ALLEGORY story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other

people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities.

EXAMPLE: Animal Farm; Dante’s Inferno; Lord of the Flies

ALLITERATION repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are

close together.

EXAMPLE: “When the two youths turned with the flag they saw that much of the

regiment had crumbled away, and the dejected remnant was coming slowly

back.” –Stephen Crane (Note how regiment and remnant are being used; the

regiment is gone, a remnant remains…)

ALLUSION reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature,

religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture. An indirect reference to

something (usually from literature, etc.).

AMBIGUITY deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting,

meanings in a work. An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way-

- this is done on purpose by the author, when it is not done on purpose, it is vagueness,

and detracts from the work.

ANALOGY Comparison made between two things to show how they are alike

ANAPHORA Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more

sentences in a row. This is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer’s

point more coherent.

ANASTROPHE Inversion of the usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a

sentence. Purpose is rhythm or emphasis or euphony. It is a fancy word for inversion.

ANECDOTE Brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something,

often shows character of an individual

ANTAGONIST Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a

story.

ANTIMETABOLE Repetition of words in successive clauses in reverse grammatical

order.

Moliere: “One should eat to live, not live to eat.” In poetry, this is called chiasmus.

ANTITHESIS Balancing words, phrases, or ideas that are strongly contrasted, often by

means of grammatical structure.

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ANTIHERO Central character who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated with

heroes. may lack courage, grace, intelligence, or moral scruples.

ANTHROPOMORPHISM attributing human characteristics to an animal or inanimate

object (Personification)

APHORISM brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life,

or of a principle or accepted general truth. Also called maxim, epigram.

APOSTROPHE calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or

thing, or a personified abstract idea. If the character is asking a god or goddess for

inspiration it is called an invocation.

Josiah Holland ---“Loacöon! Thou great embodiment/ Of human life and human history!”

APPOSITION Placing in immediately succeeding order of two or more coordinate

elements, the latter of which is an explanation, qualification, or modification of the first

(often set off by a colon). Paine: “These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer

soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country;

but he that stands it Now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

ASSONANCE the repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant

sounds especially in words that are together.

ASYNDETON Commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus

emphasizing the parts equally: instead of X, Y, and Z... the writer uses X,Y,Z.... see

polysyndeton.

BALANCE Constructing a sentence so that both halves are about the same length and

importance. Sentences can be unbalanced to serve a special effect as well.

CHARACTERIZATION the process by which the writer reveals the personality of a

character.

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION the author reveals to the reader what the

character is like by describing how the character looks and dresses, by letting the

reader hear what the character says, by revealing the character’s private thoughts

and feelings, by revealing the characters effect on other people (showing how

other characters feel or behave toward the character), or by showing the character

in action. Common in modern literature

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION the author tells us directly what the

character is like: sneaky, generous, mean to pets and so on. Romantic style

literature relied more heavily on this form.

STATIC CHARACTER is one who does not change much in the course of a

story.

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DYNAMIC CHARACTER is one who changes in some important way as a

result of the story’s action.

FLAT CHARACTER has only one or two personality traits. They are one

dimensional, like a piece of cardboard. They can be summed up in one phrase.

ROUND CHARACTER has more dimensions to their personalities---they are

complex, just a real people are.

CHIASMUS In poetry, a type of rhetorical balance in which the second part is

syntactically balanced against the first, but with the parts reversed. Coleridge: “Flowers

are lovely, love is flowerlike.” In prose this is called antimetabole.

CLICHE is a word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because

of overuse. Avoid clichés like the plague. (That cliché is intended.)

COLLOQUIALISM a word or phrase in everyday use in conversation and informal

writing but is inappropriate for formal situations.

Example: “He’s out of his head if he thinks I’m gonna go for such a stupid idea.

COMEDY in general, a story that ends with a happy resolution of the conflicts faced by

the main character or characters.

CONCEIT an elaborate metaphor that compares two things that are startlingly different.

Often an extended metaphor.

CONFESSIONAL POETRY a twentieth century term used to describe poetry that uses

intimate material from the poet’s life.

CONFLICT the struggle between opposing forces or characters in a story.

EXTERNAL CONFLICT conflicts can exist between two people, between a

person and nature or a machine or between a person a whole society.

INTERNAL CONFLICT a conflict can be internal, involving opposing

forces within a person’s mind.

CONNOTATION the associations and emotional overtones that have become attached

to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition.

COUPLET two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry.

DIALECT a way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the

inhabitants of a certain geographical area.

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DICTION a speaker or writer’s choice of words.

DIDACTIC form of fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or

provides a model of correct behavior or thinking.

ELEGY a poem of mourning, usually about someone who has died. A Eulogy is great

praise or commendation, a laudatory speech, often about someone who has died.

EPANALEPSIS device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or

phrase) is repeated both at the beginning and at the end of the line, clause, or sentence.

Voltaire: “Common sense is not so common.”

EPIC a long narrative poem, written in heightened language , which recounts the deeds

of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society.

