| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Alliteration | repetition of sounds at the beginning of words and of sounds within words |
| Assonance | repetition of similar Vowel sounds in a line of poetry |
| Meter | Regular patter of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry |
| Foreshadowing | method of increasing suspense by presenting events or characters in a way to hint at what is going to take place |
| Dialects | Way of speaking and writing that is specific to a region of the country |
| Situation Irony | When what is expected to happen is not what actually comes to pass |
| Verbal Irony | Words that appear to be saying one thing actually means something quite different |
| Dramatic Irony | When events to the characters mean something else to the reader |
| Iambic foot | Unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable |
| Onomatopoeia | Use of words with sounds that suggest their meaning |
| Trochaic foot | Stressed followed by unstressed syllable |
| Internal Rhyme | when rhyme occurs within the line |
| Setting | Time and place in which events occur in a literary work |
| Simile | figure of speech that states a comparison by using like or as |
| Metaphor | Comparison that doesn't use like or as |
| Allusion | Short reference to a person, place, event, or another work of literature |
| Essay | moderately brief nonfiction work that deals with a particular topic |
| Autobiography | Story of a person's life told by that person |
| Biography | Factual account of a person's life written by someone else |
| Personification | Figure of speech in which human qualities are give to objects, animals, and ideas |
| Aphorism | Short, pointed statement expressing a wise or clever observation about life |
| Persuasion | Writing that attempt to sway the reader to think or act in a particular way |
| Parallelism | Repetition of phrases or sentences so that the repeated parts are alike in structure or meaning |
| Heroic Couplet | Pair of rhymed lines in iambic pentameter |
| Allegory | Story with a symbolic meaning used to teach a moral principle |
| Caesura | Pause or break in a line of poetry, usually created by punctuation |
| Rhythm | Arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem |
| Theme | Main idea that the writer of a literary work communicates to the reader |
| Slant rhyme | When rhyme is not exact |
| Oratory | Formal public speaking, often characterized by a blend of argument and emotion |
| End-stopped line | Line of poetry that ends with both punctuation and thought |
| Blank verse | Unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| Satire | Writing that holds up someone or something to ridicule or serious criticism |
| Free verse | Poetry with irregular rhythm and line length and that avoids predetermined verse structure |
| Colloquial language | everyday language |
| Dramatic poem | Poem that reveals character through monologue or dialogue |
| Narrative poem | poem that tells a story |
| lyric poem | poem that expresses primarily the personal thoughts and feeling of the poet |
| realism | literary movement to produce literature that represents ordinary life as it is actually lived |
| Naturalism | Movement that portrays people caught with forces of nature or society that are beyond understanding or control |
| Point of view | Relationship of the story teller/narrator to the story |
| conflict | Struggle that the protagonist of a story undergoes |
| Imagism | influential literary movement that took place in Europe and America from about 1910-1920 |
| Dramatic Monologue | Long speech by one person in a play or poem, usually revealing the character's thoughts |
| Gothic | the dark, irrational side of imagination; horror |
| Puritan Sermon | 1. to clarify Biblical text; 2. explaining the Calvinistic doctrine depending upon it; 3. Application to the current situation |
| Rhetorical question | question the speaker really does not intend as a question, or one he will answer on his own |
| Symbolism | person, place, or thing that has meaning in itself and also stands for something other than itself |
| Pathetic fallacy | when natural or inanimate objects are invested with living or human qualities. |
Combine with other sets
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