LITERARY TERMS
Pfeiffer
allegory = Narrative of an extended metaphor with
characters are personified abstractions, such as Death,
Greed, Virtue.
alliteration = Repetition of the same consonant sounds,
as in many miles Mary meandered.
allusion = Reference to a person, text, or event outside
the text, as in these William Carlos Williams lines:
According to Brueghel / When Icarus fell / it was
springallusions to the 16th c. Dutch painter Brueghel
and the Greek mythological figure Icarus.
ambiguity = Doubtfulness or uncertainty in interpretation.
ambivalence = Coexistence of opposing attitudes or
feelings.
anachronism = Something that is out of its proper or
chronological order, as in the reference to a clock in
Shakespeares Julius Caesar.
analogy = Comparison based on similarity; simile,
metaphor, and allegory are examples of analogy.
anaphora = Repetition of the same word or words at the
beginning of a series of phrases, lines, or sentences, as
in these lines from an Elizabeth Barrett Browning
sonnet: I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; / I
love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. Similar to
parallelism, but in parallelism there is repetition of
grammatical construction, not necessarily the repetition
of the same word or words at the beginning.
anecdote = Brief story about an amusing or interesting
(usually autobiographical) event.
antagonist = Principal character in opposition to the
protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama.
anticlimax = Something trivial or commonplace that
follows a series of significant events; usually these are
events that follow the climax of a story.
antithesis = Figure of speech that emphasizes opposing
ideas or attitudes by a juxtaposition of contrasting, but
parallel words and phrases, as in E.M. Forsters line
Death destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him.
apostrophe = figure of speech in which the
narrator/speaker addresses an inanimate object as if
alive.
archetype = Ideal example of a type; certain character or
personality types have become established: for
example, the rebel, the all-conquering hero, the country
bumpkin, the self-made person, the traitor, the snob, the
social climber. Even creatures have become archetypal
emblems: lion, eagle, snake, hare, tortoise.
aside = Piece of dialogue intended for the theater
audience and supposedly not heard by the other actors
on stage.
assonance = Close repetition of similar vowels in
conjunction with dissimilar consonant sounds, as in the
phrase tilting at windmills.
autobiography = Biography of a person written by that
person.
for IB Englishcompiled by Ms.
bathos = When a writer strives to express the sublime (or
sentimental), but goes too far and the piece becomes
absurd and ridiculous, making it subject to satire.
biography = Account of a person's life written, assembled,
or produced by another.
blank verse = Verse consisting of unrhymed lines, usually
of iambic pentameter (such as in Shakespeares plays).
It is believed to be the poetic pattern closest to natural
speech.
caesura = Pause in a poetic line, usually denoted by
punctuation such as a semicolon or comma.
catharsis = Release of emotional tension, as after an
overwhelming experience, restoring or refreshing the
spirit.
character = a round character is complex and has many
traits, develops in a storyalso called a dynamic
character; a flat character does not change and has few
traits, does not developalso called a static character.
characterization = Act of creating and developing a
character. There are two methods: Direct
characterization = When the writer states or describes
a characters traits. Indirect characterization = When
the writer shows a characters personality through his or
her actions, thoughts, feelings, words, and appearance,
or through another characters observations and
reactions.
clich = Trite or overused expression or idea, like wise as
an owl, be there for someone, he didnt know his own
mind, see the writing on the wall, making the best of it.
conceit = Elaborate extended analogy comparing two very
different things, creating a surprisingly apt parallel, such
as this line from a famous Shakespeare sonnet, Shall I
compare thee to a summers day?
conflict = Opposition between characters or forces in a
work of drama or fiction, especially opposition that
motivates or shapes the action of the plot. Examples are
human versus. human; human versus Nature; human
versus him/herself.
connotation = Associative meanings of a word in addition
to its literal sense, as in stench (negative), odor
(negative/neutral), smell (neutral), aroma (positive).