EPIGRAPH a quotation or aphorism at the beginning of a literary work suggestive of

the theme.

EPISTROPHE Device of repetition in which the same expression (single word or

phrase) is repeated at the end of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences (it is the opposite

of anaphora).

EPITHET an adjective or adjective phrase applied to a person or thing that is frequently

used to emphasize a characteristic quality. “Father of our country” and “the great

Emancipator” are examples. A Homeric epithet is a compound adjective used with a

person or thing: “swift-footed Achilles”; “rosy-fingered dawn.”

ESSAY a short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writer discusses some aspect of a

subject.

ESSAY TYPES TO KNOW:

ARGUMENTATION one of the four forms of discourse which uses logic,

ethics, and emotional appeals (logos, ethos, pathos) to develop an effective means

to convince the reader to think or act in a certain way.

PERSUASION relies more on emotional appeals than on facts

ARGUMENT form of persuasion that appeals to reason instead of

emotion to convince an audience to think or act in a certain way.

CAUSAL RELATIONSHIP Form of argumentation in which the writer

claims that one thing results from another, often used as part of a logical

argument.

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DESCRIPTION a form of discourse that uses language to create a mood or

emotion.

EXPOSITION one of the four major forms of discourse, in which something

is explained or “set forth.”

NARRATIVE the form of discourse that tells about a series of events.

EXPLICATION act of interpreting or discovering the meaning of a text, usually

involves close reading and special attention to figurative language.

FABLE a very short story told in prose or poetry that teaches a practical lesson about

how to succeed in life.

FARCE a type of comedy in which ridiculous and often stereotyped characters are

involved in silly, far-fetched situations.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Words which are inaccurate if interpreted literally, but

are used to describe. Similes and metaphors are common forms.

FLASHBACK a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a

story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.

FOIL A character who acts as contrast to another character. Often a funny side kick to

the dashing hero, or a villain contrasting the hero.

FORESHADOWING the use of hints and clues to suggest what will happen later in a

plot.

FREE VERSE poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

HYPERBOLE a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement,

for effect. “If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times….”

HYPOTACTIC sentence marked by the use of connecting words between clauses or

sentences, explicitly showing the logical or other relationships between them. (Use of

such syntactic subordination of just one clause to another is known as hypotaxis).

I am tired because it is hot.

IMAGERY the use of language to evoke a picture or a concrete sensation of a person ,

a thing, a place, or an experience.

INVERSION the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.

IRONY a discrepancy between appearances and reality.

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VERBAL IRONY occurs when someone says one thing but really means

something else.

SITUATIONAL IRONY takes place when there is a discrepancy between

what is expected to happen, or what would be appropriate to happen, and what

really does happen.

DRAMATIC IRONY is so called because it is often used on stage. A

character in the play or story thinks one thing is true, but the audience or reader

knows better.

JUXTAPOSITION poetic and rhetorical device in which normally unassociated ideas,

words, or phrases are placed next to one another, creating an effect of surprise and wit.

Ezra Pound: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd;/ Petals on a wet, black bough.”

Juxtaposition is also a form of contrast by which writers call attention to

dissimilar ideas or images or metaphors.

Martin Luther King: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

LITOTES is a form of understatement in which the positive form is emphasized through

the negation of a negative form: Hawthorne--- “…the wearers of petticoat and

farthingale…stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial

persons, if occasion were, into the throng…”

LOCAL COLOR a term applied to fiction or poetry which tends to place special

emphasis on a particular setting, including its customs, clothing, dialect and landscape.

LOOSE SENTENCE one in which the main clause comes first, followed by further

dependent grammatical units. See periodic sentence.

Hawthorne: “Hester gazed after him a little while, looking with a half-fantastic curiosity

to see whether the tender grass of early spring would not be blighted beneath him, and

show the wavering track of this footsteps, sere and brown, across its cheerful verdure.”

LYRIC POEM a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the personal feelings or

thoughts of the speaker. A ballad tells a story.

METAPHOR a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things

without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles.

IMPLIED METAPHOR does not state explicitly the two terms of the

comparison: “I like to see it lap the miles” is an implied metaphor in which the

verb lap implies a comparison between “it” and some animal that “laps” up

water.

EXTENDED METAPHOR is a metaphor that is extended or developed as far

as the writer wants to take it. (conceit if it is quite elaborate).

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DEAD METAPHOR is a metaphor that has been used so often that the

comparison is no longer vivid: “The head of the house”, “the seat of the

government”, “a knotty problem” are all dead metaphors.

MIXED METAPHOR is a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes

its terms so that they are visually or imaginatively incompatible. “The President

is a lame duck who is running out of gas.”

METONYMY a figure of speech in which a person, place, or thing, is referred to by

something closely associated with it. “We requested from the crown support for our

petition.” The crown is used to represent the monarch.

MOOD An atmosphere created by a writer’s diction and the details selected.

