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Allusion

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A reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well-known historical or literary event, person, or work. They can also include references to mythology, art, and culture.

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Attitude

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The disposition toward or opinion of a subject by a speaker, author, or character.

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Details (also choice)

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The individual items or parts that make up a larger picture or story

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Devices of Sound

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The techniques of deploying the sound of words, especially in poetry. Included among these are rhythm, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia. These are used for many reasons, including to create a general effect of pleasant or of discordant sound, to imitate another sound, or to reflect a meaning

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Diction

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Word choice. Nearly all essay questions on a passage of prose or a poem will ask you to talk about this, or about "techniques" that include this. Any of the words that are important to the meaning and the effect of a passage can be used effectively in your essay.

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Figurative Language

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Writing that uses figures of speech, such as metaphor, simile, and irony (as opposed to literal language, or that which is actually or specifically denoted). This uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning.

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Imagery

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The images created by a literary work; the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work. --- has several definitions, but two are paramount: one is the visual, auditory, or tactile images evoked by the words of a literary work, and the second is the images that figurative language evokes.

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Irony

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A figure of speech in which the intended meaning and actual meaning differ, characteristically using praise to indicate blame or using blame to indicate praise; a pattern of words that turns away from the direct statement of its own obvious meaning. This term implies a discrepancy. In verbal ---, the discrepancy is between statement and meaning. Some, --- may simply understate.

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Metaphor

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A figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term like "as", "like", or "than". A simile would say "Night is like a black bat;" while this term would say "the black bat night". Ex) When Shakespeare's Romeo says "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun"

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Narrative Techniques

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The methods involved in telling a story; the procedures used by a writer of stories or accounts. This is a general term (like "devices," or "resources of language") that asks you to discuss the procedures used in the telling of a story. Examples of the --- you might use are point of view, manipulation of time, dialogue, or interior monologue

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Omniscient Point of View

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The vantage point of a story in which the narrator can know, see, and report whatever he or she chooses. The narrator is free to describe the thoughts of any of the characters, to skip about in time or place, or to speak directly to the reader.

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Point of View

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Any of several possible vintage points from which the story is told. The point of view may be omniscient, limited to several characters, or to just a single character. There are also additional possibilities; The teller may use the first person or the third person.

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Resources of Language

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A general phrase for the linguistic devises or techniques that a writer can use. A question calling for this invites a strident to discuss the style and rhetoric of a passage. Such topics as diction, syntax, figurative language, and imagery are all examples of this.

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Rhetorical Techniques

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the devises used in effective or persuasive language. The number of --- like that of the recourses of language, is long and runs from apostrophe to zeugma. The more common examples include devises like contrast, repetition, paradox, understatement, sarcasm, and rhetorical question.

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Satire

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Writing that uses ridicule to arouse a reader's disapproval of a subject. This is usually comedy that exposes errors with an eye to correct vice and folk.

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Setting

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The background of a story; the physical location of a play, story, or novel. The --- of a narrative story includes both time and place.

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Simile

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A directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing two objects, usually with "like", "as", or "than". It is easier to recognize this than a metaphor because the comparison is explicit.

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Strategy (or rhetorical story)

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The management of language for a specific effect. The --- of a poem is the planned placing of element to achieve an effect. The --- of most love poems is deployed to convince the loved one to return to the speaker's love.

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Structure

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The arrangement of materials within the work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical division of a work. The most common principles of --- are series (A,B,C,D,E), contrast (A versus B, C versus D, E versus A), and repetition (AA,BB). The most common units of --- are play (scene, act), novel (chapter), and poem (line, stanza).

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Style

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The mode or expression of language; the characteristic manner of expression of an author. Many elements contribute to ---, and if a question calls for a discussion of --- or ---istic techniques," you can discuss diction, syntax, figurative language, imagery, selection of detail, sound effects, and tone, using the ones that are appropriate.

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Symbol

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Something that is simultaneously itself and also a sign of something else. Ex.) Winter, darkness, and cold are real things but in literature they are also likely to be used as --- of death.

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Syntax

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The structure of a sentence; the arrangement of words in a sentence. A discussion of --- in your essay could include such considerations as the length or the brevity of the sentence, and the kinds of sentences.

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Theme

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The main thought expressed by a work. Essay questions may ask for discussion of the --- or ---s of a work or may use the words "meaning" or "meanings." The open question frequently asks you to relate a discussion on one subject to the "meaning of the work as a whole." In any case, when discussing this, try to word it in universal terms about humanity, and not specific terms about only the characters in the text. Ex.) "People who are forced to complete actions that they would normally abhor must undergo intense self-scrutiny."

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Tone

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The manner in which an author expresses his/her attitude; the intonation of the the voice that expresses meaning. --- is described by adjectives, and the possibilities are plentiful. --- is the result of allusion, diction, figurative language, imagery, irony, symbol, syntax, and style, to cite only the relevant words.

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Allegory

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A story in which the people, things, and events have another extended, frequently abstract, meaning.

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Ambiguity

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Multiple meanings that a literary work may communicate, especially when two meanings are incompatible.

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*Apostrophe

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Direct address, usually to someone or something that is not present. Ex.) "To Autumn" is an --- to a personified season.

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*Connotation

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The implications of a word or phrase, or the emotions associated with it, as opposed to its exact meaning (denotation).

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*Convention

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A device of style or subject matter that issued so often that it becomes a recognized means of expression.

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*Denotation

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The specific, literal meaning of a word to be found in a dictionary.

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Didactic

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Explicitly instructive.

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Digression

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The inclusion of material unrelated to the actual subject of a work.

