The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words

A brief reference to a person, event, or place in history or to a work of art/literature

A comparison made between two items, situations, or ideas that are somewhat alike but unlike in most respects

Figure of repetition that occurs when the first word or set of words in one sentence, clause, or phrase is/are repeated at or very near the beginning of successive sentences, clauses, or phrases

A character in a story or play who opposes the chief character or protagonist

A figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person or a personified quality, object, or idea

A character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life. Often include a symbol, a theme, a setting, or a character that have a common meaning in an entire culture, or even the entire human race

In drama, a few words or a short passage spoken by one character to the audience while the other actors on stage pretend their characters cannot hear the speaker's words

The repetition of similar vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds in stressed syllables or words

The omission of conjunctions from constructions in which they would normally be used

The mood/feeling of the literary work created for the reader by the writer

A narrative poem that usually includes a repeated refrain

Unrhymed iambic pentameter, a line of five feet

The use of words in poetry that combines sharp, harsh, hissing, or unmelodious sounds

A pause within a line of poetry

Latin for "seize the day," the name applied to a theme frequently found in lyric poetry: enjoy life's pleasures while you are able

Purification or purging of emotions (pity or fear)

An imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (described as a round/flat, protagonist/antagonist, etc.)

The method an author uses to acquaint the reader with his or her characters

A scheme in which the author introduces words or concepts in a particular order then later repeats those terms or similar ones in reversed or backwards order. It involves taking parallelism and deliberately turning it inside out, creating a "crisscross" pattern

An expression or phrase that is overused as to become trite and meaningless

As a term of dramatic structure, the decisive or turning point in a story or play when the action changes course and, as a result, begins to resolve itself

Elaborate figure of speech combining possible metaphor, simile, hyperbole, or oxymoron

The struggle between two opposing forces (man v. man, man v. nature, man v. self, man v. society)

The emotional associations surrounding a word, as opposed to its literal meaning

A pair of rhyming lines with identical meter

The strict, literal meaning of a word

The resolution of the plot

The conversation between two or more people in a literary work

The author's choice of words or phrases in a literary work

Refers to a situation in which events or facts not known to a character on stage or in a fictional work are known to another character, the audience or the reader

A lyric poem in which the speaker addresses someone whose replies are not recorded

A mourning poem of lament for an individual or tragic event

The continuation of a complete idea from one line of poetry to another, without pause

A revealing scene or moment in which a character experiences a deep realization about him/herself

Repetition of a concluding word or word endings

Using a mild or gentle phrase instead of a blunt, embarrassing, or painful one

Attempting to group words together harmoniously, so that the consonants permit an easy and pleasant flow of sound when spoken

The opening section of a narrative or dramatic structure in which characters, setting, theme, and conflict can be revealed

Interruption of the narrative to show an episode that happened before that particular point in the story

A group of syllables in verse usually consisting of one accented syllable and the unaccented syllables associated with it

A hint given to the reader of what is to come

A type of poetry that differs from conventional verse forms in being "free" from a fixed pattern of meter and rhyme

A tragic flaw, especially a misperception, a lack of some important insight, or some blindness that ironically results from one's own strengths and abilities

In a hero, refers to arrogant, excessive self pride or self-confidence or a lack of some important perception or insight due to pride in one's abilities

A figure of speech involving great exaggeration

A line of verse having five metrical feet of unstressed-stressed pattern

The sensory details that provide vividness in a literary work and tend to arouse emotions or feelings in a reader which abstract language does not

The term used to describe a contrast between what appears to be and what really is

Latin for "in the middle of things"; a plot that begins in the middle of events and then reveals the past through flashbacks

Placing two ideas, words, or images side by side so that their closeness creates an original, ironic, or insightful meaning

A figure of speech in which a positive is stated by negating it's opposite (ex. Not a bad idea)

A figure of speech involving an implied comparison

The pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables in a line of poetry

A figure of speech in which a specific term naming an object is substituted for another word with which it is closely associated

A recurrent word, image, theme, object, or phrase that tends to unify a literary work or that may be elaborated into a theme

The teller of the story

Words used in such a way that the sound of the words imitates the sound of the thing being spoken of

A statement, often metaphorical, that seems to be self-contradictory but which has valid meaning

When the writer establishes similar patterns of grammatical structure and length

A kind of burlesque that is a humorous imitation of serious writing, usually for the purpose of making the style of an author appear ridiculous

The speaker or narrator of a text or poem. Cannot be assumed to be the author

The representation of abstractions, ideas, animals, or inanimate objects as human beings by endowing them with like-like qualities

The series of happenings in a literary work

The relation between the teller of the story and the characters in it

Using many conjunctions to achieve an overwhelming effect in a sentence

The mechanics of verse poetry - it's sounds, rhythms, scansions and meter, stanzaic form, alliteration, assonance, euphony, onomatopoeia, and rhyme

The leading character in a literary work

A play on words; a humorous use of a word that has different meanings or of two or more words with the same or nearly the same sound but different meanings

Exact repetition of sounds in the final accented syllables or two or more words

The pattern of rhyme. The traditional way to mark these patterns of rhyme is to assign a letter of the alphabet to each rhyming sound at the end of each line

The technique that employs wit to ridicule a subject, usually some social institution or human foible, with the intention of inspiring reform

The time, place, societal situation, and weather in which the action of a narrative occurs

A figure of speech involving a comparison of two unlike things using 'like' or 'as'

An occurrence that is contrary to what is expected or intended

A dramatic convention that allows a character alone on stage to speak his or her thoughts aloud

A conventional pattern, plot, or setting that possesses little or no individuality, but that may be used for a purpose

A fourteen-line poem, usually in iambic pentameter, with a varied rhyme scheme

The recording or re-creation of a character's flow of thought

The distinctive handling of language by an author

A person, place, or object that represents something beyond itself

Figure of speech

The description of one sense using another sense

The arrangement of words within a sentence

The main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work

The author's attitude toward his or her subject matter and toward the audience

Figure of speech that says less than one means

The intended meaning of a statement or work is different from what the statement or work literally says

Poetic form of five tercets and a final quatrain (19 lines)

A figure of speech in which a word applies to two others in different senses or to two others of which it semantically suits only one