1.

Abstract
a. Diction/Imagery
i. Language that describes qualities that cannot be perceived by the five senses.
ii. (EX: pleasant= abstract, yellow or sour= concrete)
iii. (Ezra Pound, T. E. Hulme, T. S. Eliot)
b. Abstract Poem
i. Verse that makes little sense grammatically or syntactically but which relies on
auditory patterns to create its meaning or poetic effects. (Dame Edith Sitwell
popularized the term)

2. Ad Hoc FALLACY
a. When a faulty explanation is given for some event rather than as faulty reasoning in an
argument.
b. (EX: God works in mysterious ways or Im sure God had a special reason.)

3. Ad Hominem FALLACY
a. Arguementum Ad Hominem: Attacking the Person/Against the Person -FALLACY
i. Situation in which the disputant substitutes a rebuttal with a personal insult.
ii. When an ad hominem attack is used to support an argument.
iii. (EX: Person A makes claim X, Person B makes an attack on Person A, therefore
Person As claim is false)
b. Ad Hominem Attack
i. Pretty much an insult

4. Ad Populum FALLACY
a. Appeal to the popularity of a claim as a reason for accepting it and attracts the desire to
conform.
b. Also known as the BANDWAGON fallacy.

5. Allegory
a. A complete narrative which involves characters, and events that stand for an abstract idea
or event. (Literary EX: Animal Farm by George Orwell)
b. Symbolism device where the meaning of a greater, abstract concept is conveyed with the
aid of a more tangible/corporeal object or idea used as an example.
c. Suggests meaning via metaphoric examples.

6. Alliteration
a. Repeating consonant sound in close proximity to others in a sentence
b. (EX: What was Wally wondering while wishing well wumbo?

7. Allusion
a. Brief and indirect reference in literature to a person, place, event, or another passage of
literature, often without explicit identification.
b. Cultural, religious, social or even literal citation in writing.
c. (EX: Dont act so quixotic. =Reference to foolish knight Don Quixote by Cervantes.)

8. Ambiguity
a. Fallacy of ambiguity is a word, phrase, or statement which contains more than one
meaning or several distinct interpretations.
b. (EX: Foreigners are hunting dogs. Or Each of us saw her duck.

9. Analogy
a. A comparison of one thing to another that is quite different used to establish a
relationship based upon similarities between two concepts or ideas.
b. Amy Lowell Night Clouds The white mares of the moon rush along the sky/ Beating
their golden hoofs upon the glass Heavens.
c. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade?
d. (EX: A is to B as C is to D)

10. Anaphora
a. The deliberate repetition of the first part or beginning clauses of a sentence in order to
achieve an artistic effect.
b. Epanaphora, Greek, carried again
c. (EX: My life is my purpose. My life is my goal. My life is my inspiration.

11. Anecdote
a. A short reminiscent, narrative account of an amusing, unusual, revealing, or interesting
event.
b. Used to clarify abstract points, humanize individual characters, or to create a memorable
image in the readers mind.

12. Antagonist
a. The character or group of characters which stand in opposition to the protagonist, or main
character.
b. Basically the villain, the bad guy, the NOT THE ANTIHERO.
c. (EX: Iago from Othello, lol.)

13. Antithesis
a. Rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a
contrasting effect.
b. Opposite phrases in close conjunction that express their contrary ideas in a balanced
sentence.
c. (EX: I burn and I freeze. Or Her character is white as sunlight, black as midnight.)
d. As Neil Armstrong put it back in 1969, One small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind!
e. Almost like an OXYMORON= jumbo shrimp or sophisticated rednecks lol.

