prose or poetic narrative in which the characters, behavior, or setting demonstrate multiple levels of meaning and significance. Often times it is a universal symbol or personified abstraction. Ex. prodigal son.

sequencial repetition of similar initial sound, usually consonants, heard in closely proximate stressed syllables.

reference to a literary or historical event, person, or place.

metrical foot in poetry that consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed.

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

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

any force that is in opposition to the main character (protagonist).

juxtaposition of sharply contrasting ideas in balanced or parallel words, phrases, grammatical structure, or ideas.

an address or invocation to something inanimate.

recurrent designs, patterns of action, character types, themes, or images that are identifiable in a wide range of literature.

repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds.

style in which conjunctions are omitted, produces a fast-paced prose.

sense expressed by the tone of voice/mood of the writing. Feelings the author holds towards the subject, the people in the narrative, the events, the setting, etc.

narrative poem meant to be sung. Repetition and refrain characterize the ballad.

common stanza form, consisting of a quatrain that alternates four-beat and three-beat lines (one and three are unrhymed iambic tetrameter and two and four rhymed iambic trimeter.

the verse form that most resembles common speech, consists of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.

pause in a line of verse, indicated by natural speech patterns rather than due to specific metrical patterns.

depiction in which a character’s characteristics or features are so deliberately exaggerated as to render them absurd.

order of the terms in the first of two paralleled clauses is reversed in the second.

ordinary language, the vernacular

comparison of two unlikely things that is drawn out within a piece of literature.

what is suggested by a word, a word’s meaning

repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening words.

two rhyming lines of iambic pentameter that together present a single idea

a metrical foot in poetry that consists of two stressed syllables followed by one unstressed syllable.

direct and specific meaning, referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word.

language and speech idiosyncrasies of a specific area, region, or group of people.

specific word choice an author uses to persuade or convey tone, purpose, or effect.

monologue set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience.

a poem lament upon the death of a particular person, usually ending in consolation.

continuation of a sentence from one line or couplet of a poem to the next.

poem that celebrates, in a continuous narrative, the achievements of mighty heroes or heroines.

part of the structure that sets the scene, introduces and identifies characters, and establishes the situation at the beginning of a story or play.

detailed and complex metaphor that extends over a long section of work, aka a conceit.

legend or short moral story often using animals as characters.

part of plot structure in which the complications of the rising action are untangled. Aka denouement.

play or scene in a play or book that is characterized by broad humor, wild antics, and often slapstick and physical humor.

to hint at or to present an indication of the future beforehand.

language that is lofty, dignified, and impersonal.

retrospection, where an earlier event is inserted into the normal chronology of the narrative.

poetry that is characterized by varying line lengths, lack of traditional meter, and non-rhyming lines.

a type or class of literature, such as epic or narrative.

overstatement characterized by exaggerated language.

a metrical foot in poetry that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

any sensory detail or evocation in a work, uses the senses.

language that is not as lofty or impersonal as formal diction.

opening of a story that begins in the middle of the action.

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

specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group.

location of one thing as being adjacent with another.

perspective confined to a single character, whether a first person or a third person; reader cannot know for sure what is going on in the minds of the characters.

figure of speech that emphasizes its subject by conscious understatement.

grammatically complete sentence that states its main idea first.

originally designated poems meant to be sun to the accompaniment of a lyre.

central idea or statement of a story.

one thing pictured as if it were something else, suggesting a likeness or analogy between them.

more or less regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.

figure of speech in which an attribute or commonly associated feature is used to name or designate something.

feeling or ambiance resulting from the tone of a piece as well as the narrator’s attitude and point of view. Describes feelings and objects that establish a sense of fear, hope, etc.

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

textual organization based on sequences of connected events.

character who tells the story, aka the persona.

poem written about or for a specific occasion, public or private.

lyric poem that is somewhat serious in subject and treatment, elevated in style, sometimes uses elaborate stanza structure.

aka unlimited focus, perspective that can be seen from one character’s view, then another’s, then another’s, or can be moved in and out of the mind of any character at any time.

word capturing the sound of what it describes.

exaggerated language

figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory elements.

short fiction that illustrates an explicit moral lesson through the use of analogy

statement that seems contradictory but may actually be true.

use of similar forms in writing for nouns, verbs, phrases, or thoughts.

work that imitates another work for comic effect by exaggerating the style and changing the content of the original.

describes the simple life of country folk, usually shepherds.

sentence that is not grammatically complete until the end.

voice or figure of the author who tells and structures the story and who may or may not share values of the actual author.

treating an abstraction or nonhuman object as if it were a person.

aka Italian sonnet, sonnet form that divides the poem into one section of eight lines, octave, and a second section of six lines, sestet. ABBA ABBA CDE CDE rhyme scheme.

arrangement of the narration based on the cause-effect relationship of the events.

main character in a work.

poetic stanza of four lines

practice in literature of attempting to describe nature and life without idealization and with attention to detail.

repeated stanza or line(s) in a poem or song.

the development of action in a work, usually at the beginning.

question that is asked simply for stylistic effect and is not expected to be answered.

repetition of same or similar sounds, most often at the ends of lines

modulation of weak and strong elements in the flow of speech

a form of verbal irony in which apparent praise is actually harshly or bitterly critical.

literary work that holds up human failings to ridicule and censure.

analysis of verse to show its meter.

the time and place of the action in a story, poem, or play.

aka English sonnet, sonnet form that divides the poem into three units of four lines each and a final unit of two lines, usually ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

another name for concrete poetry, poetry that is shaped to look like an object

a direct, or explicit comparison of one thing to another with like or as.

monologue in which the character in a play is alone and speaking only to himself or herself.

person who is the voice of the poem

section of poem demarcated by extra line spacing.

characterization based on conscious or unconscious assumptions that some aspect are accompanied by certain traits.

character who appears in a number of plays or stories.

the organization or arrangement of the various elements in a work.

distinctive manner of expression, through diction, rhythm, imagery, etc.

a person, place, or thing in a literary work that designates itself and at the same time figuratively represents something else.

a part used to signify a whole

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

verse form consisting of three-line stanzas in which the second line of each rhymes with the first and third of the next.

generalized, abstract paraphrase of the inferred central or dominant idea in a work

attitude a literary work takes towards its subject and theme.

drama in which a character is brought to a disastrous end

metrical foot in poetry that is the opposite of iambic. First is stressed, second unstressed, etc.

third part of plot structure, the point at which the action stops rising and begins falling

verse form consisting of 19 lines divided into six stanzas, five tercets and one quatrain.

First and third line of each tercet rhyme, repeated through the next four tercets and in the last two lines of quatrain.

acknowledged or unacknowledged source of the words of the story