Define
Mood
The prevailing atmosphere or feeling of a work
The Wicked Witch of the West went her own way
Alliteration
Allusion
A direct or indirect reference to something which is presumably commonly known, such as an event, book, myth, place, or work of art. Allusions can be historical, literary, religious, mythical...
“...Macbeth/ Will seem as pure as snow…”
Simile
The way an author chooses to join words into phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Syntax
Tone
Describes the author’s attitude toward his material, the audience, or both.
Ring!
Onomatopoeia
Diction
Related to style, diction refers to the writer’s word choices, especially with regard to their correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.
Now the sea would suck down, making cascades and waterfalls of retreating water... then, pausing, gather and rise with a roar, irresistibly swelling over point and outcrop, climbing the little cliff, sending at last an arm of surf up a gully to end a yard or so from him in fingers of spray
Personification
A specific element, event, thing that reoccurs through a specific work for added meaning
Motif
Theme
The central idea or message of a work, the insight it offers into life.
Jumbo shrimp
Oxymoron
Verbal Irony
When the words literally state the opposite of the writer’s (or speaker’s) meaning
Metaphor
The non-literal, associative meaning of a word; the implied, suggested meaning.
Connotation
Denotation
The strict, literal, dictionary definition of a word, devoid of any emotion, attitude, or color.
"So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old..."
Parallelism
Situational Irony
When events turn out the opposite of what was expected; when what the characters and readers think ought to happen is not what does happen
The gushing brook stole its way down the lush green mountains, dotted with tiny flowers in a riot of colors.
Imagery
A figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order to make a point and without the expectation of a reply.
Rhetorical question
Apostrophe
A figure of speech that directly addresses an absent or imaginary person or a personified abstraction, such as liberty or love. It is an address to someone or something that cannot answer.
Paradox
Allegory
The concrete presentation of an abstract idea, typically in a narrative . . . with at least two levels of meaning. The first level is the surface storyline. The second level is typically moral, political, philosophical, or religious.
In Romeo and Juliet, Lord and Lady Capulet are planning Juliet's wedding, while we know that she's already married to Romeo
Dramatic Irony
Something concrete -- such as an object, action, character, or scene – that represents something more abstract
Symbol