14. Aposiopesis
a. Derived from the Greek word meaning becoming silent.
b. (EX: I wont sleep with a woman who thinks Im lazy! Im going right downstairs,
unfold the couch, unroll the sleeping bauh, goodnight. Homer Simpson)
c. (EX: Blah blah blah blah blah bla..)
15. Apostrophe
a. (No the punctuation mark)
b. A type of personification in which something is addressed that is not physically present.
c. (EX: Oh, Death, be not proud. John Donne)

16. Archetype
a. NOT A CLICH, a clich is a concept that has become overused, trite.
b. A consistent character, action, or situation/theme that seems to represent such universal
patterns of human nature.
c. Universal symbol, theme, or setting that critics believe to have a common meaning in an
entire culture or even the human race.
d. Carl Jung theorized that the archetype originates in the collective unconscious of
mankind, the shared experiences of a race or culture, such as birth, death, love, family,
and the struggles to survive.
e. (EX: Recurring Characters, The Hero/ Symbolic colours, Green for life/ Recurring
Situations, Orpheus descends into the Underworld)

17. Assonance
a. Two or more words in close proximity repeat the same vowel sound but begin with
different consonant sounds in a sentence.
18. Asyndeton
a. Derived from the Greek word asyndeton which means unconnected.
b. Stylistic device used to intentionally eliminate conjunctions between the phrases and
in the sentence, yet maintain the grammatical accuracy.
c. A= without, Syndeton= conjunctions
d. Reduces the indirect meaning of the phrase and presents it in a concise form.
e. (EX: Are all thy conquests, and glories, and triumphs, and spoils, Shrunk to this
little measure? Julius Caesar, Shakespeare)
f. He eats and sleeps and drinks. (This is SYNDENTON) VS He eats, sleeps,
drinks.

19. Atmosphere
a. Mood.
b. The emotional feelings inspired by a work.
c. Loosely equivalent to ambiance.

20. Characterization
a. Process by which an author develops a character in a literary work through the use of
description, dialogue, dialect, and action to create in the reader an emotional or
intellectual reaction to a character.

21. Chiasmus
a. Figure of speech containing two phrases that are parallel but inverted to each other.
b. (EX: You can take the patriot out of the country but you cannot take the country out of
the patriot.)
22. Circular Argument FALLACY
a. Circular Reasoning, BEGGING THE QUESTION
b. An argument that commits the logical fallacy of assuming what it is attempting to prove.
c. Premises in which the claim that the conclusion is true or assume it is true. Pff,
reasoning
d. (EX: God must exist. How do you know? Because the Bible says so. Why should
I believe the Bible? Because the Bible was written by God.)
e. (EX: If such actions were not illegal, then they would not be prohibited by the law.)
f. Goddamn that pisses me off.
g. Basically the argument just goes around and around and around and nothing is
accomplished. Not even logical reasoning.

23. Climax
a. When a man and woman are engaged in Oops, wait, sorry wrong definition kids!
b. Derived from the Greed term meaning ladder it is the particular point in a narrative at
which the conflict or tension reaches the greatest intensity and is thereafter resolved.

24. Colloquialism
a. Use of informal words, slang, or jargon in a literal piece.
b. Vernacular language?
25. Concrete
a. Diction/Imagery
i. Language that describes qualities that can be perceived with the five senses as
opposed to using abstract or generalized language.
ii. (EX: cool/sweet = Concrete || Abstract = pleasant/good)
b. Concrete Poetry
i. Poetry that draws much of its power from the way the text appears situated on the
page. Actual shape of the lines of text may create an image that reflects the
poetry.

26. Conflict
a. Internal/External Conflict
b. Opposition in a plot between two rival characters, ideas, nature, concepts, self, etc.
c. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

27. Connotation
a. POSITIVE/NEGATIVE
b. The positive or negative associations with specific words that depend upon the social,
cultural, and personal experiences of individuals.
c. (EX: Childish, Childlike, Youthful all have the same denotative definitions, however
childish and childlike have different connotative meanings and are considered negative
as they refer to the immature behaviour of a person. Whereas youthful implies that a
person is lively and energetic.)

28. Consonance
a. Repetitive sounds in quick succession produced by consonants within a sentence or
phrase.
b. Opposite of Assonance
c. (EX: She sells sea shells by the sea shore. Or Harry has handfuls of hairy, hungry
hobbits.)

