A story with an underlying meaning as well as a literal one 1. Allegory Used to describe poetry that satirizes the heroic style 2. Mock-heroic The use of words to exploit double-meanings for humorous effects 3. Pun Literary or dramatic tool designed to create a particular effect in order to evoke a particular response from the audience or reader 4. Devices 5. Pathos The power of arousing pity or sadness The way in which words are arranged to form phrases or and sentences 6. Syntax
Use of the same sound at the start of words occurring together 1. Alliteration 2. Monosyllabic A word of one syllable A stanza or poem of four lines 3. Quatrain A conversation between two or more people in a book, film or play 4. Dialogue 5. Persona Someone’s personality as presented to others Art of effective speaking or writing Artificial or exaggerated language 6. Rhetoric
2. Stream of Consciousness 1. Allusion Indirect reference A literary technique that seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her sensory reactions to external occurrences. 2. Stream of Consciousness Recurring theme or design 3. Motif Giving human characteristics to something 4. Personification Act of repeating something 5. Repetition Recurring idea 6. Theme
Having more than one possible meaning 1. Ambiguity Intended/overeager to instruct 2. Didactic 3. Multiple narrators Several narrators telling a story from different points of view 4. Perspective A view or opinion of the situation 5. Rhyming couplets Two lines that rhyme in verse 6. Tone An indicator of attitude, emotion or thoughts
Ancient or out-of-date 1. Archaic In drama, the device of giving the spectator an item of information that at least one of the characters in the narrative is unaware of (at least consciously), thus of placing the spectator a step ahead of at least one of the characters. 2. Dramatic irony A story narrated by one character who refers to themselves in the first person 3. First person The arrangements or words to form a regular pattern or stresses 4. Rhythm 5. Tragic hero A literary character who makes errors in judgment, in his or her actions, that inevitably leads to his or her own downfall 6. Assonance The rhyming of vowel sounds
Use of ridicule to expose vice or folly 1. Ballad Narrative poem A speech given by a character that explains their motives, feelings or actions 2. Dramatic monologue Eight lines of verse 3. Octave State of uncertainty 4. Suspense Use of ridicule to expose vice or folly 5. Satire A literary device in which the credibility of the narrator is seriously compromised 6. Unreliable narrator
Scenery used in a play or film a type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no rhyme 1. Blank verse A feeling of uncertainty and interest about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work 2. Dramatic Tension 3. Omniscient narrator A third person in a play or story that has no physical being. It witnesses all events and is all-knowing 4. Setting Scenery used in a play or film 5. Caesura Pause in a line of verse 6. Ellipsis Omission of letters or words in a sentence
Figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory ideas The process of conveying information about a character through their actions, speech and thoughts 1. Characterisation 2. Enjambement The continuation of meaning, without pause or break, from one line of poetry to the next 3. Oxymoron Figure of speech that combines two apparently contradictory ideas 4. Simile Figure of speech comparing one thing to another using ‘as’ or ‘like’ 5. Cliche Expression or idea that is no longer effective because of overuse 6. Third person Where the characters in the narrative are distinct from the person telling the story
Deliberate exaggeration for effect A manner of speaking that is informal and uses phrases or words associated with a particular area 1. Colloquial 2. Hyperbole Deliberate exaggeration for effect also called rhythm or tempo, is a term used to describe the flow of events in an entertainment piece 3. Pace A speech made by a person while alone 4. Soliloquy 5. Conceit Too high opinion of oneself 6. Imagery descriptive language that evokes sensory experience
Person or thing made up of contradictory elements Phrases that would not make sense if you took the individual words literally 1. Idiomatic language When a statement is apparently straight forward but there are undercurrents that offer a different significance – it means there is a difference between what is said and what is meant 2. Irony Person or thing made up of contradictory elements Statement that seems self-contradictory but may be true 3. Paradox A fourteen line poem with a fixed rhyme scheme 4. Sonnet A figure of speech in which a term is applied to something it does not literally denote in order to imply a resemblance 5. Metaphor An exaggerated or amusing imitation of someone else’s style 6. Parody
When the weather or natural world reflect the mood of the writing 1. Pathetic Fallacy the process of selecting, designing, adapting to, or modifying the performance space for a play 2. Staging Manner of pronouncing words or sounds 3. Diction When something stands for or represents something beyond it 4. Symbolism 5. Protagonist Leading character in a play or story 6. Stanza Verse of a poem