Literary Terms and Poetic Devices

A plot device in which the author places the main narrative within another narrative

Direct address to an abstraction, a thing, an animal, or an absent person

The "To be or not to be" speech is probably the most famous ___________________ ever written

A movement in the 1920's and 1930's marked by a great flowering of African American arts 

A writer's choice of words 

A narrator who is a character in the story who refers to him or herself as "I"

a form of poetry that does not have a regular rhythm or rhyme scheme

A poetic form of 14 lines, usually in iambic pentameter, with a particular rhyme scheme 

A pointed discrepancy between what is expected and what actually happens in a story

A character embodying only one or two traits who lacks character development

Deliberate exaggeration for emphasis

A narrative that explores the maturation of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood

Another name for the Italian sonnet

A form of poetry used to meditate on or address a single object or condition

a reference to another work of literature, art, or a historical event is called 

The arrangements of words into phrases, clauses, and sentences in a prose passage.

A late 18th- early 19th century movement that emphasized nature, beauty, emotion, imagination

"…the eyes chilly and somber like the ocean in March" is an example of

Dialogue or narration written to simulate regional or cultural speech patterns

In classical Greek drama, this  group  delivers commentary on the play's action.

Meanings or associations that readers have with a word beyond its dictionary definition

A figure of speech in which a part of something is used to represent the whole

Verse form in unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter that comes close to the patterns of speaking

A contemplative poem on death and mortality, often written in honor of someone who has died

A comic or satiric imitation of a particular literary work or style

A movement of writers who expressed views of disillusionment with contemporary life after WWI

the moment of recognition of truth when ignorance gives way to knowledge

A speaker's attitude as exposed through stylistic choices

a figure of speech in which an animal or inanimate object is imbued with human qualities

A portrait which ridicules a person by exaggerating or distorting his most prominent features

A dramatic form marked by wholly absurd situations, slapstick, and raucous wordplay

A character's transformative moment of realization

A literary movement whose literature feels true, immediate, realistic, and natural

A rhyme that pairs sounds that are similar but not exactly the same

Meaning "untying the knot," this is where conflict is resolved and balance is restored

a seemingly contradictory statement

A four-line stanza

A tale told specifically to illustrate a moral lesson

The repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of words

The repetition of a word or a group of words in successive clauses

"Murderous innocence" is an example of

Heart of Darkness is an excellent example of 

A recurring pattern of images, words, or symbols that reveals a theme in a work of literature

A poetic technique in which one line of poetry runs into the next without a pause

Any unanticipated intervener who resolves a difficult situation in a literary work

"And this same flower that smiles today/Tomorrow will be dying" is an example of

Placing two things side by side for comparison or contrast

The emotional release felt by the audience at the end of a tragic drama

The point in a story when the conflict reaches its highest intensity

A figure of speech in which is something is represented by another thing that is related to it