Definition
The repetition of the same initial consonants of words or of stressed syllables in any sequence of neighboring words.
Alliteration
An indirect or passing reference to an event, person, place, or artistic work
Allusion
The expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite of what the writer intends to achieve a humorous effect or to add emphasis.
Irony
Story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities.
Allegory
Two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry.
Couplet
Comparing two things or instances in time often based on their structure and used to explain a complex idea in simpler terms
Analogy
When one or more words are omitted from a sentence
Ellipsis
A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction
Oxymoron
Opponent who struggles against or blocks the hero, or protagonist, in a story.
Antagonist
A long narrative poem, written in heightened language , which recounts the deeds of a heroic character who embodies the values of a particular society.
Epic
A device used to create contrast by placing two parallel but opposite ideas in a sentence
Antithesis
A characteristic spirit of a given culture, era, or community or its beliefs; Ethos, in purely rhetorical terms, is a label used to identify an appeal to the ethics of a culture or individual
Ethos
A quality that evokes pity or sadness
Pathos
Constructing a sentence so that both halves are about the same length and importance. Sentences can be unbalanced to serve a special effect as well.
Balance
A short piece of nonfiction prose in which the writer discusses some aspect of a subject.
Essay
Repetition of consonant sounds two or more times in short succession within a sentence or phrase
Consonance
An intentionally exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally but creating a desired humorous effect
Hyperbole
The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristic to a nonhuman or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.
Personification
A word or phrase, often a figure of speech, that has become lifeless because of overuse. Avoid clichés like the plague.
Cliche
A scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.
Flashback
Refers to the author’s word choice
Diction
Visually descriptive or figurative language
Imagery
A thing that represents or stands for another thing like an object that represents an abstract idea
Symbol/Symbolism
A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or of the inhabitants of a certain geographical area.
Dialect
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles.
Metaphor