front 1 alliteration | back 1 The repetiton of consonant sounds in words that are close together. |
front 2 Allusion | back 2 A reference to a statment, a person, a place, or event from literature, the arts, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, or science. |
front 3 Analogy | back 3 A comparison made between two things to show how they are alike. |
front 4 Anecdote | back 4 A brief story told to illustrate a point. |
front 5 Atmosphere | back 5 The overall mood or feeling of a work of literature. |
front 6 Autobiography | back 6 A person's account of his or her own life of part of it. |
front 7 Ballad | back 7 A song or songlike poem that tells a story. |
front 8 Biography | back 8 An account of a person's life or of part of it, written or told by another person. |
front 9 Character | back 9 A person or an animal in a story, a play, or another literacy work. |
front 10 Static character | back 10 does not change much in the course of the story. |
front 11 Dynamic character | back 11 changes as a result of a story's events. |
front 12 Characterization | back 12 The way a writer reveals the personality of a character. |
front 13 Chronological order | back 13 The arrangement of events in the order in which they occurred. |
front 14 Climax | back 14 The point in a story that creates the greatest suspense or intensity. |
front 15 Conflict | back 15 A struggle between opposing characters or opposing forces. |
front 16 External | back 16 A character struggles with an outside force. |
front 17 Internal | back 17 Takes place within a character's own mind. |
front 18 Connotation | back 18 A meaning, association, or emotion suggested by a word, in addition to its dictionary definition, or denotation. |
front 19 Dialect | back 19 A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain geographical area or a certain group of people. |
front 20 Dialogue | back 20 Conversation between two or more characters. |
front 21 Diction | back 21 A writer or speaker's choice of words. |
front 22 Epic | back 22 A long narrative poem that is written in heightened language and tells stories of the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a society. |
front 23 Epilogue | back 23 A brief closing section to a piece of literature. |
front 24 Exposition | back 24 The kind of writing that explains or gives information. |
front 25 Fable | back 25 A brief story told in prose or poetry that contains a moral, a practical lesson about how to get a long in life. |
front 26 Fiction | back 26 A prose account that is made up rather than true. |
front 27 Figure of speech | back 27 A word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be understood as literally true. |
front 28 Flahsback | back 28 Interruption in the present action of a plot to show events that happened at an earlier time. |
front 29 Folk tale | back 29 A story that has no known author and was originally passed on from one generation to another by word of mouth. |
front 30 Foreshadowing | back 30 The use of clues or hints to suggest events that will occur later in the plot. |
front 31 Free verse | back 31 Poetry without a regular meter or rhyme scheme. |
front 32 Historical fiction | back 32 A novel, story, or play set during a historical era. |
front 33 Imagery | back 33 Language that appeals to the senses. |
front 34 Irony | back 34 A contrast between expectation and reality. |
front 35 Limerick | back 35 A very short humorous or nonsensical poem. |
front 36 Metaphor | back 36 An imaginative comparison between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be another thing. |
front 37 Narrative Poem | back 37 A poem that tells a story. |
front 38 Nonfiction | back 38 Prose written that deals with real people, things, events, and places. |
front 39 Onomatipoeia | back 39 The use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest their meaning. |
front 40 Personification | back 40 A figure of speech in which an object or animal is spoken of as if it had human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes. |
front 41 Plot | back 41 The series of events that made up a story. |
front 42 Prose | back 42 Any writing that is not poetry. |
front 43 Setting | back 43 The time and place of a story, play, or narrative poem. |
front 44 Simile | back 44 A comparison between two unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles. |
front 45 Symbol | back 45 A person, a place, a thing, or an event that has meaning in itself and stands for something beyond itself as well. |
front 46 Theme | back 46 The general idea or insight about life that a work or literature reveals. |
front 47 Tone | back 47 The tone a writer takes tward his or her subject, characters, and audience. |