Dialogue means “conversation.” In the broadest sense, this includes any case of two or more characters speaking to each other directly. It’s when a writer or speaker deliberately goes back and modifies a statement that they just made, usually either to strengthen it or soften it in some way. Pretty much anything other than poetry counts as prose. ... in terms of social class. A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that somehow causes itself to come true. Utopia is a paradise. Aposiopesis is when a sentence is purposefully left incomplete or cut off. A synecdoche is figure of speech which allows a part of something to stand for a whole, or the whole to stand for a part. Perhaps the simplest and most common rebus in use today is “IOU” for “I owe you.”. Glossary of Literary Terms. A fairy tale is a story, often intended for children, that features fanciful and wondrous characters such as elves, goblins, wizards, and even, but not necessarily, fairies. A metonym is typically a part of a larger whole, for example, when we say “wheels,” we are figuratively referring to a “car” and not literally only the wheels. Accentual Verse: Verse in which the metredepends upon counting a fixed number of stresses (which are also known as 'accents') in a line, but which does not take account of unstressed syllables. A prologue is a short introductory section that gives background information or sets the stage for the story to come. A tale in prose or verse in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. An archetype (ARK-uh-type) is an idea, symbol, pattern, or character-type, in a story. Homophone is when two or more words have the same sound, but different meanings. Spell. Helpful. Many literary critics are of the opinion that archetypes, which have a common and recurring representation in a particular human culture or entire human race, shape the structure and function of a literary work. A pun is a joke based on the interplay of homophones — words with the same pronunciation but different meanings. An allegory is a story within a story. Index of literary terms → Glossary of literary terms – Consensus was already reached above that the "index" should be made into a glossary so as to preserve content, create a useful resource, and not violate Wikipedia policies regarding lists. For example: wailing in the winter wind. A figure of speech is a word or phrase using figurative language—language that has other meaning than its normal definition. Literary Devices refers to the typical structures used by writers in their works to convey his or her messages in a simple manner to the readers. Mystery is a genre of literature whose stories focus on a mysterious crime, situation or circumstance that needs to be solved. As an adjective applied to... B. Ballad: A short poem that tells a simple story and has a repeated refrain. TalkTalk Dictionary of Difficult Words - telestich. The denouement is the very end of a story, the part where all the different plotlines are finally tied up and all remaining questions answered. As an adjective, it describes the form or style of the story being told. A verisimilitudinous story has details, subjects, and characters that seem similar or true to real life. 22 people found this helpful. Instead, analogies are strong rhetorical devices used to make rational arguments and support ideas by showing connections and comparisons between dissimilar things. Cuddon, J. Sören Fröhlich. Etymology investigates and documents the lives (mainly the origins) of words. The Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms. Example: A deserved ancestral curse can be found Denotation is a word’ or thing’s “dictionary defintion”, i.e. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. An enthymeme is a kind of syllogism, or logical deduction, in which one of the premises is unstated. First published fifty years ago, A GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS remains an essential text for all serious students of literature. Circumlocution means “talking around” or “talking in circles.” It’s when you want to discuss something, but don’t want to make any direct reference to it, so you create a way to get around the subject. It can be marked as || in the middle of the line, although generally it is not marked at all – it’s simply part of the way the reader or singer pronounces the line. Edwin Barton & G. A. Hudson. This last detail, a result of chance, is a key element of adventure; the stories usually involve a character who is brought to the adventure by chance, and chance usually plays a large role in the episodes of the story. As a literary device, epiphany is the moment when a character is suddenly struck with a life-changing, enlightening revelation or realization which changes his or her perspective for the rest of the story. Anthimeria (also known as antimeria) is the usage of a word in a new grammatical form, most often the usage of a noun as a verb. An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning different from the words used. Flashback is a device that moves an audience from the present moment in a chronological narrative to a scene in the past. A conundrum is a difficult problem, one that is impossible or almost impossible to solve. An allegory generally teaches a lesson by means of an interesting story. A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples. It comes from the Greek words anthropo (human) and morph (form). Allusion Exemplum is just Latin for “example.” And that’s all it is. Chris Baldick. Onomatopoeia refers to words whose pronunciations imitate the sounds they describe. Is purposefully left incomplete or cut off soliloquy is a word in a few words of animal characters symbolical. The plot is the specific type of narrative that uses informal language, and/or symbolism while! 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