Alexandrine: A type of meter - a line of poetry that has six iambs per line, totaling 12 syllables.
Allegory: A story with more than one meaning.
Alliteration: The repetition of initial consonant sounds in writing, often used to create rhythm or emphasis in poetry and prose.
Allusion: An indirect reference to something or someone else.
Analogy: A comparison of two things.
Anecdote: A short, informal story.
Animism: The belief that all living things have a spirit or a soul.
Antagonist: A character or force in conflict with the main character, often creating tension in the narrative.
Anticlimax: When the reader is led to believe that the character will grow and develop, but never does or experiences a less significant outcome than expected.
Antithesis:The complete opposite
Aphorism: A short, clever saying about life
Apostrophe: Talking to an inanimate object
Archetype: The original
Aside: A private conversation between two characters
Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds
Atmosphere: the mood of the feeling
Augustan: anything in the style of ancient rome
Autobiography: A story you write about your own life
Biography: A story about someone else’s life
Balled: A song or poem that tells a story
Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter
Cadence:The flow of the language
Caesura: A pause or break in the middle of a line of poetry
Canto: A chapter in a long poem
Capitalism: Keep what you earn
Carpe Diem: Seize the day
Character: An individual in a story
Chivalry: A code of conduct from the middle ages
Classicism: Anything to do with ancient Greece or Rome
Cliché: An overused expression
Climax: Part of the plot when the main character changes or grows
Comedy: A story where the main character gets married
Communism: Everyone gets what you earn
Conceit: An extended metaphor
Conflict:The struggle in the story
Connotation: The suggested meaning of a word
Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds at the end of words
Couplet: Two lines that go together in a poem
Courtly love: How a knight should treat his lady
Deism: A belief that God created the world then left it alone
Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word
Denouement: Everything that happens after the climax
Deus ex machina: God from a machine
Dialect: Writing that imitates how people talk
Dialogue: People talking
Diction: The author’s word choice
Didactic literature: Instructive literature
Dissonance: Harsh and clashing
Dramatic monologue: An actress speaking their thoughts
Dramatic song: A song or poem in a play
Elegy: A poem for a dead person
End stopped line: The pause or stop at the end of a poetry line
Enlightenment: A period when people used logic and reason
Epic: A long, heroic poem
Epigram: A short clever saying about life
Epiphany: A sudden understanding
Epitaph: The writing in a tombstone or conclusive saying
Epithet: Descriptive name
Essay: A formal, organised type of writing
Exaggeration: An overstatement of what you mean
Fable: A short story with a lesson
Falling action: Everything that happens after the climax
Farce: Over the top comedy
Fascism: A government controlled by a dictator
Feudalism: The social structure of the middle ages
Figure of Speech: When we don’t literally mean what we say
Flashback: A return to a moment in the past
Foil: A character who is a contrast with the main character
Foreshadowing: When an author hints or suggests at what will happen later
Frame story: A story within a story
Free verse: Poetry with no structure or form
Gothic: Dark, scary literature
Haiku: A three line poem with a strict syllable count
Humanism: The belief that we have to focus on human life here and now
Hyperbole: extreme exaggeration
Iambic pentameter: when you have 10 syllables per line
Imagery: very descriptive writing
Incremental repetition: When a line is repeated but changes
Industrial Revolution: The use of factories and assembly lines
In medias res: A story telling technique where you start in the middle of the action
Irony: Where the outcome is the opposite of what is expected
Kenning:Describe something instead of using its name
Laissez faire: No government involvement in the economy
Literary epic: An epic written by a modern writer
Lyric Poetry: Poetry that focuses on the writers emotions or feeling