Studied by 4 people
Allegory
A mode of writing in which one physical element or character consistently stands for a specific abstract quality.
Alliteration
Repetition of initial consonant sounds.
Allusion
A reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art.
Ambiguity
Instances where a sentence, literary work, or piece of media can have multiple possible interpretations. It can also refer to instances where meaning is not clear or is misunderstood.
Anadiplosis
Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the following clause.
Anaphora
Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or poetic lines.
Antanaclasis
Play on words, where a word is repeated with a shift in meaning.
Antithesis
The direct opposite or a sharp contrast.
Aposiopesis
Stopping short of a complete thought for effect.
Apostrophe
Direct address to something that cannot reply, an absent or imaginary person, or a personified abstraction.
Assonance
Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity.
Asyndeton
The omission or absence of a conjunction between parts of a sentence, often used in a list.
Bathos
An effect of anticlimax created by an unintentional lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous.
Blank Verse
Poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Caesura
A pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.
Catharsis
A literary device used to stimulate a release of emotions, leading to a feeling of release.
Chiasmus
A reversal in the order of words in two otherwise parallel phrases.
Colloquialism
A word or phrase used in everyday conversation and informal writing but often inappropriate in formal writing.
Conceit
A fanciful metaphor, especially a highly elaborate or extended metaphor involving an unlikely or strained comparison.
Consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds.
Dialect
The attempt to indicate the speech of an ethnic, regional, or racial group through spelling, syntax, and other features.
Ekphrasis
When a literary text describes or comments on a piece of visual art.
Elision
The omission of an unstressed vowel or syllable to preserve the meter of a line of poetry.
Enargeia/Evidentia
Vivid description using words to bring something before the eyes of an audience with strong emotional effect.
Enjambment
When a poetic line runs on into another, uninterrupted by punctuation.
Epic
A long narrative poem recounting the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society.
Epistrophe
Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words.
Epizeuxis
A form of repetition in which a word is repeated immediately for emphasis.
Euphemism
An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant.
Eye rhyme
Rhyme that appears correct from spelling but does not rhyme because of pronunciation.
Foreshadowing
A narrative device that hints at coming events, often building suspense or anxiety.
Form
The way the content of a literary work is arranged.
Free indirect discourse
When a narrator indirectly refers to the thoughts of a character without specifying their perspective.
Full rhyme
Words that end with the exact sounding vowels and consonants.
Half rhyme
Words whose sounds are similar but not identical.
Hendiadys
A single complex idea expressed as two words joined by a conjunction.
Homonym
A word spelled exactly like another word but having a different meaning.
Hyperbole
Exaggeration in a literary work for effect.
Hypophora
Asking a question and immediately answering it.
Iambic Pentameter
A common meter in poetry consisting of an unrhymed line with five feet or accents.
Idiom
A common expression that doesn't make sense if taken literally.
Imagery
Visually descriptive or figurative language, often grouped into strands.
Imperative
A commanding verb.
Inference
A conclusion one can draw from the presented details.
Internal rhyme
Rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end.
Intertextuality
The relationship between texts, especially literary ones.
Inversion
Inverted order of words in a sentence.
Irony
Implying a meaning opposite to what the words used apparently mean.
Isocolon
Successive clauses of equal length.
Kunstlerroman
A novel of an artist's development.
Litotes
Understatement.
Lyric
A type of poetry that explores the poet's personal interpretation of and feelings about the world.
Metaphor
A comparison that establishes a figurative identity between objects being compared.
Meter
A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.
Metonymy
A figure of speech in which something is referred to by using the name of something associated with it.
Montage
A quick succession of images or impressions used to express an idea.
Narrative focalisation
The presentation of a scene through the subjective perception of a character.
Narrative Perspective
The point of view from which a story is told.
Occupatio
When a speaker says they will not mention something but briefly tells the audience about it.
Ode
A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner.
Onomatopoeia
A word that imitates the sound it represents.
Oxymoron
Conjoining contradictory terms.
Paradox
A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory but expresses a possible truth.
Parallelism
The use of successive verbal constructions that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, or meaning.
Paraphrase
To restate in other words.
Parataxis
Words, phrases, clauses, or sentences set next to each other, leaving relationships to the reader to interpret.
Parenthesis
An insertion of material that interrupts the typical flow of a sentence.
Parison
Successive clauses with the same structure.
Parody
A work that imitates the style or content of another with the aim of comic effect or ridicule.
Pastiche
A dramatic or literary work made up of bits and pieces from other sources, often in imitation.
Pathos
An appeal to the emotions, often combining pity and fear in a tragedy.
Peripeteia
A sudden reversal of fortune or change in circumstances.
Periphrasis
Expressing a simple idea in a more extended and elaborate way.
Personification
A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.
Polysyndeton
A list comprised of a series of conjunctions.
Prolepsis
Anticipating and answering objections in advance.
Prose
Written or spoken language in its ordinary form, without metrical structure.
Prosopopeia
Assigning speech to an animal, object, or abstraction.
Pun
A joke exploiting the different meanings of a word or words that sound alike but have different meanings.
Realism
Artistic representation that aims for total accuracy or fidelity to the real world.
Repetition
The duplication, either exact or approximate, of any element of language.
Sibilance
A type of alliteration in which the 's' sound is repeated.
Simile
A comparison using 'like' or 'as.'
Slant rhyme
Rhyme in which the vowel sounds are nearly, but not exactly, the same.
Stream of consciousness
A literary technique presenting the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur.
Style
The combination of distinctive features of a literary work, focusing on how something is written.
Subtext
The implied meaning that underlies the main meaning of a work of literature.
Superlative
Of the highest quality or degree.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part.
Syntax
Word order and sentence structure.
Tone
The attitude or emotion a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character.
Tragedy
A serious form of drama dealing with the downfall of a heroic or noble character.
Tricolon
A series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses.
Vernacular
The language or dialect spoken by ordinary people in a particular country or region.
Verse
Writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having rhyme.
Zeugma
One verb applied to several subjects, nouns, or predicates.
