initial sound, ususally applied to consonants, usually in closely proximate stressed syllables |
| Allusion | a literary, historical, religious, or mythological reference |
| Anaphora | the regular repetition of the same words or phrases at the beginning of successive phrases of clauses |
| Antithesis | the juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases grammatical structure, or ideas |
| Aphorism | a concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief |
| Apostrophe | an address or invocation to make something inanimate |
| Appeals to...authority, emotion, or logic | rhetorical arguments in which the speaker claims to be an authority or expert in a field, or attempts to play upon the emotions, or appeals to the use of reason |
| Assonance | the repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate words |
| Asyndeton | a syntactical structure in which conjunctions are omitted in a series, usually producing more rapid prose |
| Attitude | the sense expressed by the tone of voice or the mood of a piece of writing; the authors feeling toward his or her subject, characters, events, or theme |
| Begging the question | an argumentative ploy where the arguer sidesteps the queston or the conflict, evades or ignores the real question |
| Canon | that which has been accepted as authentic |
| Chiasmus | a figure of speech and generally a syntactical structure wherein the order of the terms in the first half of a parallel clause is reversed in the second |
| Claim | in argumentation, as assertion of something as fact |
| Colloquial | a term identifying the diction of the common, ordinary folks, especially in a specific region or area |
| Comparison and contrast | a mode of discourse in which two or more things are compared, contrasted, or both |
| Conceit | a comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature, in particular an extended metahor within a poem |
| Connotation | the implied, suggested, or underlying meaning of a word or phrase |
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