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Academic Vocab Set 1
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| allegory | a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. |
| alliteration | the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. Ex. Down in the darkness lived a demon named Grendel (repetition of the letter "d") |
| allusion | a reference to something while speaking about something else. Can be historical, literary, Biblical, mythological, etc. Ex. I got in a car wreck but a Good Samaritan stopped to help! (Good Samaritan is a Bible reference) |
| ambiguity | the quality of being open to more than one interpretation. Stories and poems can be this way where you are unsure of an outcome. |
| analogy | a comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification. Ex. The brain runs like a computer in terms of sending and receiving information. |
| anaphora | the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. Ex. I have a dream.....I have a dream....in MLK's famous speech. |
| anecdote | a short amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. People often use this in stories and essays to reinforce their point. |
| antithesis | a rhetorical device that uses contrasting words, phrases, or ideas to emphasize a point. It's a way to show the opposite of something, often to highlight a key difference. Ex. "Give me liberty or give me death!" liberty and death contrast. |
| anthropomorphism | Human traits, emotions, and behaviors are attributed to non-humans like animals, objects, or even abstract concepts. This is very literal, unlike personification. Ex. Winnie the Pooh or The Brave Little Toaster could walk and talk and think like people. |
| archetypes | a recurring symbol, theme, pattern, or character type that appears across cultures and time periods. Ex. Heroes, villains, the hero's journey, serpents representing evil, etc. |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close to each other in a sentence or phrase. Ex. The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain (with the strong "a" sound) |
| ballad | a narrative poem, often intended to be sung, that tells a story in short stanzas |
| call to action | a clear and direct message that hopes to get a strong response from readers to do something |
| colloquialism | the use of informal, everyday language in writing, often reflecting regional or specific dialects |
| conflict | a struggle between opposing forces that drives the plot forward and creates tension. Can be man v man, man v self, man v nature, etc. |
| dialect | a regional or social variety of a language, distinguished by differences in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. For example, the Southern variety which includes "y'all" versus "You all" which is used elsewhere. |
| diction | a writer's choice and arrangement of words to create a feel. Ex. The word domicile and home mean the same thing, but domicile feels cold while home feels all warm and fuzzy! |
| didacticism | writing primarily intended to instruct or educate, often with a focus on moral or political lessons. Often used to encourage social or political reform. |
| direct address | when a character or the narrator speaks directly to the reader, acknowledging their presence and creating a more personal connection. |
| dramatic irony | a literary device where the audience or reader knows something that a character in a story does not, creating a sense of tension or suspense. Ex. The audience knows that Juliet is not dead...but Romeo doesn't know and drinks the poison! |
| dramatic monologue | a speech delivered by a character to one or more silent characters or to the reader, revealing their thoughts and feelings. |
| enjambment | a line where the meaning or sentence continues into the next line without a pause or punctuation. When used in poetry, it is to make the poem sound more like a conversation. |
| ethos | the speaker's credibility and character. In speeches or essays, it's used to convince people by giving them something they can trust. Ex. This medication was created and approved by the world's finest doctors and scientists. |
| extended metaphor | a comparison between two unrelated things that continues for several lines or even the entire length of a work, like a poem or novel. Ex. In Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" a divided road is used throughout the poem as a comparison to life's choices. |
| flashback | a narrative technique where a scene from the past is inserted into the present storyline |
| foreshadowing | a narrative device where an author hints at or alludes to events that will occur later in the story. Ex. Someone says, "I have a bad feeling about this cruise..." and then the boat sinks! |
| frame narrative or frame story | A story within a story, where a main narrative serves to frame or enclose one or more secondary narratives. Ex. The movie "The Princess Bride" is a story about a grandfather telling his sick grandson an adventure story. |
| free verse | a type of poetry that does not follow a fixed metrical pattern or rhyme scheme. Ex. Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son" does not rhyme and reads more like a conversation between a mother and her son. |
| hyperbole | a figurative language device that involves deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect, not meant to be taken literally. Ex. I'm so hungry, I could eat an elephant! |
Created by:
clevelandv
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