Allegory
1a
A story in which people
represent an idea or a
generalization about life
1b
Anapestic meter
2a
Meter that is composed of
feet that are short-short-long
or unaccented-unaccentedaccented, used usually in
light or whimsical poetry
2b
Anaphora
3a
A rhetorical term for
repetition of a word or a
phrase at the beginning of
several clauses
3b
Anecdote
4a
A brief story that illustrates
or makes a point
4b
Anthropomorphism
5a
A device in which the
writer attributes human
characteristics to an
animate being or an
inanimate object
5b
Anxiety of influence
6a
Literary critic Harold Bloom advanced
this way of interpreting poetry by using
Sigmund Freud's notion of the Oedipus
complex to suggest that poets, filled with
anxiety and no new ideas to express,
struggle against the earlier influences of
a previous generation of poets
6b
Aphorism
7a
A wise saying, usually short
and witty
7b
Apostrophe
8a
A turn from the general
audience to address a
specific group of persons
who is present or absent
8b
Archetype
9a
A character, plot, image,
theme, or setting that
appears in literature across
cultures and is repeated
over time
9b
Assonance
10a
A repetition of the same
sounds in words close to
one another- for example,
white stripes
10b
Cadence
11a
The natural rhythmic rise
and fall of language as it is
normally spoken
11b
Caesura
12a
A break in the rhythm of
language, particularly a
natural phase in a line of
verse, marked in prosody
by a double vertical line
12b
Conceit
13a
A metaphor or figure of
speech, often elaborate,
that compares two things
that are very different
13b
Consonance
14a
Repetition of the final
consonant sound in words
containing different
vowels- for example, stroke
of luck
14b
Couplet
15a
A stanza made up of two
rhyming lines
15b
Dactyl
16a
A metrical foot of three
syllables in which the first
syllable is stressed and the
next two are unstressed
16b
Death of an author
17a
A literary criticism that rebuts the
traditional literary criticism notion
that are the biography of an author
provides a context for interpretation
of text; instead, the writing and the
creator are unrelated
17b
Denouement
18a
The resolution or
conclusion of a story
18b
Dialogic
19a
A literary theory term that
advances the idea that works
of literature carry on a
dialogue with other works of
literature and other authors
19b
Doublespeak
20a
Language that intentionally
distorts or disguises
meaning
20b
Enjambment
21a
Also known as a run-on line
in poetry, enjambment
occurs when one line ends
and continues onto the next
line to complete the meaning
21b
Epithet
22a
A descriptive phrase or word
frequently used to characterize
a person or thing, such as the
father of psychology refers to
Sigmund Freud
22b
Euphemism
23a
A word or phrase that
substitutes for an offensive
or suggestive one; lost their
lives means killed
23b
Existentialism
24a
A philosophy that values
human freedom and
personal responsibility;
Jean Paul Satre
24b
Foot
25a
A metrical foot is one
stressed syllable and a
number of unstressed
syllables
25b
Frame story
26a
A literary device in which a
story is enclosed in another
story
26b
Hermeneutics
27a
The art and science of text
interpretation
27b
Heroic couplet
28a
A pair of lines of poetic
verse written in iambic
pentameter
28b
Hubris
29a
A flaw that leads to the
downfall of a tragic hero
29b
Hubris
30a
The flaw that leads to the
downfall of a tragicn
30b
Incongruity
31a
The intentional joining of
opposites
31b
Intertextuality
32a
The relationship between
texts, especially works of
literature
32b
Malapropism
33a
A type of pun or play on
words that results when
two words become mixed
up in the speakers mind
33b
Metonymy
34a
A figure of speech in which
one word is substituted for
another with which it is
closely associated
34b
Monologic
35a
A literary theory term in
which literature is viewed
as transmitting an authors
message
35b
Oedipus complex
36a
From the Freudian theory that
posits people experience a
complex set of emotions based
on sexual attraction to their
parent of the opposite sex
36b
Paradox
37a
A contradictory statement
that makes sense
37b
Pathetic fallacy
38a
The attribution of human
feelings and responses to
inanimate things or
animals
38b
Pun
39a
A play on words based on
multiple meanings or on
words that sound alike but
have different meanings
39b
Refrain
40a
The repetition of a line or
phrase of a poem at regular
intervals, particularly at the
end of each stanza
40b
Slant rhyme
41a
A rhyme that is not exact.
Emily Dickinson
41b
Spondee
42a
A metrical foot consisting
of two syllables, both of
which are stressed
42b
Synesthesia
43a
The juxtaposition of one
sensory image with another
that appeals to an
unrelated sense
43b
Transcendentalism
44a
During the mid-19th century
in New England, several
writers and intellectuals
worked together to write,
translate works, and publish
44b
Trochee
45a
A metrical foot made up of
an accented syllable
followed by an unaccented
syllable
45b
Vernacular
46a
Language spoken by people
who live in a particular
region
46b
Verse
47a
A metric line of poetry. A
verse is named based on
the kind and number of
feet composing it (see Foot)
47b
Voice
48a
Distinctive features of a
person's speech and speech
patterns
48b