29. Denotation
a. The minimal, literal, strict definition of a word as found in a dictionary, disregarding any
historical or emotional connotation.
b. (EX: Go look in the dictionary, smart-.)

30. Denouement
a. Derived from the French word denoue meaning unknotting or unwinding.
b. Refers to the outcome or result of a complex situation or sequence of events, an aftermath
or resolution that usually occurs near the final stages of a plot.

31. Dialect
a. Involves the spelling, sounds, grammar, and pronunciation used by a particular group of
people used to distinguish them and serves as a very powerful and common way of
CHARACTERIZATION, which elaborates the geographic, social, and cultural
background of any character within a written work.
32. Diction
a. The style of speaking or writing determined by the choice of words by a speaker or
writer.
b. Colloquial, formal and informal, jargon, and slang.

33. Dramatic Irony
a. Involves a situation in a narrative in which the reader has knowledge of present or future
circumstances and events unforeseen by the charaters.
b. Tl;dr: Reader knows stuff character doesnt even know

34. Either/Or FALLACY
a. a.k.a. FALSE DILEMMA FALLACY/ Black & White Thinking
b. a.k.a. Bifurcation
c. Occurs when an argument is presented in such a way that there are just two conceivable
alternatives left.
d. Claim X is true or Claim Y is true (when X and Y could both be false).
e. (EX: Youre either with us, or youre against us.)
f. (EX: Youre not atheist, are you Jill?) LOL

35. Epic
a. A genre of classical poetry.
b. A long narrative poem, often written to glorify the adventures of an awesome hero.
c. (EX: Beowulf or Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh)

36. Epistrophe
a. (Greek, upon turning) EPIPHORA
b. Repetition of a concluding word or word endings.
c. OPPOSITE of ANAPHORA (repetition of beginnings)
d. (EX: Hes learning fast; are you earning fast?)

37. Ethos APPEAL
a. One of the three appeals by Aristotle
b. Means of convincing others of the character or credibility of the persuader.
c. ETHICAL APPEAL RESPECT, REVERENCE,
38. Euphemisms
a. Polite, indirect expressions which replace words and phrases considered harsh and
impolite or which might suggest something unpleasant.
b. The use of a milder or gentler phrase instead of a blunt, frank, embarrassing, or painful
one.
c. (EX: Johnny has always been a bit special.)

39. Exposition
a. The use of authorial discussion to explain or summarize background material rather than
revealing this information through gradual narrative detail.
b. Literary device used to introduce background information about events, settings,
characters, etc. to the audience.
c. (EX: Red faced with nostrils flaring, Susan slammed the door and stomped over her car
outside. Instead of Susan was angry when she left the house and climbed into her car
outside.)

40. Extended Metaphor
a. Refers to a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout several or a
series of sentences in a paragraph or poem.
b. Often comprised of more than one sentence and sometimes consists of a full paragraph.
c. (EX: Circus, ring, clowns, leave main tent, buy some popcorn and a Coke and cool
down... Talking about the persons imagination.)

41. Falling Action
a. Rising//Climax\\Falling
b. Action or events of a plot after the climax and before the resolution.
42. Figurative Language
a. Deviation from what speakers of a language understand as the ordinary or standard use of
words in order to achieve some special meaning or effect. LOL
b. Language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different than the literal
interpretations.***
c. SIMILE
d. METAPHORE
e. IDIOMAS
f. OXYMORONS
g. IDK WHAT ELSE!
h. TROPES
i. SCHEMES

43. Flashback
a. An interruption of the chronological sequence (of a literary work) of an event of earlier
occurrence.
b. PRESENT PRESENT PRESENT -PAST- PRESENT PRESENT PRESENT
c. Allow the reader to gain insight into the characters background or contextual
circumstances(?)
d. Interruptions in the chronological flow in which past events are inserted to provide
background or context to the current events of a narrative.
e. (EX: Finn and Boom Boom Mountain)

44. Foil
a. A character that serves by contrast to highlight or emphasize the opposing traits in anothr
character.
b. (EX: Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol FRED vs SCROOGE)

45. Foreshadow
a. Suggestions, hints, slight indications, or showing what will occur later in a written work.
b. (EX: John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men When Carlson kills Candys dog, this
foreshadows Georges forced decision to shoot Lennie for his own good.)

