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Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms
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43
English
11th Grade
06/18/2009

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Term
Allusion
Definition
A reference to a mythological, literary, or historical person, place, or thing
Term
Alliteration
Definition
The practice of beginning several consecutive words with the same sound
Term
Anaphora
Definition
A rhetorical figure involving the exact repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive lines or sentences.
Term
Antithesis
Definition
A rhetorical figure in which two ideas are directly opposed.
Term
Apostrophe
Definition
A figure of speech in which the speaker directly and often emotionally addresses a person who is dead or otherwise not physically present, a imaginary person or entity, something inhuman, or a place or concept. The speaker addresses the object of the apostrophe as if this object were present and capable of understanding and responding.
Term
Assonance
Definition
The repetition of vowel sounds within words.
Term
Asyndeton
Definition
A rhetorical figure involving the deliberate omission of conjunctions to create a concise, terse, and often memorable statement.
Term
Atmosphere
Definition
The prevailing aura or feeling conveyed about a physical setting within a work of literature
Term
Connotation
Definition
The implicit rather than explicit meaning of a word consisting of the suggestions, associations, and emotional overtones attached to a word.
Term
Half Rhyme
Definition
A partial or imperfect rhyme, often using assonance or consonance only
Term
Consonance
Definition
The repetition of a consonant sound within a series of words to produce a harmonious effect
Term
Denotation
Definition
the exact, literal definition of a word independent of any emotional association or secondary meaning
Term
Diction
Definition
Word choice intended to convey a certain effect
Term
Figures of Speech
Definition
Words or phrases that describe one thing in terms of something else. Not meant to be taken literally, figurative language is used to produce images in a reader's mind and to express ideas in fresh, vivid, and imaginative ways.
Term
Foreshadowing
Definition
The use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest future action
Term
Hyperbole
Definition
A deliberate, extravagant, and often outrageous exaggeration
Term
Imagery
Definition
The representation in words of any sensual experience that points out some sort of relationship between the abstract and the concrete. It is a collective term embracing image, simile, metaphor, and symbol.
Term
Irony
Definition
An event or outcome which is the opposite of what would naturally be expected.
Term
Metaphor
Definition
A comparison of unlike things without using a word of comparison such as like or as.
Term
Meter
Definition
A pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in lines of poetry
Term
Mood
Definition
the predominant emotion in a literary work conveyed by the feelings of and between characters
Term
Onomatopoeia
Definition
Using words of letters to imitate sounds
Term
Oxymoron
Definition
A form of paradox that combines a pair of opposite terms into a single unusual expression
Term
Personification
Definition
Applying human qualities to nonhuman things
Term
Plot
Definition
The sequence of events or actions in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem.
Term
Rhetoric
Definition
The art of using words to persuade in writing or speaking
Term
Rhyme
Definition
the repetition of similar ending sounds
Term
Setting
Definition
the time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem take place
Term
Synaesthesia
Definition
the description of one kind of sense by using words that usually describe another
Term
Enjambment
Definition
the running on of a thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break
Term
Simile
Definition
a direct comparison of one object to another using like or as
Term
Sound Devices
Definition
Stylistic techniques that convey meaning through sound
Term
Structure
Definition
the framework or organization of a literary selection
Term
Style
Definition
the writer's characteristic manner of employing language
Term
Symbol
Definition
Any object, person, place, or action that has both a meaning in itself and that stands for something larger than itself, such as quality, attitude, belief, or value.
Term
Synecdoche
Definition
A form of metaphor in which a part of something is signified by the whole
Term
Syntax
Definition
the arrangement of words and the order of grammatical elements in a sentence
Term
Theme
Definition
The central message of a literary work.
Term
Tone
Definition
the speaker or author's attitude toward the subject, revealed by the words he or she chooses
Term
Understatement
Definition
the opposite of hyperbole. It is a kind of irony that deliberately represents something as being much less than it really is.
Term
Polysyndeton
Definition
the repetition of conjunctions in close succession for rhetorical effect
Term
Chiasmus
Definition
A rhetorical figure in which certain words, sounds, concepts, or syntactic structures are reversed and repeated in reverse order
Term
Caesura
Definition
A pause in a line of poetry, dictated not by meter but by natural speaking rhythm.
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