More English Terms

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Alliteration

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The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in “on scrolls of silver snowy sentences” (Hart Crane). Modern alliteration is predominantly consonantal; certain literary traditions, such as Old English verse, also alliterate using vowel sounds.

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Anachronism

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# The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.
# One that is out of its proper or chronological order, especially a person or practice that belongs to an earlier time: “A new age had plainly dawned, an age that made the institution of a segregated picnic seem an anachronism”

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Antithesis

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# Direct contrast; opposition.
# The direct or exact opposite: Hope is the antithesis of despair.
#

1. A figure of speech in which sharply contrasting ideas are juxtaposed in a balanced or parallel phrase or grammatical structure, as in “Hee for God only, shee for God in him” (John Milton).

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Archetype

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# An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype: “‘Frankenstein’... ‘Dracula’... ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’... the archetypes that have influenced all subsequent horror stories” (New York Times).
# An ideal example of a type; quintessence: an archetype of the successful entrepreneur.

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Circumlocution

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1. The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language.
2. Evasion in speech or writing.
3. A roundabout expression.

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Foils

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One that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another

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Foreshadowing

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To present an indication or a suggestion of beforehand; presage.

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Irony

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The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.

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Mercurial

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Having the characteristics of eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, and thievishness attributed to the god Mercury.

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Metaphor

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A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison

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Myth

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traditional, typically ancient story dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes that serves as a fundamental type in the worldview of a people, as by explaining aspects of the natural world or delineating the psychology, customs, or ideals of society

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onomatopoeia

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The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

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Personification

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# he act of personifying.
# A person or thing typifying a certain quality or idea; an embodiment or exemplification

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Procrustean

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Producing or designed to produce strict conformity by ruthless or arbitrary means.

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Satire

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A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit.

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Sentimentalism

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1. A predilection for the sentimental.
2. An idea or expression marked by excessive sentimen

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Simile

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A figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as

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Soliloquy

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A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener.

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Stentorian

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Extremely loud

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Symbol

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Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible

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Theme

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A topic of discourse or discussion

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Titanic

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Having great stature or enormous strength; huge or colossal

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Tragic Flaw

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hubris

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Verbal Irony

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saying one thing that means something else