Act A major unit of drama. A play can be subdivided into several acts. Shakespeare's Macbeth is divided into five acts

Allegory A literary work in which all or most of the characters, settings, and events symbolize ideas, qualities, or figures beyond themselves. The overall purpose of an allegory is to teach a moral lesson. Lord of the Flies is an example of an allegory.

Alliteration Sound device using repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words, in a verse line; used for rhythm and memory

Allusion A reference in a work of literature to a well-known person, place, event, written work, or work of art. Discovering the meaning of an allusion can often be essential to the understanding of a work.

Anecdote A short written or oral account of an event in a real person's life. Essay writers often use anecdotes to support their opinions or clarify their ideas, to grab a reader's attention

Antithesis Words and phrases with opposite meanings balanced against each other: "To err is human, to forgive is divine.

Apostrophe A literary device in which a speaker talks directly to an inanimate object, a person who is absent or dead, or an abstract quality, such as love.

Assonance The repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end with different consonant sounds

Ballad A short musical narrative song or poem that in most cases recounts a single exciting or dramatic episode. Folk ballads were passed down by word of mouth for generations before being written down.

Blank Verse Poetry or lines of dramatic verse written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. In this verse form, each line is divided into five units, or feet, with stress falling on every second syllable.

Caesura An obvious pause in a line of poetry. It is usually found near the middle of a line, with two stressed syllables before and two after, creating a strong rhythm. A caesura can be indicated by (//) double slashes.

Characterization The methods used to reveal the personality of a character. In direct characterization, the author describes a character's personality. In indirect characterization: the author suggests traits through a character's words, actions, or appearance, as well as through the reactions of other characters to the person being portrayed

Conflict The central struggle between two opposing forces in a story or drama. An external conflict exists when a character struggles against some outside force, such as another person, nature, society, or fate. An internal conflict is a struggle that takes place within the mind of a character who is torn between opposing feelings or goals.

Connotation The suggested or implied meanings associated with a word beyond its dictionary definition, or denotation. Words can have a positive, negative, or neutral connotation.

Consonance The repetition of consonant sounds, typically within or at the end of non-rhyming words, as in the d sounds in : “the blood- dimmed tide is loosed.”

Couplet Rhyming: Two lines of rhymed verse that work together as a unit to express an idea or make a point.

Denotation The literal, or dictionary, meaning of word.

Dialect A way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular region or group of people. Dialects may differ from the standard form of language in pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammar.

Dialogue Conversation between characters in a literary work.

Diction The author's word choice, or use of appropriate words to convey a particular meaning. Good writers choose their words carefully to express their intended meaning precisely.

Epilogue A concluding statement or section added to a work of literature.

Figures of Speech A specific device or kind of figurative language such as metaphor, personification, simile, or symbol.

Flashback A narrative passage set in an earlier time that interrupts the chronological order of the rest of a story. Flashbacks allow writers to go back in time to explain what has happened previously, giving readers information that may help explain the main events of a story.

Foreshadowing The author's use of hints or clues to prepare readers for events that will happen later in a narrative.

End rhyme Rhyme that occurs at the end of a line.

Elegy Serious poem of lament usually mourning a death or other great loss

Enjambment The continuation of a sentence from one line of a poem to another. Poets use enjambment to emphasize rhyming words.

Epic poem A long narrative poem that recounts, in formal language, the exploits of a larger than life hero.

Epilogue A concluding statement or section added to a work of literature.

Free Verse Poetry that has no fixed pattern or meter, rhyme, line length, or stanza arrangement. It generally imitates natural forms of speech.

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. In creating effective images, writers use sensory details, or descriptions that appeal to one or more of the five senses.

Imperfect Rhyme Same a slant rhyme

Internal Rhyme When a word in the middle of the line rhymes with a word at the end of the line

Irony A contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality. Verbal irony: exists when a person says one thing but means another. Situational irony exists when the outcome of a situation is opposite from what someone expected. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience or the reader knows something that the characters do not know.

Kenning A descriptive figure of speech that takes the place of a common noun, usually two words or phrase, especially in Anglo Saxon poetry. "Storm of swords"

Lyric Poem Poetry that expresses a speaker's personal thoughts and feelings. Lyric poems are usually short and musical. The emphasis of the poem is to experience emotions

Metaphor A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things to help readers perceive the first thing more vividly and to suggest an underlying similarity between the two.

