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Didactic

Intended for teaching or to teach a moral lesson.

Abstract

Not related to the concrete properties of an object; pertaining to ideas, concepts, or qualities.

Isocolon

Parallel structure in which the parallel elements are similar not only in grammatical structure, but also in length.

Aesthetic

Pertaining to the value of art for its own sake or for form.

Euphemism

Substitution of a milder or less direct expression for one that is harsh or blunt.

Theme

The central or dominant idea or concern of a work.

Denotation

The dictionary definition of a word; the direct and specific meaning.

Asyndeton

The practice of omitting conjunctions between words, phrases, or clauses.

Assonance

The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, usually in successive or proximate words.

Syntax

The way words are put together to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Anachronism

Use of historically inaccurate details in a text.

Ambiguity

Use of language in which multiple meanings are possible.

Aphorism

A concise statement designed to make a point or illustrate a commonly held belief.

Contradiction

A direct opposition between things compared; inconsistency.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which a person, thing, or abstract quality is addressed as if present.

Allusion

A figure of speech which makes brief, even casual reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object.

Devices

A particular word pattern or combination of words used in a literary work to evoke a desired effect or arouse a desired reaction in the reader.

Epistolary

A piece of literature contained in or carried on by letters.

Epitaph

A piece of writing in praise of a deceased person.

Delayed sentence

A sentence that withholds its main idea until the end.

Expletive

A single word or short phrase intended to emphasize surrounding words.

Irony

A situation or statement characterized by significant difference between what is expected or understood and what actually happens or is meant.

Eulogy

A speech or writing in praise of a person or thing; an oration in honor of a deceased person.

Diction

An author's choice of words to convey a tone or effect.

Hyperbole

An overstatement characterized by exaggerated language.

Deus ex machina

Use of an artificial device or contrived solution to solve a difficult situation.

Antagonist

Character or force in a literary work that opposes the main character, or protagonist.

Analogy

Comparison of two things that are alike in some respects.

Inductive

Conclusion or type of reasoning whereby observation or information about a part of a class is applied to the class as a whole.

Chiasmus

Figure of speech by which the order of the terms in the first of parallel clauses is reversed in the second.

Antithesis

The juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words or phrases.

Litote

Form of understatement in which the negative of the contrary is used to achieve emphasis and intensity.

Zeugma

Grammatically correct linkage of one subject with two or more verbs or a verb with two or more direct objects.

Ethos

In dramatic literature, the moral element that determines a character's actions, rather than thought or emotion.

Propaganda

Information or rumor deliberately spread to help or harm a person, group, or institution.

Formal Language

Language that is lofty, dignified, or impersonal.

Allegory

Narrative form in which characters and actions have meanings outside themselves.

In medias res

Opening a story in the middle of the action.

Colloquial

Ordinary language; the vernacular.

Juxtaposition

Placing of two items side by side to create a certain effect, reveal an attitude, or accomplish some other purpose.

Elegy

Poem or prose lamenting the death of a particular person.

Epigraph

Quote set at the beginning of a literary work or at its divisions to set the tone or suggest a theme.

Motif

Recurrent device, formula, or situation that often serves as a signal for the appearance of a character or event.

Anaphora

Regular repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases or clauses.

Anadiplosis

Repetition of the last word of one clause at the beginning of the next clause.

Appeals to: authority, emotion, logic

Rhetorical arguments in which the speaker claims to be an expert, attempts to affect the listener's personal feelings, or attempts to persuade the listener through use of deductive reasoning.

Voice

The acknowledged or unacknowledged source of words of the story; the speaker telling the story or poem.

Tone

The attitude a literary work takes towards its subject and theme.

Protagonist

The chief character in a work of literature.

Mood

The feeling or ambience resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the writer/narrator's attitude and point of view.

Realism

The literary practice of attempting to describe life and nature without idealization and with attention to detail.

Prose

The ordinary form of written language without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.

Deductive

The reasoning process by which a conclusion is drawn from a set of premises.

Persona

The voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story.

Canon (canonical)

The works of an author that have been accepted as authentic.

Foreshadow

To hint at or present things to come in a story or play.

Begging the question

To sidestep or evade the real problem.

Connotation

What is implied by a word.

Transition words

Words and devices that bring unity and coherence to a piece of writing.

Anecdote

A brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature.

Perspective

A character's view of the situation or events in the story.

Oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements, as in 'jumbo shrimp' or 'deafening silence.'

Syllogism

A form of deduction. An extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument.

Satire

A literary style used to make fun of or ridicule an idea or human vice or weakness.

Bildungsroman

A novel or story whose theme is the moral or psychological growth of the main character.

Foil

A person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast.

Parody

A satirical imitation of a work of art for the purpose of ridiculing its style or subject.

Sarcasm

A sharp caustic remark. A form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually bitterly or harshly critical.

Paradox

A statement that seems contradictory, but is actually true.

Epiphany

A sudden or intuitive insight or perception into the reality or essential meaning of something.

Onomatopoeia

A word capturing or approximating the sound of what it describes, such as buzz or hiss.

Utopia

An imaginary place of ideal perfection.

Nostalgia

Desire to return in thought or fact to a former time.

Thesis

Focus statement of an essay; premise statement upon which the point of view or discussion in the essay is based.

Doppelganger

Ghostly counterpart of a living person or an alter ego.

Antihero

Protagonist of a literary work who does not embody the traditional qualities of a hero.

Catharsis

Purification or cleansing of the spirit through the emotions of pity and terror as a witness to a tragedy.

Audience

The person(s) reached by a piece of writing.

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds or any vowel sounds within a formal grouping.

Point of view

The view the reader gets of the action and characters in a story.

Personification

Treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person by giving it human qualities.

Parallelism

Recurrent syntactical similarity where several parts of a sentence or several sentences are expressed alike to show that the ideas in the parts or sentences are equal in importance.

Imagery

Sensory details in a work; the use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, call to mind an idea, or describe an object.

Genre

Term used to describe literary forms, such as tragedy, comedy, novel, or essay.

Consonance

The repetition of two or more consonants with a change in the intervening vowels.

Invective

The use of angry and insulting language in satirical writing.