Connotation may be personal and individual, or general
and universal.
consonance = Repetition of consonant sounds in
conjunction with dissimilar vowel sounds, as in blank /
think, strong / string, fair / fear.
counter plot = Subsidiary action in a play or story that
coincides with the main action; also known as subplot.
denotation = Specific or direct meaning of a word found in
the dictionary, in contrast to its figurative or associated
meanings, which is called connotation. The denotation
of home is a dwelling in which people live; the
connotation is positive and comforting for most people
determinism = Philosophical doctrine that every event,
act, and decision is the inevitable consequence of
elements of fate, independent of the human will.
dialect = Regional variety of a language distinguished by
pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, especially a
variety of speech differing from the standard literary
language or speech pattern of the culture in which it
exists. An example is this excerpt from Flannery
OConners story The Life You Save May Be Your
Own: That car aint run in fifteen year.
diction = Choice and use of words in speech or writing, as
part of a writers style. Diction may be, e.g., formal or
informal, plain or ornate, common or technical, abstract
or concrete, polysyllabic or monosyllabic; a writer could
also use diction from a certain area, such as natural or
mechanical diction.
end rhyme = Rhyming words that repeat at the end of
lines in poetry.
enjambment = Continuation of grammatical structure in a
poem beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza and
into the next. Also called run-on line. An example of an
enjambed line this one by Vernon Watkins: He stands
unfaltering while the gulls/And oyster-catches scream.
Enjambment is the opposite of an end-stopped line, in
which the natural grammatical pause coincides with the
end of a line (either with a comma or semicolon).
epic simile = Extended simile elaborated in great detail
("as.so"); also called a Homeric simile because the
technique appears so often in Homers epics The Iliad
and The Odyssey.
epiphany = Comprehension or perception of reality by a
sudden realization or discovery of a truth that changes a
character; also called a crystallized moment.
epilogue = a final chapter at the end of a story that often
serves to reveal the fates of the characters, and may
occur at a significant period of time after the main plot
has ended. See Morrison's Beloved.
epistrophe: Repetition of a word or expression at the end
of successive phrases or lines, as in of the people,
by the people, for the people. Compare to
anaphora.
exact rhyme = Rhyme in which words have identical
sounds like dear / sneer, light / night. Also called perfect
rhyme and full rhyme. Contrasts with eye rhyme and
slant rhyme.
existentialism = Philosophy that emphasizes the
uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in
a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human
existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of
choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's
acts.
extended metaphor = Analogy that continues to be
elaborated through detail.
eye rhyme = Rhyme that gives the impression of exact
rhyme by its appearance, but the words do not have
identical sounds, for example come/home, forth/worth,
prove/love, rain/again. See half rhyme and slant
rhyme. Contrasts with exact rhyme.
figurative language = Language that uses imagery and
figures of speech (such as simile, metaphor,
personification, hyperbole).
flashback = Literary or cinematic device in which an
earlier event is inserted into the normal chronological
order of a narrative; showing events that happened at
an earlier time, often used in modern fiction.
foil = Character that, by contrast, underscores or
enhances the distinctive characteristics of another.
Hamlet has two foils: Fortinbras and Laertes.
foot (metric) = Unit of rhythm in a poetic line, long/short,
stressed/unstressed. Terms for the number of feet per
line: 1monometer; 2dimeter; 3trimeter; 4tetrameter;
5pentameter; 6hexameter; 7heptameter; 8
octameter.
foreshadowing = Technique of arranging events and
information so that later events are prepared for or
hinted at early in a narrative.
free verse = Verse with no regular meter or line length and
depends on natural speechs rhythms.
genre = Category of artistic composition, marked by a
distinctive style, form, or content, such as epic, tragedy,
lyric, comedy, satire, drama, novel, short story, and
nonfiction.
half rhyme = Rhyme that relies on consonance of the final
consonants of words, which may be deliberate orin
the case of an amateur poetdue to a lack of skill.
Examples are soul/all, bodies/ladies, and ill/shell; also
called sprung or near rhyme. See eye rhyme and slant
rhyme. Contrasts with exact rhyme.
hubris = Overbearing pride, presumption, or arrogance; a
common defect in a tragic hero that leads to his or her
downfall.
hyperbole = Figure of speech in which exaggeration is
used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a
year or This book weighs a ton.
iambic pentameter = Poetic line of five iambs, common in
English poetry.
imagery = Use of vivid language to represent objects,
actions, or ideas; images may be visual (from sight),
auditory (from sound), olfactory (from smell), tactile
(from touch), gustatory (from taste), or kinesthetic (from
body movement).
incongruity = Something in the work that shows a
discrepancy or contradiction.
in medias res = Latin for in the middle of things, when a
narrative begins in the middle or at the end instead of at
the beginning; character, setting, and conflict are often
explained through flashbacks.
intertextuality = Various links in form and content that
bind a text to other texts. Through the borrowing or
transforming of other texts, a new meaning emerges.