Meter A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that gives a line of poetry a predictable rhythm (iambic, trochaic, spondaic, anapestic, dactylic). The basic unit of meter is known as the foot. The length of a metrical line is often expressed in terms of feet ( monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter

Monologue A long speech by a character in a play spoken to others or as if alone.

Mood The emotional quality, or atmosphere, of a work of literature. (How the reader feels)

Narration Refers to the way a story is told. Recital of events, especially in chronological order, as the story is narrated in a poem or story.

Narrative Poem Verse that tells a story. Ballads, epics, and romances are all types of narrative poetry.

Ode A long serious poem that is elevated in tone and style. Some odes celebrated a person, event or even a power; others are more private meditations.

Onomatopoeia The use of words with sound that imitate or suggest their meanings

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.

Plot The sequence of events in a narrative work: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement.

Poetry A form of literary expression that differs from prose in emphasizing the line as the unit of composition. It contains emotional, imaginative language; use of metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech; division into stanzas, rhyme; and regular pattern or meter

Point of View The relationship of the narrator to the story

First Person Point of View The narrator is a character in the story, referred to as "I." The reader sees everything through the character's eyes.

Second Person POV The narrator is speaking to the audience directly. Uses the pronoun "you."

Third Person Point of View (Limited) The narrator reveals the thoughts, feelings, and observations of only one character, referring to that character as he/she. (Omniscient) All knowing point of view, the narrator is not a character in the story, but someone who stands outside the story and comments on the action.

Prologue An introductory section of a play, speech, or other literary work.

Protagonist The central character in a story, drama, or dramatic poem around whom most of the action revolves. During the course of a work, the protagonist undergoes some conflict that is crucial to the plot.

Pun Word play which suggests two or more meanings by exploiting multiple meanings of words or similar sounding words, for an intended humorous effect.

Repetition The recurrence of sounds, words, phrases, lines, or stanzas in speech or piece of writing. Writers use repetition to emphasize an important point, to expand upon an idea, to help create rhythm, and to increase the feeling of unity within a work.

Resolution Final outcome of a plot is revealed.

Rhetoric The art of using language to present facts and ideas in order to persuade.

Rhyme The repetition of the same stressed vowel sounds and any succeeding sounds in two or more words.

Rhyme Scheme The pattern that end rhymes form in a stanza or poem

Sarcasm The intentional use of verbal irony in which the speaker seems to be praising something but is actually insulting it.

Satire Literature that exposes to ridicule the vices or follies of people or societies through devices such as exaggeration, understatement, and irony.

Scansion The analysis of meter of a line of verse. To scan a line of poetry means to note the stressed and unstressed syllables and divide the line into its feet.

Setting The time and place in which events of literary work occur. The setting includes not only physical elements, but also the ideas, customs, values, and beliefs of the people who live there.

Shift or turn Otherwise known as the volta, used in the sonnet At the end of the octave (first eight lines) in a Petrarchan sonnet At the end of the twelfth line in Shakespearean sonnets to signal a shift in thought.

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 the word.

Soliloquy A dramatic device in which a character, alone on stage or while under the impression of being alone, reveals his private thoughts and feelings as if thinking aloud.

Sonnet A lyric poem of fourteen lines with a definite rhyme scheme set in iambic pentameter.

Sound devices Elements of poetry that appeal to the ear. In poetry, sound devices such as alliteration and assonance are used to emphasize certain words and underscore their meaning.

Stage Directions An instruction written into the script of a play, indicating stage actions, movements of performers, or production requirements.

Stanza A group of lines forming a unit in a poem. A stanza in a poem is similar to a paragraph in prose.

Structure The framework or general plan of a literary work.

Style The expressive qualities that distinguish an author's work, including word choice, sentence structure, and figures of speech.

Suspense The anticipation of the outcome of events, especially as they affect a character for whom one has sympathy. Suspense produces a feeling of uncertainty that causes anxiety.

Symbol Any person, animal, place, object, or event that exists on a literal level within in a work but also represents something on a figurative level.

Symbolism Refers to the use of symbols.

Syntax The study of the patterns of formation of sentences and phrases from words.

Theme The main idea of a story, poem, novel, or play, sometimes expressed as a general statement about life.

Theme A reflection of the writer's attitude toward a subject conveyed through such elements as a word choice, punctuation, sentence structure, and figures of speech.

Understatement Language that makes something less important than it really is.