Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. It is used to emphasize certain words or create a musical quality.
Ballad
A short, musical narrative song or poem that in most cases recounts a single, exciting or dramatic episode.
Characterization
The methods used to reveal the personality of a character.
Direct characterization: author describes personality in a sentence
Indirect characterization: suggests personality by characters’ words, actions, appearance, and the reactions of other characters to the person being portrayed.
Climax
Emotional high point of the plot or turning point for the main character
Connotation
The suggested or implied meanings associated with a word beyond its dictionary definition.
Positive, negative, neutral
Denotation
Dictionary definition of a word
Denouement
Another name for the resolution to the plot in which the final outcome is revealed
Dialect
A way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular region or group of people. Dialects may differ from the standard from of language in pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammar.
Dialogue
Conversation between characters in a literary work
End Rhyme
Rhyme at the ends of lines
Epilogue
A concluding statement or section added to a work of literature
Foreshadowing
The author’s use of hints or clues to prepare readers for events that will happen later in a narrative
Formal Language
A set of words defined by a means of formal grammar or rules that describe how to form strings form the language’s alphabet
Heroic couplet
Name for the poetic form used by Greek and Roman poets
Each line typically consists of ten alternating unstressed and stressed syllables (iambic pentameter)
Hyperbole
A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, make a point, or evoke humor
Imagery
The “word pictures” that writers create to help evoke an emotional response in readers.
Imperfect Rhyme
Same as slant rhyme
Internal Rhyme
Occurs within a line of poetry
Irony
A contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality.
Metaphor
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things to help readers perceive the first thing more vividly and suggest an underlying similarity between the two
Monologue
A long speech by a character in a play, spoken either to others or as if alone.
Moral
A message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or an event
Mourn
To feel or express grief or sorrow
Onomatopoeia
The use of words with sounds that imitate or suggest their meaning.
Optimistic
Tending to take a hopeful and positive view of future outcomes
Paradox
A statement that appears to be contradictory but is actually true, either in fact or in a figurative sense
Personification
A figure of speech in which an animal, object, force of nature, or idea is given human qualities
Pessimistic
Tendency to see only the negative or worst aspects of all things and to expect only unpleasant things to happen.
Plot
The sequence of events in a narrative work
Point of View
The relationship of the narrator to the story
Prologue
An introductory section of a play, speech, or other literary work
Resolution
Final outcomes of the plot are revealed…also known as the denouement.
Rhyming Couplet
Two lines of rhymed verse that work together as a unit to express an idea or make a point.
Sarcasm
Mocking, contemptuous, or ironic language intended to convey scorn or insult
Satire
Literature that exposes to ridicule the vices or follies of people or societies through devices such as exaggeration, understatement, and irony.
Setting
The time and place in which the events of a literary work occur. The setting includes not only the physical surroundings but also the ideas, customs, values, and beliefs of the people who live there.
Simile
A figure of speech that uses the words like or as to compare two seemingly unlike things.
Slant Rhyme
An approximate rhyme based on assonance, the repetition of a vowel sound, or on consonance, the repetition of a consonant sound at the end of a word.
Soliloquy
A dramatic device in which a character, alone on the stage (or while under the impression of being alone) reveals his or her private thoughts and feelings as if thinking aloud.
Suspense
The anticipation of the outcome of events, especially as they affect a character for whom one has sympathy, uncertainty causes anxiety.
Theme
The main idea of a story, poem, novel, or a play, sometimes expressed as a general statement about life.
Universal
Affecting the entire world or all within the world, worldwide
Paragon
A model of excellence or perfection
Stereotyping
A generalization about a group of people that is made without regard for individual differences or a conventional character who conforms to an expected, fixed pattern of behavior