English III Literary Terms

Allegory

An allegory is a literary device that uses symbolic figures, actions, or events to represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. It is a form of extended metaphor where characters and events have a deeper meaning beyond the literal interpretation.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a literary device that involves the repetition of initial consonant sounds in a series of words or phrases. It is often used to create rhythm, emphasize certain words, or add musicality to writing.

Allusion

An allusion is a figure of speech that refers to a well-known person, event, or literary work, often used to enhance the meaning or depth of a text.

Ambiguity

A statement which can contain two or more meanings.

Anadiplosis

The term anadiplosis is a Greek word which means “to reduplicate”. It refers to the repetition of a word or words in successive clauses in such a way that the second clause starts with the same word which marks the end of the previous clause.

Analogue

A comparison between two similar things. In literature, a work which resembles another work either fully or in part. If a work resembles another because it is derived from the other, the original work is called the source, not an analogue of the later work.

Anapest

Anaphora

Anecdote

Antagonist

Antimetabole

Antithesis

Aphorism

Apostophe

Aside

Assonance

Asyndeton

Autobiography

Ballad

Biography

Blank Verse

Cacophony/Euphony

Caesura

Canto

Carpe Diem

Catastrophe

Characterization

Chiasmus

Classicism

Climax

Comedy

Conceit

Conclusion

Concrete Poetry

Conflict

Connotation / Denotation

Consonance

Couplet

Dactyl

Dialogue

Diction

Dramatic Monologue

Elegy

Epic

Epigraph

Epithet

Euphemism

Exposition

Fable

Falling Action

Farce

Figurative Language

Figure of Speech

Flashback

Foil

Foot

Foreshadowing

Free Verse

Genre

Haiku

Hyperbole

Iamb

Idiom

Imagery

Inference

Irony

Litotes

Local Color

Lyric Poem

Metaphor

Meter

Metonymy

Mood

Myth

Narrative Poem

Novel

Ode

Onomatopoeia

Oxymoron

Parable

Paradox

Parallel Structure

Parody

Passive Voice

Pastoral

Pathetic Fallacy

Personification

Plot

Point of View

Polysyndeton

Protagonist

Pun

Quatrain

Resolution

Rhyme

Rhythm

Rising

Romance

Saga

Sarcasm