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irony = Perceived notion of an incongruity, or a gap,
between an understanding of reality, or expectation of a
reality, and what actually happens. There are several
types, including:
verbal irony: When what is said is not what is meant,
when meaning is contrary to the words.
dramatic irony: When the audience or reader knows
something that a character doesnt.
situational irony: When what happens contradicts
expectations.
jargon = Vocabulary peculiar to a group or profession.
juxtaposition = Act of placing things side by side for the
purposes of comparing or contrasting; the verb form is
juxtapose.
leitmotif = German for leading motif, a recurring or
repeated theme in a musical, artistic, or literary work.
literal = Primary, non-figurative meaning of a word; the
literal meaning is the dictionary meaning, as opposed to
a the figurative meaning.
litotes = Figure of speech that contains an understatement
for emphasis, the opposite of hyperbole, such as
saying not bad to something that is very good or
beautiful, or this line: It look a few days to build the
Great Wall of China. Also called meiosis.
local color = Use of detail peculiar to a particular region
and environment to add interest and authenticity to a
narrative, including description of the locale, dress,
customs, and music.
lyric poetry = Poetry in which the poet expresses personal
thoughts and feelings, having the form and qualities of a
song.
macrocosm = The universe in its entirety, the larger reality
or big picture; microcosm refers to a sort of miniature
system that represents a larger system.
magical realism = Technique in which highly imaginative
elementssuch as the supernatural, myth, dream,
fantasyinvade and contrast with the realism of a work.
malapropism = Incorrect use of a word by substituting a
similar sounding, usually polysyllabic word, creating a
comic effect. It is named after Mrs. Malaprop, a
character in Sheridans The Rivals (1775) who had a
habit of using polysyllabic word incorrectly: I would have
her instructed in geometry, that she might know
something of the contagious [contiguous] countries.
metalanguage = type of writing that addresses the
devices of fiction or written composition, self-
consciously and draws attention to its status as an
artifact in posing questions about the relationship
between fiction and reality, usually using irony and self-
reflection. See The Things They Carried and Dom
Casmurro as prime examples.
metaphor = Figure of speech in which a word or phrase
that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate
another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in
Shakespeares famous line, All the world's a stage. A
metaphor has a tenor (original subject) and vehicle
(what gives the original subject new attributes); in the
above example, world is the tenor, and stage is the
vehicle. If a metaphor is detailed and elaborate, it is
called an extended metaphor.
meter = Pattern of stressed ( / ) and unstressed ( U )
syllables. The following meters are the most common
(adjective, noun forms, example):
iambic, iamb U/ de-feat
anapestic, anapest UU/ in-ter-vene
trochaic, trochee /U chil-dren
dactylic, dactyl /UU ha-ppi-ly
spondaic, spondee // sun-shine
metonymy = Figure of speech in which replaces or
substitutes the name for something closely associated
with it: the crown for the monarchy, the press for the
news media; the bench for the judiciary. Compare to
synecdoche.
monologue = Literary composition in which a single
person speaks alone, with or without an audience. Also
known as dramatic monologue. Compare to soliloquy.
motif = Recurring element in a work that has thematic
significance; it may consist of a character, an object, a
repeated image, or a verbal pattern; a motif differs from
a theme in that a theme is an idea set forth by a text,
where a motif is a recurring element which symbolizes
that idea. An example is the green light in The Great
Gatsby. See leitmotif.
motivation = Reason that explains or partially explains a
characters thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech.
myth = Explanations of the natural order and cosmic
forces; story that is not true, involves supernatural
events and explains how something came to exist.
narrative = Writing that tells a story (a sequence of real or
unreal events), with a beginning, middle, and end.
narrator = Person or entity telling a story to a reader in a
literary work; in a poem, though, the preferred term is
persona or speaker. A reader needs to determine to
what extent the narrator/speaker is reliable or
unreliable.
naturalism = Works that show a strong interest in,
sympathy with and love of natural beauty; a belief that
everything that exists is a part of nature and can be
explained by natural causes.
ode = Lyric poem that honors something (often an
everyday object) through a stately tone and style. The
Chilean modern poet Pablo Neruda was a master of this
form.
