Poetry
A comparison using like or as
Simile
The way actors are instruction to act and move on the stage.
Stage directions
The writer's choice of words.
Diction
exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Hyperbole
correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry.
Rhyme
an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Connotation
A character speaking for a prolonged period of time with no one else speaking
Monologue
A statement that seems to be self-contradicting but, in fact, is true.
Paradox
Appeal to logic
Logos
a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable
Iambic pentameter
The continuation of meaning without pause or break from one line of poetry to the next.
Enjambment
When the audience is aware of something, but the character is not.
Dramatic irony
Where the writer tells us exactly what the character is like.
Direct characterization
Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
Anaphora
Two lines of poetry that end in the same rhyme.
Couplet
A figure of speech used to substitute the unpleasant, e.g. "deceased" instead of "dead".
Euphemism
A quality of a play's action that stimulates the audience to feel pity for a character.
Pathos
Introduction to or explanation of characters, setting and conflict (often achieved through dialogue between characters).
Exposition
Assonance
Repetition of a vowel sound within two or more words in close proximity
A verse with a set rhythm, but no end rhyme.
Blank verse
Rhyme that occurs within the line, rather than at the end of the line.
Internal rhyme scheme
Putting aside our doubt or knowledge that something is not real for the sake of a good story, which allows the audience to become emotionally involved.
Suspension of disbelief
The narrator plays no part in the story but can tell what all the characters are thinking and feeling.
Omniscient narrator
a miniature world or universe; a group or system viewed as the model of a larger group or system
Microcosm
A song or songlike poem that tells a story.
Ballad