English language/literature features

• Epistrophe


  the repetition of a word at the end of successive clauses or sentences
• volta


  the shift or point of dramatic change in a poem
• emphatic repetition


  repeating for emphasis
• palilogy


  the deliberate repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis
• double entendre


  double meaning
• Zoomorphism


  Applying animal characteristics to humans
• Caesura


  a strong pause within a line of verse
• Motif


  A recurring theme, subject or idea
• omniscient narrator


  an all-knowing, usually third-person narrator
• Archetype


  a very typical example of a certain person or thing
• Tricolon


  A series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses
• cacophony


  A harsh, discordant mixture of sounds
• Synesthesia


  describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ("a loud color", "a sweet sound")
• Anthropomorphism


  the attribution of human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects
• Anagorisis


  when a character makes a critical discovery
• in medias res


  when the text starts in the middle of the action
• Stichomythia


  rapid alternating single lines spoken by two characters
• Tone


  Attitude a writer takes toward the audience, a subject, or a character
• physiognomy


  judging human character from facial features
• monosyllabic


  having one syllable
• Dysphemism


  Making something sound worse than it is
• Euphemism


  making something sound better than it is
• Semantic Field/ Lexical Field


  Group of words which are related in meaning
• Asyndetic listing


  Listing without conjunctions
• Syndetic listing


  Listing which involves the use of conjunctions.
• Dennotation


  The dictionary definition of a word
• Connotation


  the implied or associative meaning of a word
• synonym


  A word that means the same as another word
• antonym


  a word that means the opposite of another word
• Juxtaposition


  Placement of two things closely together to emphasize comparisons or contrasts
• Antithesis


  the direct opposite, a sharp contrast
• pathetic fallacy


  weather reflects mood
• Symbolism


  A device in literature where an object represents an idea.
• Pathos


  emotional appeal
• Imagery


  Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)
• colloquial language


  Informal, conversational language. Colloquialisms are phrases or sayings that are indicative of a specific region.
• Enjambment


  the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
• Irony


  the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning
• Anaphora


  the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of consecutive lines or sentences
• Oxymoron


  a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction