1. allegory

A story told on two levels and intended to teach a moral lesson EX: The Prodigal Son; Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown."

2. anapestic

Metrical foot consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable

3. anecdote

A very short story told to make a point

4. antagonist

The main adversary of the hero/heroine, or protagonist

5. antithesis

The use of parallel structure to present oppositional ideas EX:Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." - John Kennedy

6. apostrophe

To address a person not present; or to personify an object or trait and address the personified thing

7. archetype

A universal symbol or symbol that crosses many cultures EX: water; a universal character(the quest hero or wise old man)

8. auditory imagery

Language/words appealing to the sense of sound/hearing

9. blank verse

Unrhymed line of iambic pentameter

10. choleric

Medieval bodily humour - angry

11. conceit

An extended metaphor. A comparison extending throughout a poem, paragraph, or section of a work.

12. dactylic

Metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable follwed by two unstressed syllables

13. didactic

Having a teaching purpose.

14. dramatic irony

Situation in which the reader/viewer shares with the narrator knowledge of a situation or intention unknown to one or more of the characters. Often the reader/viewer knows the fate of a character who is ignorant of his/her own fate.

15. elegy

Poetry or speech which laments the loss of a person or sometimes of an era or aspect of culture. An "elegiac tone" is a lamenting tone or a somewhat nostalgic tone. EX: pastoral elegies lament the loss of rural life and farms

16. enjambment

Run-on lines of poetry. When a though is not completed in one line so the reader has to read into the next line to get to the end of the thought, the lines are called "run-on lines"

17. end-stopped line

Line of poetry ending in a period, question mark, exclamation point, or semicolon

18. epigram

Short, witty saying EX: "Fish and visitors smell after three days."

19. epiphany

The appearance of manifestation of a deity; or a moment of understanding and sudden insight into reality or the truth.

20. exposition

Text or portion of a text which explains motives, action, definitions, etc. In this part of the text, the action doesn't move forward; the narrator offers explanation, analysis, or reflection on events and characters.

21. euphemism

A nice or polite word used to replace a more direct or blunt one EX:"pass away" for "die",

22. farce

Low comedy; comedy which has clowning and slapstick EX: the three stooges

23. flashback

Interrupting a narrative sequence with a recollection of an image or scene from the past

24. genre

The form a text has - poetry, drama, fiction, nonfiction. Genres also have sub-genres EX: lyric poetry, narrative poetry, epic poetry

25. gustatory imagery

Language or images appealing to the sense of taste

26. hubris

The ancient Greek term for "pride" or "ego". It was the tragic flaw demonstrated by heroes in Greek drama, including Characters such as Oedipus, Creon, and Antigone.

27. hyperbole

Exaggeration for effect

28. iambic

A metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

29. iambic pentameter

A ten-syllable line in which the even-numbered syllables are stressed

30. internal rhyme

Rhyming two words within a single line of poetry. EX: "Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary."

31. irony

Having the opposite of what one expects to happen actually happens; reversal

32. litotes/understatement

Understatement for emphasis EX: Saying "not bad" when you mean "very good"

33. malapropism

The misuse of words, especially words that sound like other words. Often malapropisms are humorous; sometimes they are puns. EX: saying "progeny" when you mean "prodigy"

34. melancholy

Medieval bodily humor - sad, depressed

35. meter

The rhythm of a poem. It includes how many syllables or "beats" each line has and which ones are stressed and unstressed. A unit of meter = a foot

36. metonymy

A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated EX: "The pen is mightier than the sword," in which pen means words and sword means the military or fighting

37. myth

A story that seeks to explain processes of nature, the creation of the world and the human race, or traditional customs, political institutions, or religious rites

38. narrative viewpoint

The stance from which a story is told

1st - one person

3rd - he, she, they

3rd omniscient - viewing the action from a god-like stance, seeing inside every characters mind

3rd limited - viewing the action primarily from one character's angle

39. olfactory imagery

Language or images appealing to the sense of smell

40. oxymoron

Two opposite words together forming a compound word or phrase - bittersweet, foolish wit, wise fool

41. parable

A short story with a moral message; often it is allegorical. EX: The Prodigal Son + Good Samaritan

42. paradox

A statement that is illogical or contradictory but nevertheless true or which has a kind of truth that it states EX: "Fair is foul and foul is fair" - Macbeth

43. parody

A humorous imitation of a serious literary work or form

44. pastoral

A literary piece that idealizes life in the country

45. phlegmatic

Medieval bodily humour - dull

46. protagonist

The hero or heroine in a story, poem, novel, play, or film

47. rhetorical

Persuasive; a style, form, and approach intended to persuade

48. rhymed couplet

Two rhymed iambic pentameter lines forming a unit

49. sanguine

Medieval bodily humour - energetic, cheerful, positive

50. satire

Humor directed at making a point about human nature; it attacks human fault and teaches ethics through humor

51. Shakespearean sonnet

Poem of 14 lines in which the structure is three quatrains followed by a couplet in which the main idea or central message is stated

52. stanza

Group of line of poetry forming a unit

53. symbolism

Having one thing stand for another, especially for a complex of interrelated concepts. EX: Moby Dick, the white whale, representing power, fate, evil, the enemy, unknown

54. synecdoche

Figure of speech in which a part of an object is used to represent the whole EX: "All hands on deck" for "all sailors/men on deck"

55. syntax

Sentence structure; the phrases and clauses that together make a sentence

56. tactile imagery

Language or images which appeal to the sense of touch or feeling

57. tone

The attitude an author expresses towards his subject and/or audience

58. trochaic

A metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable

59. verbal irony

The meaning intended by a speaker differs from the meaning understood by one or more of the other characters or by the listener

60. verse

Single line of poetry

61. Alliteration

when the first sound of a word is repeated several times in succession

62. Allusion

a reference to something from a different story, such as referencing Noah's flood to let the reader know just how torrential it is raining.

63. anachronism

when something happens that should be attributed to a different time from when it actually happened. Often, it is a mistake, where an inappropriate phrase or object appears in a period piece.

64. Anaphora

a type of repetition. It uses a repeated phrase at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences to provoke an emotional response from the reader or the audience.

65. Anastrophe

a literary technique, where the writer reverses traditional sentence structure. Subject, Adjective becomes Adjective, Subject.

66. Anthropomorphism

where you apply human traits or qualities to something that isn't human-like animals, objects, or the weather.

67. Aphorism

universally accepted truth expressed concisely

68. Assonance

In songs, poems, and literature to create flowing sounds that grab the reader/listener's attention and are pleasing to the ear

69. Caesura

involves using a fractured sentence where two different parts are distinguishable but form one whole. When used in a speech, it forces the speaker to take a break. (sometimes uses II to indicate the breaks)

70. Consonance

consonant sounds are repeated within a sentence or phrase.

71. Chiasmus

Greek word that means "diagonal arrangement." It happens when you use two or more inverted parallel clauses together. The phrases must be related

72. Colloquialism

used in speech when we want to be informal. In literature, it might provide a setting or give information about where a character comes from.

73. Diction

author's word choice in speech or description. There are so many different words that we can use to mean different things; a careful choice of words can make a huge difference.

74. Epigraph

the author cites a quotation from another work of literature. It is often put into italics

75. Foreshadowing

the author subtly lets the reader know the ending or an upcoming event

76. Hypophora

a character is speaking out loud, a character asks a question and then immediately answers it themselves.

77. Isocolon

the writer takes two more phrases or clauses that have a similar structure, rhythm, or length and lines them up on top of each other. You often see this in poems, and you'll also spot it in advertising, particularly brand slogans.

78. Imagery

creates a visual representation of an action, idea, or thing to appeal to the reader's senses.

79. Juxtaposition

you place different story elements side by side, to provide contrast and highlight the differences.

80. Metaphor

says an object is something else, which brings new meaning to the original object

81. Motif

a repeated symbol, idea, or structure within a literary work to emphasize the theme.

82. Onomatopoeia

When you want to show that your character is problem-solving and has reached a conclusion. Or, when you're giving a speech and want to provide an answer to a question your audience wants to hear.

83. Personification

the writer gives inanimate objects or ideas human traits, like the weather, or a feeling

84. Point of view (similar to narrative view point)

whoever is telling your story.

85. Polysyndeton

the art of using several conjunctions (or connecting words) in succession.

86. Simile

a comparison of two different things the writer will use the words 'like' or 'as.'

87. Soliloquy

when a character speaks their thoughts out loud, usually alone and to the audience, rather than to another character.

88. Zoomorphism

give animal-like qualities to anything that is not that particular animal.