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Metaphor

A figure of speech involving an implied comparison.

Meter (rhythm)

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which a specific term naming an object is substituted for another word with which it is closely associated.

Motif

A recurrent word, image, theme, object, or phrase that tends to unify a literary work or may be elaborated into a theme.

Narrator (persona/point of view)

The teller of the story.

Onomatopoeia

Words used in such a way that the sound of the words imitates the sound of the thing being spoken of.

Paradox

A statement, often metaphorical, that seems self-contradictory but has valid meaning.

Parallelism

When the writer establishes similar patterns of grammatical structure and length.

Parody

A kind of burlesque that is a humorous imitation of serious writing, usually to make the style of an author appear ridiculous.

Persona

The speaker or narrator of a text or poem, which cannot be assumed to be the author.

Personification

The representation of abstractions, ideas, animals, or inanimate objects as human beings by endowing them with life-like qualities.

Plot

The series of happenings in a literary work.

Point of view

The relation between the teller of the story and the characters in it.

Polysyndeton

Using many conjunctions to achieve an overwhelming effect in a sentence.

Prosody

The mechanics of verse poetry, including sounds, rhythms, scansions, meter, stanzaic form, alliteration, assonance, euphony, onomatopoeia, and rhyme.

Protagonist

The leading character in a literary work.

Pun

A play on words; a humorous use of a word with different meanings or of two or more words with similar sounds but different meanings.

Rhyme

Exact repetition of sounds in at least the final accented syllables of two or more words.

Rhyme scheme

The pattern of rhyme, marked by assigning a letter of the alphabet to each rhyming sound at the end of each line.

Satire

The technique that employs wit to ridicule a subject, usually some social institution or human foible, with the intention of inspiring reform.

Setting

The time, place, societal situation, and weather in which the action of a narrative occurs.

Simile

A figure of speech involving a comparison of two unlike things using 'like' or 'as'.

Situational irony

An occurrence that is contrary to what is expected or intended.

Soliloquy

A dramatic convention that allows a character alone on stage to speak his or her thoughts aloud.

Sonnet

A fourteen-line poem, usually in iambic pentameter, with a varied rhyme scheme.

Stereotype

A conventional pattern, plot, or setting that possesses little or no individuality but may be used for a purpose.

Stream of consciousness

The recording or portrayal of a character's flow of thought.

Style

The distinctive handling of language by an author.

Symbol

A person, place, or object that represents something beyond itself.

Synecdoche

A figure of speech in which a part is used to represent the whole.

Synesthesia

The description of one sense using another sense.

Syntax

The arrangement of words within a sentence.

Theme

The main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work.

Tone

The author's attitude toward his or her subject matter and toward the audience.

Understatement

A figure of speech that says less than one means.

Verbal irony

The intended meaning of a statement or work is different from what the statement or work literally says.

Villanelle

A poetic form of five tercets and a final quatrain (19 lines).