MOTIF a recurring image, word, phrase, action, idea, object, or situation used

throughout a work (or in several works by one author), unifying the work by tying the

current situation to previous ones, or new ideas to the theme. Kurt Vonnegut uses “So it

goes” throughout Slaughterhouse-Five to remind the reader of the senselessness of death.

MOTIVATION the reasons for a character’s behavior.

ONOMATOPOEIA the use of words whose sounds echo their sense. “Pop.” “Zap.”

OXYMORON a figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a

brief phrase. “Jumbo shrimp.” “Pretty ugly.” “Bitter-sweet”

PARABLE a relatively short story that teaches a moral, or lesson about how to lead a

good life.

PARADOX a statement that appears self-contradictory, but that reveals a kind of truth.

KOAN is a paradox used in Zen Buddhism to gain intuitive knowledge: “What is

the sound of one hand clapping?”

PARALLEL STRUCTURE (parallelism) the repetition of words or phrases that have

similar grammatical structures.

PARATACTIC SENTENCE simply juxtaposes clauses or sentences. I am tired: it is

hot.

PARODY a work that makes fun of another work by imitating some aspect of the

writer’s style.

PERIODIC sentence that places the main idea or central complete thought at the end of

the sentence, after all introductory elements.

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PERSONIFICATION a figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human

feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

PLOT the series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called the storyline.

Characteristics of PLOT:

EXPOSITION introduces characters, situation, and setting

RISING ACTION complications in conflict and situations (may introduce new

ones as well)

CLIMAX that point in a plot that creates the greatest intensity, suspense, or

interest. Also called “turning point”

RESOLUTION the conclusion of a story, when all or most of the conflicts have

been settled; often called the denouement.

POINT OF VIEW the vantage point from which the writer tells the story.

FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW one of the characters tells the story.

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW an unknown narrator, tells the story, but

this narrator zooms in to focus on the thoughts and feelings of only one

character.

OMNISCIENT POINT OF VIEW an omniscient or all knowing narrator tells

the story, also using the third person pronouns. This narrator, instead of

focusing on one character only, often tells us everything about many characters.

OBJECTIVE POINT OF VIEW a narrator who is totally impersonal and

objective tells the story, with no comment on any characters or events.

POLYSYNDETON sentence which uses a conjunction with NO commas to separate the

items in a series. Instead of X, Y, and Z... Polysyndeton results in X and Y and Z... Kurt

Vonnegut uses this device.

PROTAGONIST the central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the

action. Usually the hero or anti-hero; in a tragic hero, like John Proctor of The

Crucible, there is always a hamartia, or tragic flaw in his character which will lead to

his downfall.

PUN a “play on words” based on the multiple meanings of a single word or on words

that sound alike but mean different things.

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QUATRAIN a poem consisting of four lines, or four lines of a poem that can be

considered as a unit.

REFRAIN a word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated, for effect, several

times in a poem.

RHYTHM a rise and fall of the voice produced by the alternation of stressed and

unstressed syllables in language.

RHETORIC Art of effective communication, especially persuasive discourse.

RHETORICAL QUESTION a question asked for an effect, and not actually requiring

an answer.

ROMANCE in general, a story in which an idealized hero or heroine undertakes a quest

and is successful.

SATIRE a type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an

attempt to bring about a change.

SIMILE a figure of speech that makes an explicitly comparison between two unlike

things, using words such as like, as , than, or resembles.

SOLILOQUY a long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are

on stage.

STEREOTYPE a fixed idea or conception of a character or an idea which does not

allow for any individuality, often based on religious, social, or racial prejudices.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS a style of writing that portrays the inner (often

chaotic) workings of a character’s mind.

STYLE the distinctive way in which a writer uses language: a writer’s distinctive use of

diction, tone, and syntax.

SUSPENSE a feeling of uncertainty and curiosity about what will happen next in a

story.

SYMBOL a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands

for something more than itself.

SYNECDOCHE a figure of speech in which a part represents the whole. “If you don’t

drive properly, you will lose your wheels.” The wheels represent the entire car.

SYNTACTIC FLUENCY Ability to create a variety of sentence structures,

appropriately complex and/or simple and varied in length.

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SYNTACTIC PERMUTATION Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex

and involved. Often difficult for a reader to follow.

TALL TALE an outrageously exaggerated, humorous story that is obviously

unbelievable.

TELEGRAPHIC SENTENCE A sentence shorter than five words in length.

THEME the insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work.

TONE the attitude a writer takes toward the subject of a work, the characters in it, or

the audience, revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization.

TRAGEDY in general, a story in which a heroic character either dies or comes to some

other unhappy end.

TRICOLON Sentence of three parts of equal importance and length, usually three

independent clauses.

UNDERSTATEMENT a statement that says less than what is meant.

Example: During the second war with Iraq, American troops complained of a

fierce sand storm that made even the night-vision equipment useless. A British

commando commented about the storm: “It’s a bit breezy.”

UNITY Unified parts of the writing are related to one central idea or organizing

principle. Unity is dependent upon coherence.

VERNACULAR the language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality.