alliteration

The repetiton of consonant sounds in words that are close together.

Allusion

A reference to a statment, a person, a place, or event from literature, the arts, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, or science.

Analogy

A comparison made between two things to show how they are alike.

Anecdote

A brief story told to illustrate a point.

Atmosphere

The overall mood or feeling of a work of literature.

Autobiography

A person's account of his or her own life of part of it.

Ballad

A song or songlike poem that tells a story.

Biography

An account of a person's life or of part of it, written or told by another person.

Character

A person or an animal in a story, a play, or another literacy work.

Static character

does not change much in the course of the story.

Dynamic character

changes as a result of a story's events.

Characterization

The way a writer reveals the personality of a character.

Chronological order

The arrangement of events in the order in which they occurred.

Climax

The point in a story that creates the greatest suspense or intensity.

Conflict

A struggle between opposing characters or opposing forces.

External

A character struggles with an outside force.

Internal

Takes place within a character's own mind.

Connotation

A meaning, association, or emotion suggested by a word, in addition to its dictionary definition, or denotation.

Dialect

A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain geographical area or a certain group of people.

Dialogue

Conversation between two or more characters.

Diction

A writer or speaker's choice of words.

Epic

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.

Epilogue

A brief closing section to a piece of literature.

Exposition

The kind of writing that explains or gives information.

Fable

A brief story told in prose or poetry that contains a moral, a practical lesson about how to get a long in life.

Fiction

A prose account that is made up rather than true.

Figure of speech

A word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be understood as literally true.

Flahsback

Interruption in the present action of a plot to show events that happened at an earlier time.

Folk tale

A story that has no known author and was originally passed on from one generation to another by word of mouth.

Foreshadowing

The use of clues or hints to suggest events that will occur later in the plot.

Free verse

Poetry without a regular meter or rhyme scheme.

Historical fiction

A novel, story, or play set during a historical era.

Imagery

Language that appeals to the senses.

Irony

A contrast between expectation and reality.

Limerick

A very short humorous or nonsensical poem.

Metaphor

An imaginative comparison between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be another thing.

Narrative Poem

A poem that tells a story.

Nonfiction

Prose written that deals with real people, things, events, and places.

Onomatipoeia

The use of words whose sounds imitate or suggest their meaning.

Personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is spoken of as if it had human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes.

Plot

The series of events that made up a story.

Prose

Any writing that is not poetry.

Setting

The time and place of a story, play, or narrative poem.

Simile

A comparison between two unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles.

Symbol

A person, a place, a thing, or an event that has meaning in itself and stands for something beyond itself as well.

Theme

The general idea or insight about life that a work or literature reveals.

Tone

The tone a writer takes tward his or her subject, characters, and audience.