omniscient = A point of view in a narrative in which a
third-person narrator is able to reveal insights into
characters and settings that would not be otherwise
apparent from the events of the story and which no
single character could be aware of. If the narrator
reveals the thoughts of only one character, the point of
view is limited omniscient.
onomatopoeia = Formation or use of words such as buzz,
moo, crack, or murmur that imitate the sounds
associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
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oxymoron = Figure of speech in which incongruous or
contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening
silence, sweet sorrow, and an honest thief.
paradox = Seemingly contradictory statement that may
nonetheless be true: standing is more tiring than
walking.
parallelism = Repetition of a sentence pattern or
grammatical structure. Anaphora is a type of
parallelism, but is more specific in that it repeats the
same words.
parataxis = Coordination of clauses without conjunctions;
the effect is terseness and compression. Emily
Dickinson uses parataxis.
parody = Imitative use of words, style, attitude, tone, and
ideas of an author in such a way as to make the author
or his or her ideas look ridiculous. See satire.
pastoral = Literary work that portrays or evokes rural life,
usually in an idealized manner, displaying nostalgia for
the last or a hypothetical state of love or peace that has
been lost.
pathos = Quality that invokes feelings of tenderness, pity,
or sorrow in the reader or audience, e.g. Gertrudes
speech describing the death of Ophelia in Hamlet.
person = In a literary work, either the speaker (first
person; I), the individual addressed (second person;
you), and the individual or thing spoken of (third
person; he/she/it).
persona = Voice or character representing the speaker in
a literary work; persona is a term usually reserved for
poetry (with fiction, narrator is usually used).
personification = Figure of speech in which inanimate
objects or abstractions given human qualities or are
represented as possessing human form, as in hunger
sat shivering on the road or flowers danced about the
lawn. Anti-personification (also called anti-
prosopopoeia) is the representation of persons as
inanimate objects, as in this metaphor: Hes a doormat
that everyone wipes their dirty shoes on.
phonics = Study of speech in human language. Besides
alliteration, assonance, and consonance, when
analyzing a writers diction, the following terms are
useful:
cacophony: Having harsh, discordant sounds.
dental consonants = Use of T, TH, D, N, L: thing,
dog, love, no.
double consonants = Use of two consonants in a
row: parallel, kennel, swelling.
elision = Leaving out an unstressed syllable or vowel
to keep the meter of a poetic line regular: oer = over.
euphony: Having flowing pleasing sounds, usually
produced by long vowels.
fricative sounds = Use of F, Z, S: fee, suit, zoo.
nasal sounds = Use of M, N: hand, ring, swam,
candy.
plosive sounds = Use of P, D, T: tap, debt.
sibilant sounds = Subset of fricative sounds, using
hissing sounds from S, Z, SH, and sometimes C: sun,
cent, scent.
vowel sounds = Use of long vowel sounds, as in coat
(O), hide (I) and short vowel sounds, as in off (o),
insect (i).
ploce = Repetition of a word or a phrase for emphasis or
for extended meaning, as in William Blake's line: Why
wilt thou sleep the sleep of death? Or in this line from
Shakespeare's Richard III: Make war upon
themselvesbrother to brother, / Blood to blood, self
against self.
plot = Plan of events or main story in a narrative. A classic
linear plot with a beginning, middle, and end is divided
into five parts: exposition (providing needed
information about character and situation), rising
action (consisting of complication, conflict, crisis),
climax (moment of greatest or culminating intensity,
turning point), falling action (showing the
consequences and leading to resolving conflicts), and
resolution (also called dnouement, when the
complications are resolved or simplified).
poetic justice = Term that conveys the idea that the evil
are punished appropriately and the good rewarded as
they should be.
poetic license = Liberty allowed to the poet to work (even
distort) the language according to his/her needs in use
of, for example, figurative speech, rhyme, and syntax.
poetry = Poetry can be divided into two types: Closed
poetry = Using a fixed form, structure, and pattern such
as rhyme, line length, and meter; examples are sonnet
and villanelle. Open poetry = Lacking regularity and
consistency in form and structure.
point of view = Position of a narrator in a piece of
literature: first person (I), third person limited
omniscient (narrator enters the mind of one character),
and third person omniscient (the narrator enters the
minds of all characters).
prologue = Opening section of a work, a kind of
introduction that is part of the work; similar to a preface.
prose = Ordinary speech or writing, without metrical
structure; contrasts with poetry, which often uses meter.
protagonist = Main character in a drama or other literary
work.
proverb = Short, pithy saying in frequent and widespread
use that expresses a basic truth or practical precept,
such as Actions speak louder than words. Kindness
begets kindness.
pseudonym = Name other than his or her own taken by
the author. For example, Mark Twain is the pseudonym
of Samuel Clemens.
pun = Play on words, sometimes on different senses of the
same word and sometimes on the similar sense or
sound of different words. Hamlet says to Claudius, I am
too much in the sun, playing on the word son.
