Terms for Midterm
Connotation- an association or additional meaning that a word, image, or phrase may carry, apart from
its literal denotation or dictionary definition.
Denotation- the literal, dictionary meaning of a word.
Tone- the attitude toward a subject conveyed in a literary work.
Persona- latin for mask. A fictitious character created by an author to be the speaker of a poem, story
or novel.
Irony- a literary device in which a discrepancy of meaning is masked beneath the surface of the
language.
Sarcasm- a conspicuously bitter form of irony in which the ironic statement is designed to hurt or mock
its target.
dramatic irony- a special kind of suspenseful expectation, when the audience or reader understands the
implication and meaning of a situation on stage and foresees the oncoming disaster or triumph but the
character does not.
cosmic irony- eveals the gap between human hopes and the indifferent universe, highlighting the futility
of dreams against life's unpredictability.
Diction- word choice or vocabulary
Allusion - a brief reference in a text to a person, place, or a thing-fictitious or actual.
Dialect- a particular variety of language spoken by an identifiable group or social class of persons.
simile
Metaphor- a statement that one thing is something else, which, in a literal sense it is not.
implied metaphor- a metaphor that uses neither connectivenes nor the verb to be.
personification
Apostrophe- a direct address to someone or something.
hyperbole (overstatement)= exaggeration used to emphasize a point.
Understatement- an iconic figure of speech that deliberately describes something in a way that is less
than the true case.
Metonymy- figure of speech in which the name of a thing is substituted for that of another closely
associated with it.
Synecdoche- the use of a significant part of a thing to stand for the whole of it or vice versa.
Paradox- a statement that at first strikes one as self-contradictory, but that on reflection reveals some
deeper sense.
Stanza- from the italia meaning stopping-place or room. A recurring pattern of two or more lines of
verse, poetry’s equivalent to the paragraph in prose.
Alliteration- the repetition of two or more consonant sounds in successive words in a line of verse or
prose.
Assonance- the repetition of two or more vowel sounds in successive words, which creates a kind of
rhyme.
Cacophony- a harsh, discordant sound often mirroring the meaning of the context in which it is used.
Euphony- the harmonious effect when the sounds of the words connect with the meaning in a way
pleasing to the ear and mind.
Onomatopoeia- a literary device that attempts to represent a thing or action by the word that imitates
the sound associated with it.
end rhyme (end rime)- rhyme that occurs at the end of lines, rather than within them.
eye rhyme (end rime)- rhyme in which the spelling of the words appears alike, but the pronunciation
differs.
internal rhyme (internal rime)- rhyme that occurs within a line of poetry, as opposed to end rhyme
Caesura- a pause within a line of verse.
run-on line- a line of verse that does not end in punctuation, but carries on grammatically to the next
line.
Foot- the unit of measurement in metrical poetry.
Meter- a recurrent, regular, rhythmic pattern in verse.
iambic pentameter- the most common meter in English verse- gives iambic feet per line.
Scansion- a practice used to describe rhythmic pattern in a poem by separating the metrical feet,
counting syllables, marking accents, and indicating the pauses.
Rhythm- the pattern of stresses and pauses in a poem.