Download A Glossary of Terms

A Glossary of Terms
This list of terms and devices will help you understand some of the techniques that writers and poets often use
to create a mood, develop an idea, make a point, describe a person, thing or event. This list will provide the
name of and explanation for devices that help us understand how writers get us to understand what he/she
intends. These devices are not in alphabetical order.
Act -
A main division of a drama. Shakespeare’s plays consist of five acts with each act subdivided into
scenes.
Alliteration - the repetition of the same initial sound in two or more consecutive or closely associated words.
Example: “Now old death doeth in his deathbed lie.”
Allusion A reference to a literary or historical person or event to explain a present situation. Biblical
allusions refer to people or events in the bible. These are used for association or suggestion.
Example: “She’ll not be hit with Cupid’s arrow.”
Analogy -
something unfamiliar is explained in terms of the familiar.
Aside - A brief remark made by a character and intended to be heard by the audience but not the other
characters
Assonance - repetition of the same vowel sounds in a line.
Example: “In zones of silence, they grow tall and slow.”
Comic relief - a humourous scene or speech in a serious drama which is meant to provide relief from
emotional intensity and, by contrast, to heighten the seriousness of the story. This scene sometimes
comments in some way on the drama.
Connotation - the meaning of a word with nuances, or shades of associative meaning. Connotation is often
considered positive or negative.
Courtly love – A philosophy of love which flourished in chivalric times. It gives new dignity and independence
to women. According to the tradition, falling in love is accompanied by great emotional disturbances;
the lover is bewildered, helpless, tortured by mental and physical pain. The accepted lover can be
inspired to great deeds.
Dialect -
The way that people from a particular region or group speak that is different from everyone else.
Dialogue -
Conversation between characters.
Diction -
The choice of words, which affects imagery, tone, mood
Denotation - The dictionary or literal meaning of a word. We might consider this a bit more neutral than
connotation.
Foreshadowing A hint of what is to come in the story. This is often used to keep the audience in a state
of expectancy, or to create suspense.
Flashback – A flashback is an account of something that has already happened in the story. A flashback
usually involves an interruption in the action of the story.
Form -
The appearance of a poem on the page, or the conventional structure that a poem in intended
to have. Form sometimes dictates tone, and even subject matter.
Hyperbole -
A statement that is an obvious exaggeration is called hyperbole.
Idiom -
Idiom refers to the peculiarities of vernacular language. It is the use of words in such a way that
the meaning of the expression is lost if the words are translated literally. For example, “putting all your
eggs in one basket” really has nothing to do with eggs.
Imagery The term used to describe words or phrases that appeal to the five senses, what we call
sensory appeal. Figurative language may create images, but not all images are figures of speech.
Imagery is the use of language to create a vivid picture or to convey an experience.
Irony - A contrast between what is and what appears to be. One type of irony is verbal in which a character
says one thing and means another. Another is dramatic irony in which the audience knows something
that the characters do not. Irony is a figure of speech.
Metaphor A figure of speech. A comparison between two unlike things. The poet or writer actually
identifies one idea with another, asserting that they are the same. Example: “My love is a rose.”
Mood -
What the reader or audience feels, create by the author’s depiction of atmosphere.
Onomatopoeia The use of sounds which are meant to resemble sound made by the objects being
described. The sound of the word echoes the meaning of the word.
Oxymoron - Combining two words whose meanings are opposite. Their meanings should cancel one
another out, but instead, together they add new shades of meaning. Example: “A damned saint.”
Personification or ideas.
A figure of speech in which human qualities are attributed to inanimate objects, animals
Paradox A statement which while seemingly contradictory or absurd may actually be true or wellfounded. It is a rhetorical device used to attract attention, or to secure emphasis.
Point of view -
The “eyes” through which a story is told.
Rhythm The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. It can dictate tempo and mood, and
create emphasis, especially when disrupted.
Rhyme -
A device of sound. Used to create pleasure, connections, or to follow a set form of a poem.
Simile A simile is a figure of speech. A direct comparison between two things using “like”, “as” or
“than”. Example: “My love is like a rose.”
Scene – A small unit of a play in which there is no shift of locale or time.
Soliloquy – A speech given by a character alone on the stage. The purpose of a soliloquy is to let the
audience know what the character is thinking and feeling.
Sonnet – A fourteen line poem. It often deals with more serious topics. It can be Italian or English. The
stanza divisions, or section divisions are important to the development of the poet’s ideas.
Symbolism -
When one image represents something else. Example: changing seasons = life cycle.
Synesthesia – Taking one of the five senses and creating an image or sensation perceived by another of the
senses. Example: “White is a pair of / Whispers talking.”
Stream of Consciousness - In this writing technique the writer tries to capture the exact flow of the
character’s thoughts.
Theme – The underlying idea of the piece of literature, or the unifying principle. It is often carried through the
imagery or the story in a poem.
Tone – It is the writer’s attitude toward the subject or the characters. It may dictate form for poetry. It definitely
affects diction. It may be serious, ironic, bitter, whimsical, light etc.
Tragedy A type of drama of human conflict which ends in defeat and suffering. Often the main character
(dignified, noble) has a tragic flaw (weakness of character, wrong judgment) which leads to his or her
destruction. Sometimes the conflict is with forces beyond the control of the character – fate, evil in the
world.