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realism = The documenting of life with bare truth, not
idealism; focus on gritty, truthful scenes of people and
their (usually difficult) lives.
reasoning: Process of looking for reasons to support
beliefs, conclusions, actions or feelings. There are three
types:
deductive = Valid because the argument's conclusion
must be true when the premises (the reasons given to
support that conclusion) are true. Example: All humans
are mortal; Margaret is human; Margaret is mortal. This
example is called a syllogism (using the general to
prove the specific example).
inductive = The premises do not guarantee the truth of
the conclusion; instead, the conclusion of an inductive
argument follows with some degree of probability.
Humes famous example: The sun has risen in the east
every morning up until now. The sun will also rise in the
east tomorrow.
false or fallacious = Invalid reasoning because of a
logical fallacy in the form or content of the argument.
Example: If A, then B. Not A. Therefore, not B. (weak
reasoning for conclusion) and She is the best poet I
have ever read because she is the best poet (circular
reasoning; restating the argument).
refrain = Phrase, line, or lines repeated at intervals during
a poem or narrative.
rhetoric = Art or study of using language effectively and
persuasively.
rhyme = Repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or
more different words; rhyme can be feminine (multi-
syllabic, the first stressed, the second unstressed:
trances / glances; pleasure / leisure) or masculine
(single syllable: pan / man; dumb / come).
rhyme scheme = Arrangement of rhyming lines in a poem
or stanza.
rhythm = Patterned, recurring alternations of contrasting
elements of sound or speech. Prose that has rhythm
usually has varied sentence lengths and judicious use
of parallelism and repetition.
sarcasm = Verbal irony that is intended to make its victim
the subject of contempt or ridicule.
satire = Literary work in which human vice or folly is
attacked through irony, derision, or wit. See parody.
scansion = Analysis of verse into metrical patterns.
sentimentality = False or exaggerated emotion used to
evoke a reader response. See bathos.
setting = Time, place, and circumstances (such as
weather) in which a narrative takes placethe where
and when of a story (social, political, cultural, economic,
geographic, physical/exterior, mental/interior). In drama,
the term may refer to the scenery and props.
simile = Figure of speech in which two essentially unlike
things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by
like or as, as in Shakespeares lines How like the winter
hath my absence been or So are you to my thoughts as
food to life.
slang = Language of the street, common, informal
language, also called colloquial speech.
slant rhyme = Rhyme that is not true, either deliberately
so or because of a poets lack of skill, e.g. other /
powder. Compare to eye rhyme and half rhyme.
Contrast with exact rhyme.
soliloquy = Dramatic form of discourse in which a
character reveals his or her thoughts when alone or
unaware of the presence of other characters. Hamlet
has many notable soliloquies.
sonnet = 14-line verse form usually using iambic
pentameter and having a conventional rhyme scheme;
the three most famous sonnet types are named after
poets who wrote in those forms:
Shakespearean sonnet: Having three quatrains and a
couplet, with the rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg.
Named after William Shakespeare.
Spenserian sonnet: Three quatrains and a couplet, but
with the rhyme scheme of abab bcbc cdcd ee. Named
after the 16th c. English poet, Edmund Spenser.
Petrarchan sonnet: Having an octave, then a sestet
with the rhyme scheme abbaabba cdecde OR ending
with cdcdcd. Its first octave generally presents a
thought, picture, or emotion, while its final sestet
presents an explanation, comment, or summary. Named
after the 14th c. Italian poet, Francesco Petrarca.
stanza = Group of lines in poetry; a poems paragraphs.
couplet = Stanza or poem of 2 lines.
tercet = Stanza or poem of 3 lines.
quatrain = Stanza or poem of 4 lines.
quintet = Stanza or poem of 5 lines.
sestet = Stanza or poem of 6 lines.
septet = Stanza or poem of 7 lines.
octave = Stanza or poem of 8 lines.
