1
A four-line stanza.
Quatrain
A theme or pattern that recurs in a work.
Motif
Language that conveys a certain ideas by saying just he opposite.
Irony
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in the lines of a poem.
Meter
A story that illustrates a moral often using animals as the character.
Fable
A poem mourning the dead.
Elegy
The resolution of the conflict in a plot after the climax.
Denouement
A pair of rhyming lines in a poem often set off from the rest of the poem.
Couplet
The elements that create a plot.
Conflict
Poetry with no set
meter (rhythm) or
rhyme scheme.
Free Verse
Foreshadowing
A technique in which an author gives clues about something that will happen later in the story.
Monologue
A long speech by one character in a play or story.
Paradox
A seeming contradiction.
The action in the story.
Plot
The use of one things to represent another.
Symbolism
Archetype
A character who represents a certain type of person.
A story in which the characters represent
abstract qualities or ideas.
Allegory
Parody
A humorous, exaggerated imitation of another work.
Theme
The central idea of a work.
Antagonist
A major character who opposes the protagonist in a story or play.
Tone
The author’s attitude toward his or her subject.
Satire
A work that makes fun of something or someone.
Atmosphere
The overall feeling of a work, which is related to tone and mood.
Iambic Pentameter
Ten-syllable lines in which every other syllable is stressed.
Mood
The emotional atmosphere of a given piece of writing.