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Epigram

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A pithy saying, often employing contrast. It is also a verse form, which is usually brief and pointed.

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Euphemism

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A figure of speech utilizing indirection to avoid offensive bluntness, such as "deceased" for "dead" or "remains" for "corpse."

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Grotesque

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Characterized by distortions or incongruities.

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*Hyperbole

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Deliberate exaggeration, overstatement. As a rule, --- is self-conscious, with the intention of not being accepted literally. Ex.) "The strongest man in the world" and "A diamond as big as the Ritz"

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Jargon

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The specialized language of a profession or group. This term often has pejorative (negative) associations, with this implication that --- may be evasive, tedious and unintelligible to outsiders.

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*Literal

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The precise, explicit meaning; accurate to the letter; a matter of fact, as opposed to figurative language.

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Lyrical

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Songlike; characterized by emotion, subjectivity, and imagination.

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*Oxymoron

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A combination or juxtaposition of opposites; a union of contradictory terms. Ex.) "Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health"

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Parable

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A story designed to suggest a principle, to illustrate a moral, or to answer a question. --- are allegorical stories.

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*Paradox

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A statement that seems to be self-contradictory but is, in fact, true. Ex.) "Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

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Parody

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A composition that imitates the style of another composition, normally done for comic effect.

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*Personification

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A figurative use of language that endows the nonhuman (ideas, inanimate objects, animals, abstractions) with human characteristics.

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*Reliability

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A quality of some fictional narrators in whose word the reader can place his trust.

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*Rhetorical Question

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A question asked for effect, not in expectation of a reply. A reply is not expected because the questions presupposes only one possible answer.

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*Soliloquy

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A speech in which a character who is alone speaks his or her thoughts aloud. A monologue also has a single speaker, but the monologuist speaks to other who do not interrupt.

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*Stereotype

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A conventional pattern, expression, character, or idea. In literature, a --- could apply to the unvarying plot and characters of some works of fiction or to the stock of characters and plots of many of the greatest stage comedies.

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Syllogism

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A form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a conclusion is drawn from them. --- begins with a major premise ("All tragedies end unhappily.") followed by a minor premise ("Hamlet is a tragedy.") and a conclusion (Therefor Hamlet end unhappily.).

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Thesis

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The theme, meaning, or position that a writer endeavors to prove or support.

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*Alliteration

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The repetition of similar or identical consonant sounds, normally at the beginning of words. Ex.) "Gnus never know pneumonia"

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*Assonance

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The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds. Ex.) "A land laid waste with all its young men slain"

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Ballad Meter

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A four-line stanza rhymed abcb in which lines one and three have four feet and lines two and four have three feet.

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*Blank Verse

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Unrhymed iambic pentameter; Meter of most of Shakespeare's plays.

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Dactyl

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A metrical foot of three syllables, including as accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables.

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*End-Stopped

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A line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point, or question mark are --- lines.

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*Free Verse

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Poetry that is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmic. Poetry of Walt Whitman exemplifies this kind of poetry.

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*Heroic Couplet

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Two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa,bb,cc, usually containing a complete thought in the two-line unit. Ex.) "When those fair suns shall set, as set they must,"

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Hexameter

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A line containing six feet.

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*Iamb

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A two-syllabled foot with an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. The --- is the most common foot in English poetry.

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Internal Rhyme

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Rhyme that occurs within a line, rather than at the end. "Why look'st thou so? -- With my crossbow"

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Onomatopoeia

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The use of words whose very sound suggests their actual meaning. Ex.) "Buzz", "Hiss", "Honk"

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*Pentameter

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A line containing five feet. The iambic pentameter is the most common line used in English verse that was written before 1950.

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Rhyme Royal

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A seven-line stanza of iambic pentameter rhymed ababbcc, which was used by Chaucer and other medieval poets.

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*Sonnet

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A poem written in iambic pentameter, normally composed of fourteen lines. The conventional Italian, or Petrarchan, --- is rhymed abba,abba,cde,cde; The English, or Shakespearean, --- is rhymed abab,cdcd,efef,gg.

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*Stanza

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A repeated grouping of three or more lines, usually with the same meter and rhyme scheme.

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Terza Rima

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A three-line stanza rhymed aba,bcb,cdc. Ex.) Dante's "Divine Comedy"

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*Tetrameter

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A line of four feet.

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Antecedent

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That which has gone before, especially the word, phrase or clause to which a pronoun refers. Ex.) In the sentence, "The witches cast their spells," the --- of the pronoun "their" is the noun "witches".

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Clause

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A group of words containing a subject and its verb that may or may not form a complete sentence. Ex.) "When you are old, you will be beautiful" --> "When you are old" is the dependent --- and "you will be beautiful" is the independent --- because it can stand alone and make sense.

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Ellipsis

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A phrase that omits some words that would be necessary for a complete construction, yet which is still understandable. Ex.) "If rainy, bring an umbrella."

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Imperative

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The mood of a verb that gives an order. Ex.) "Eat your spinach"

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Modify

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To restrict or limit in meaning. Ex.) In the phrase "large, shaggy dog," the two adjectives --- the noun; in the phrase "very shaggy dog," the adverb "very" --- modifies that adjective "shaggy", which modifies that noun "dog."

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Parallel Structure

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A similar grammatical structure within a sentence or within a paragraph. Ex.) Winston Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields."

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Periodic Sentence

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A sentence that becomes grammatically complete only at the end. This is opposed to a loose sentence, which is grammatically complete before the period. --- complete the important idea at the end, while loose sentences put the important ideas first. Ex.) When conquering love did first my heart assail, Unto mine aid I summoned every sense.

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