Literary and Rhetorical Terms

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.