allegory a literary work or visual imagery that functions on two or more levels of meaning by comparing objects to symbols outside the scope of the work.
alliteration the repetition of consonant sounds, even those spelled differently.
allusion a brief or indirect reference to something or someone known to most people.
analogy a literary parallel or comparison between like situations, objects, or ideas, often expressed as a simile or implied as a conceit, image, or metaphor.
anapest a metrical foot or unit formed of three syllables, two unstressed beats followed by a stressed beat (–– ').
anti-hero, anti-heroine a protagonist or central figure who lacks heroic qualities.
antithesis a balanced statement of contrasts that juxtaposes opposites in words, phrases, clauses, images, or themes.
apologia a literary defense of a person or situation, also an explanation or detailed accounting of an event or belief.
apostrophe an emotion-charged address to an absent or dead person, abstract quality, or object.
approximate rhyme words that come close to rhyme without copying the exact sound pattern, as in steer/stare, mud/could, and late/light.
archetype a recurrent character, setting, or pattern from early literature.
assonance repetition of a vowel sound, as with the a sound in ace/eight/say.
balanced sentence a sentence composed of equal elements on each side of a connector, which creates a pause to stress proportional comment on either side.
ballad a dramatic chronological story-poem.
bathos overstatement, excessive emotion, or anticlimax that stresses loss, sentiment, or tragedy to the point of creating humor or melodrama.
beast fable an amoral animal story or allegorical satire that features nonhuman characters in a comic action to reveal a character fault or weakness.
belles lettres elegant writing.
blank verse an unrhymed pattern of short and long beats into a five-beat line (- '/ - '/- '/- '/- '/).
cacophony an arrangement of harsh or grating sounds to annoy or create conflict or tension.
cadence a unified arrangement of phrases or sounds into a pattern.
caesura a pause or interruption in a line of verse.
canon an authentic body of writing by one author.
canto a major segment or numbered section of a long poem.
character name a method of revealing qualities of character or attitude through symbolic or descriptive names.
chiaroscuro a deliberate contrast of light and dark elements.
climax the turning point or height of a series of actions.
conceit an elaborate comparison that teases the imagination to understand its logic.
consonance the repetition of consonants, as in leaves/loaves.
context the phrases surrounding a passage.
contrast a strong difference between two elements in a comparison.
couplet a pair of rhymed lines composed in the same meter.