46. Genre
a. A type or category of literature or film marked by certain shared features or conventions.
b. Poetry
c. Drama
d. Fiction

47. Gothic (Literature?)
a. Any kind of poetry, short stories, or novels designed to thrill readers by providing
mystery and blood-curdling accounts of villainy, murder, and the supernatural.

48. Hasty Generalization FALLACY
a. a.k.a. Leaping to Conclusions
b. Drawing a conclusion based upon a small sample size, rather than looking at empirical
statistics.
c. (EX: Sample S is taken from population P. Sample S is a very small part of population P.
Conclusion C is drawn from sample S.)
d. (EX: Sexist male might conclude all women are horrible drivers because one woman
crashed a car.)***

49. Hyperbole
a. The trope of OVEREXAGGERATION or overstatement.
b. (EX: Ive told you over a million times!)
c. (EX: Man, you stink so bad the stench could wake the dead!)

50. Idiom
a. Idiomatic Expression
b. Expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word for word
in another language.
c. See Dialect
d. (EX: You Idiom! Its raining cats and dogs outside!)

51. Imagery
a. The mental pictures associated with specific words experienced by the reader with a
passage of literature.

52. Inference
a. To infer; an educated gesture based upon empirical evidence.
b. A conclusion made using common sense, rational thinking, and somewhat contextual
evidence

53. Irony
a. Referred to by Cicero as saying one thing and meaning another.
b. Verbal
c. Dramatic
d. Situational/Cosmic

54. Juxtaposition
a. The arrangement of two or more concepts, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words
side by side or in similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast,
rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development.
b. Antithesis, foil, etc.
c. >Juxtaposing Ideas<

55. Logical Fallacy
a. Concept of making an error in reasoning.
b. Misconception
c. Formal/Informal

56. Logos APPEAL
a. Logical appeal.
b. Statement, or argument used to convince or persuade an audience by employing reason or
logic.
c. Inductive/Deductive reasoning

57. Malapropism
a. The practice of misusing words by substituting words with similar sounding words that
have different, often unconnected meanings, thus creating a situation of confusion,
misunderstanding, and amusement.
b. (EX: Our watch, sir, have indeed comprehended two auspicious persons. Instead of
Our watch, sir, have indeed apprehended two auspicious persons. -William
Shakespeare)

58. Metaphor
a. One of the most extensively used device of figurative language.
b. Meaning or identity ascribed to one subject by way of another.
c. A figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied, or hidden comparison between two
things or objects
d. A simile without like or as.

59. Metonymy
a. Figure of speech that replaces the name of a thing with the name of something else
closely related.
b. NOT synecdoche
c. (EX: Crown = means royalty, power, or authority. Yeah that dude has a lot of
crown!)???
d. (EX: The pen is mightier than the sword! Education and writing is greater than
military force as a means of changing the world.)***
e. (EX: If we cannot strike offenders in the heart, let us strike them in the wallet!)

60. Mood
a. See Atmosphere.
b. The certain feelings or emotions evoked in readers through specific words and
descriptions used by the author.
c. Can be developed through setting, theme, tone, and diction.

61. Motif
a. A conspicuous recurring element, such as a type of incident, device, a reference, or verbal
formula which appears frequently throughout works of literature.

62. Narrator
a. The voice that recalls a story.

63. Onomatopoeia
a. A word which imitates the natural sounds that it defines.
b. (EX: BANG BOOM CRASH POOT)

64. Oxymoron
a. a.k.a. Paradox.???
b. Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense on a deeper level.
c. (EX: JUMBO shrimp sophisticated rednecks bittersweet)

65. Paradox
a. Concepts or ideas that are contradictory to each other.
b. (EX: Your enemys friend is your enemy.)
c. (EX: I am nobody.)