stereotype = Conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified
conception, opinion, or image: Southerners are lazy,
and Northerners are smart.
stream of consciousness = Literary technique that
presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as the
thoughts develop. From Joyces Ulysses: Yes. Thought
so. Sloping into the Empire. Gone. Plain soda would do
him good.
style = In literary study, the way or manner in which
something is written; style may be analyzed by studying
diction, figurative language, rhetorical devices, syntax,
and a pieces formal structure.
subjectivity = Conveys personal experience and feeling
(such as anecdote and autobiography); the opposite of
objectivity where the writer is outside the work, writing
about other people and therefore detached from it.
subtext = What is implied but not written, what Harold
Pinter called the pressure behind the words.
suspense = Anxiety or apprehension resulting from an
uncertain, undecided, or mysterious situation.
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symbol = Something that represents something else by international exhibition of concrete poetry in So Paulo,
association, resemblance, or convention, especially a inspired by the work of Carlos Drummond de Andrade.
material object used to represent something invisible. vernacular = Standard native language of a country or
Although symbols are dependent on culture, common locality; everyday language spoken by a people;
symbols in Western literature: fire = passion or anger; distinguished from literary language.
ashes = death; lily = purity or innocence; light and
darkness = life and death or knowledge and ignorance verse = Line of metrical writing; poetry in general.
or joy and sorrow; dove = peace. Actions can also be vignette = Short, impressionistic scene that focuses on
symbolic: closed fist = aggression; raised hands = one moment or gives a particular insight into a
surrender. character, idea, or setting; if a real-life story by the
synecdoche = Figure of speech in which a part of speaker, called an anecdote.
something is substituted for the whole. Examples: villanelle = Poetry form having 5 tercets and a final
referring to workers as hands, police as the law. quatrain (19 lines total). The first and the third lines of
Compare to metonymy. the first tercet recur alternately in the following stanzas
synesthesia = Description of one kind of sense as a refrain and form a final couplet, creating the rhyme
impression by using words that usually describe scheme aba, aba, aba, aba, abaa. See Dylan Thomas's
another, as in blinding roar, soft wind, heavy silence, "Do not go gentle into that good night" and Elizabeth
black look, hard voice, cold eye. Bishops One Art.
syntax = Order or sequence of words in a sentence; voice = Narrator, speaker, or persona of a literary work, or
syntax may be conventional (as in everyday speech, the distinctive style or manner of expression of an
which in English is subject-verb-object), unconventional author or a character in a book.
(breaking the rules or conventions of grammar), or zeugma = Figure of speech in which a word stands in the
balanced (word arrangement for parallelism or contrast). same relation to two other terms, but with a different
Sometimes a writer (such as Shakespeare or Dickinson) meaning, a common device in satire. Examples: I lost
will invert normal syntax to enhance compression or pride and my wallet at the carnival. After a hard day at
rhythm; Robert Frost uses inverted syntax in this line: work she gave me love and a plate of warm cookies.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
theme = Central idea in a literary work; complex literature
develops more than one theme.
thesis = Main idea of a paper, which will be (it is hoped)
logically argued and proven through evidence.
tone = General quality, effect, atmosphere, and mood; the
writers attitude or manner toward the subject or
readers/audience. Some adjectives that may be used to
describe tone: formal, ironic, defensive, somber,
anxious, condescending, impartial, informal, intimate,
serious, playful, celebratory, empathetic.
topic sentence = Main, focusing idea of a paragraph.
tragedy = Drama or literary work in which the main
character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow,
especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw (such as
hubris), a moral weakness, or an inability to cope with
unfavorable circumstances. See Hamlet and Othello.
transition = Word, phrase, sentence, or series of
sentences connecting one part of a discourse to
another; good transitions contribute to coherence in
writing.
trope = Figurative language device (such as hyperbole,
litotes, metaphor, metonymy, personification, simile, and
synecdoche). Another definition is that trope denotes a
familiar and repeated symbol, theme, motif, style,
character or something that permeates a particular type
of narrative. Similar to stereotype: pink as feminine, or
the characters of the mad scientist or the innocent boy
from the countryside struggling in the big city.
typography = Physical design of a text and appearance of
the arrangement of words; a texts format. For example,
17th c. English poet George Herberts poem The Altar
is in the shape of an altar. The term concrete poetry
was coined in the last century; concrete poets use
typography to show meaning. In 1956 there was an
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