66. Parallelism
a. When writer establishes similar patterns of grammatical structure and length.
b. Sentences that are similar in construction, sound, meaning, or meter.
c. Adds balance and rhythm to sentences giving ideas a smoother flow.
d. Repetition.
e. (EX: Like Father like Son.)
f. (EX: Easy come easy go.)
g. (EX: Flying is fast, comfortable, and safe.)

67. Parody
a. Imitates the serious manner and characteristic features of a particular literary work in
order to make fun of those same features.
b. The imitation of a particular writer, artist, or genre, exaggerating it deliberately to
produce a comic effect.
c. (EX: The Colbert Report)
(EX: The HANGOVER Games)

68. Pathos APPEAL
a. Greek, emotion
b. Emotional appeal.
c. The persuaders attempt to inspire a emotional reaction in an audience.
d. (EX: USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA!!! = Patriotism)

69. Personification
a. A trope in which abstractions, animals, ideas, and inanimate objects are given human
character, traits, abilities, or reactions.
b. Apostrophe (not the punctuation mark) is a type of personification in which something is
addressed that is not physically present.
c. (EX: The raging winds.)
d. (EX: The warm and comforting fire.)

70. Persuasion
a. Rhetorical device that utilizes the appeals to logic, ethics, and emotions to convince the
audience to think or act in a particular manner.
b. Logos, Ethos, and Pathos.

71. Plot
a. The structure and relationship of actions and events in a work of fiction.
b. Sequence of events that make up a story. (comprise, constitute, compose???)

72. Point of View
a. The manner in which a story is narrated or presented and who is recounting said tale.
b. First Person = I
c. Second Person = You
d. Third Person = Pronouns like He, She, It, or They (or a name of course)

73. Polysyndeton
a. The use of many conjunctions to achieve an overwhelming effect in a sentence.

74. Protagonist
a. Main character. Hero. Duh.
b. Central character or leading figure in a work of literature.

75. Realism
a. The artistic or literary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false
ideals.
b. Artistic representation of everyday life. Real.
c. Keep it 3hunna man.
d. Steinbeck?

76. Red Herring FALLACY
a. a.k.a. Smoke Screen/Wild Goose Chase
b. An irrelevant topic introduced in an argument to divert attention from the original issue.
c. (EX: I know Ive made a mistake, but think of my parents- theyre going to kill me!)
d. (EX: Jane its bedtime. Mommy, where do babies come from?)

77. Repetition
a. Repeated words or phrases to emphasize significance or whatever.
b. Anaphora repetition of beginning words.
c. Epiphora repetition of ending words.
d. Parallelism

78. Rhetoric
a. The art of effectively using persuasive argument through writing or speech.
b. The art of eloquence and charismatic language.
c. Persuasion through appeal.
d. LOGOS ETHOS PATHOS ARISTOTLE

79. Rhetorical Scheme
a. Scheme a change in standard word order or pattern. Alliteration
i. Asyndeton (no conjunctions)
ii. Polysyndeton (many conjunctions)
iii. Ellipsis (omitting a word implied by the previous clause The European
soldiers killed six of the remaining villagers, the Americans, eight.)
iv. Antithesis (One small step for man, one giant leap for all of mankind!)
v. Chiasmus (Patriot out of country, but not country out of patriot./ By day ___,
___ by night.)

b. Tropes shifts in the meaning of words.
i. Metaphor
ii. Simile
iii. Metonymy (Pen is mightier than the sword. More physical object to convey
and embody a greater general idea?)
iv. Synecdoche (part to represent whole, calling a car a wheel)
v. Personification
vi. Apostrophe (addressing someone or some abstraction that is not physically
present. Oh, Death, be no proud.)
vii. Onomatopoeia
viii. Hyperbole
ix. Aposiopesis (abrupt interruption or breaking off as if unable to continue.)
x. Oxymoron/Paradox (jumbo shrimp)
xi. Idioms? (raining cats and dogs)

80. Satire
a. An attack on or criticism of any stupidity or vice in the form of scathing humour, or a
critique of what the author sees as dangerous religious, political, moral, or social
standards.
b. (EX: The Simpsons or The Daily Show)

81. Setting
a. The general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which the action of a
literary work occurs.
b. (EX: Gone With The Wind)

82. Sibilance
a. Literary device where strongly stressed consonants are created deliberately by producing
air from vocal tracts through the use of lips and tongue, heh.
b. Hissing sounds.
c. Usually S is the silibant.
d. (EX: Sing a Song of Sixpence is the most famous example.)

83. Simile
a. Must I really?
b. An analogy or comparison implied by using an adverb such as LIKE or AS, in
contrast with a metaphor oh you already know that.

84. Situational Irony
a. Cosmic Irony
b. Trope in which accidental events occur that seem oddly appropriate.
c. Taste of your own medicine!
d. (EX: Pickpocket gets own pocket picked.)

85. Slippery Slope FALLACY MAN!!!
a. Fallacy in which a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another
without any argument or the inevitability of the event in question.
b. (EX: A woman cant ever become President of the U.S. -its just highly unlikely.
Before long well actually have to start respecting them!)
c. (EX: If I give you free refills then Ill have to give them to EVERYONE! *slap*
*slap*.)

86. Speaker
a. Narrator?
b. Poetic Speaker?
i. The narrative or elegiac voice in a poem (such as a sonnet, ode, or lyric) that
speaks of his or her situation feelings.
ii. NOT the same as the historical author of the poem.

87. Straw Man FALLACY
a. Committed when a person simply ignores a persons actual position and substitutes a
distorted, exaggerated, misrepresented version of that position.
b. Person A has position X.
c. Person B presents position Y (a distorted version of X).
d. Person B attacks position X.
e. Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed
f. (EX: Senator Jones says that we should not fund the attack submarine program. I
disagree entirely. I cant understand why he wants to leave us defenseless like that.)

88. Style
a. The way a writer writes and the techniques employed.
b. Dependent upon ones syntax, diction, and tone.
c. Expository/Augmentative
d. Descriptive
e. Persuasive
f. Informative
g. Narrative

89. Symbolism
a. Frequent use of words, places, characters, or objects that mean something beyond what
they are on a literal level.
b. Allegory.
c. an object, animal, phrase or other thing loosely associated with a character, setting, or
event. (EX: Jaws music =sharks a-comin!)

90. Synecdoche
a. Literary device in which a part of something represents the whole or vice versa.
b. Part||Whole
c. NOT to be confused with Metonymy.
d. Metonymy would be crown referring to royalty or power and authority and is a
metonymy used to replace the word king/queen.
e. (EX: Using wheels to refer to a car.)

91. Syntax
a. As David Smith puts it, the orderly arrangement of words into sentences to express
ideas.
b. I.e. the standard word order and sentence structure of a language, as opposed to the
diction (actual choice of words) or content (meaning behind individual words).

92. Theme
a. The central idea or underlying statement that unifies and controls an entire literary work.
b. Moral of a story crap whatever.

93. Tone
a. The attitude of a writer towards a subject conveyed through the diction and viewpoint.

94. Tropes shifts in the meaning of words.
a. Metaphor
b. Simile
c. Metonymy (Pen is mightier than the sword. More physical object to convey and
embody a greater general idea?)
d. Synecdoche (part to represent whole, calling a car a wheel)
e. Personification
f. Apostrophe (addressing someone or some abstraction that is not physically present. Oh,
Death, be no proud.)
g. Onomatopoeia
h. Hyperbole
i. Aposiopesis (abrupt interruption or breaking off as if unable to continue.)
j. Oxymoron/Paradox (jumbo shrimp)
k. Idioms? (raining cats and dogs)

95. Understatement
a. Used to make a situation seem less important than it really is.
b. (EX: Congratulations! You just won a MILLION DOLLARS! How do you feel? I am
delighted. Poo on you, Id be tearing my hair out already you ungrateful witch.)

96. Verbal Irony
a. a.k.a. SARCASM
b. Trope in which a speaker makes a statement in which its actual meaning differs sharply
from the meaning that the words ostensibly express.