Literary Terms and Rhetorical Devices
Act: compiled of scenes in a drama
Aesthetic(s): can be used as an adjective meaning “appealing to the senses”.
Allegory: a story in which people, things, and events have a hidden or symbolic meaning besides the readily seen story.
Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds
Allusion: a reference to other literary works or historical events, etc. that carries its own history of meaning.
Ambiguity: the ability to mean more than one thing. This can be a weakness in some writing (like argumentative essays), but often it is used by writers deliberately to create layers of meaning
Anachronism: the representation of something as existing or occurring at other than its proper historical time.
Analogy: something that shows a similarity in some ways between things otherwise unlike.
Anecdote: a short, brief story about an interesting event
Antagonist: the force against which the protagonist must fight.
Antecedent: the word or phrase to which a pronoun refers. Often it precedes a pronoun
Anthropomorphism: when inanimate objects are given human characteristics, actions, and qualities. Not to be confused with personification.
Anticlimax: Unexpected letdown at the point where the reader usually expects the climax.
Antihero: a protagonist who carries the action of the literary piece but does not embody the classic characteristics of a hero.
Antithesis: a concept that is directly opposed to a previously presented idea
(thesis).
Antonym: a word that means the opposite of another word.
Anthem: a song of praise or devotion, as to a higher institution or nation
Aphorism: a short, concise statement of a principle; a short sentence expressing a wise observation.
Apostrophe: words directly addressed to an inanimate object; occurs when a character speaks directly to a force or entity as if it were a person
Apotheosis: elevating someone to the level of a god
Archaism: the deliberate use of old-fashioned language to create a sense of antiquity
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Archetype: patterns that exist in literature; recurring themes, character types, and plot patterns.
Aside: a remark made by a character to the audience; not to be “heard” by the other characters.
Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds within two or more words.
Atmosphere: the feeling or tone created by the setting.
Attitude: the speaker or author’s feelings towards the subject. See also tone
Aubade: a morning song/poem usually attempting to wake up a lover.
Autobiography: the true story of a person’s life written by that person.
Ballad: a narrative poem (originally meant to be sung) characterized by repetition and often by a refrain
Bibliography: a list of work by a publisher or writer.
Bildungsroman: a “coming of age” story; a story in which the main character matures and experiences rites of passage into adulthood
Biographical sketch: a brief account of someone’s life focusing on one or two major events; see also profile.
Biography: a true story of a person’s life written by someone else.
Blank Verse: unrhymed poetry in iambic pentameter (unstressed syllable followed by stressed syllable five feet)
Black Humor (also known as Dark Humor): the use of disturbing themes in comedy.
Bombast: the attempt to be eloquent by using the largest, most uncommon words; this creates a tone of pretentiousness and exaggerated learning
Cacophony: a harsh and disagreeable sound
Caesura: a conscious break in a line of poetry
Caricature: a representation in literature or art that is exaggerated.
Cast of Characters: a list and sometimes a short description of the characters in a play; usually listed in order of appearance
Catastrophe: the concluding action of a drama, especially a classical tragedy, following the climax and containing a resolution of the plot; a terrible disaster or calamity
Catharsis: purification or purging of the emotions primarily through art.
Chiasmus: the opposite of parallel construction; inverting the second of the two phrases that would otherwise be in parallel form.
Character: a person or animal that takes part in the action or a work of literature.
Characterization: the techniques a writer uses to create and develop a character.
Direct characterization: the writer TELLS the reader about characters.
Indirect characterization: the writer SHOWS the reader about characters
through actions, thoughts, etc.
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Chorus: a group of people who recite in one voice; in ancient Greek drama, the chorus was used to represent the thoughts of the average townsperson; in poetry, a chorus may be a stanza that is repeated throughout.
Chronicle: a continuous and detailed historical account of events arranged in order of time.
Classicism: attitudes and principles seen in the art, architecture, and literature of ancient Greece and Rome and characterized by emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, and restraint.
Cliché: an overused phrase or expression (especially inappropriate for formal writing)
Climax: the turning point in the plot; the peak of interest and intensity.
Coherence: organized and orderly connection
Colloquial Writing (or Language): writing that approximates the sound of speech; writing that is written the way it would sound; uses dialect in words and slang speech
Comedy: a play that begins with trouble but ends in peace; a play that ends happily for the characters, often with a marriage.
Comic Relief: humor intended to relieve tension usually in tragedies
Complications: events that create problems for the main characters in a work.
Conceit: an elaborate metaphor: usually it is a far-fetched comparison between two seemingly unlike things that gains appeal from the unusual or extraordinary comparison.
Conflict: a struggle between opposing forces.
Internal conflict occurs within a character; person vs. self
External conflict occurs with an outside force: person vs. person, person vs. society, and person vs. nature/fate.
Connotation: what is suggested by a word apart from what it explicitly describes; the hidden meaning.
Consonance: the same consonant sound in words with different vowel sounds.
Conventional character: a character with traits that are expected or traditional.
Couplet: two lines that end in a rhyme; Shakespeare used this as part of stage directions in his plays.
Dark Humor (also known as Black Humor): the use of disturbing themes in comedy.
Denotation: the direct and specific meaning of a word; the “dictionary” meaning.
Denouement: the final outcome of the main dramatic complication in a literary work; the clarification and winding down of a story.
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Deus ex machina: literally “gods in the machine”; when the gods/God/fate intervene in the story’s end to resolve a seemingly impossible conflict; refers to an unlikely or improbably coincidence; a “cop-out” ending
Dialect: the form of a language as it is spoken by a certain group of people
Dialogue: a conversation between characters (especially related to drama)
Diction: word choice and arrangement of words in speaking and writing
Didactic: intended to teach a lesson
Dirge: a song or hymn of grief.
Distortion: an exaggeration or stretching of the truth to achieve a desired effect.
Drama: literature that is meant to be performed for an audience.
Dramatic Irony: a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader knows is true (soap operas and horror films).
Dramatic monologue: a literary work in which a character reveals him/herself
Dynamic Character: a character who changes
Editorial: a newspaper or magazine article that gives the opinions of its editors or publishers
Elaboration: explanation; giving details; development
Elegy: a meditative song or poem usually sad and reflective; many times expressing sorrow for one who is dead, but not always is death a theme
Empathy: when the reader shares the feelings on part with a character or speaker
End-stopped: a verse line (of poetry) with a pause or a stop at the end of the line.
English Sonnet: (also known as Shakespearean sonnet) a sonnet pattern established by William Shakespeare which uses iambic pentameter (heartbeat rhythm) with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG, employing the heroic
couplet
Enjambment: in poetry, the running over of a sentence from one verse or stanza into the next without stopping at the end of the first.
Epic: a long narrative poem that tells the deeds and adventures of a hero important to a race or culture.
Epic Hero: a figure of great national importance, actions involve superhuman deeds, takes a long journey, the gods interfere with destiny, and has god-like features.
Epigram: a short, usually witty verse with a quick turn at the end.
Epigraph: brief quotation at the beginning of a literary work, reflective of the
theme.
Epilogue: a concluding section that rounds out a literary work
Epiphany: moment of insight when a character recognizes some truth.
Episode: a brief unit of action in a dramatic or literary work.
Epistle: a letter; at times a novel is written in epistolary style (series of letters); a writer can use this to include various perspectives of characters.
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Epitaph: the writing on a tombstone; a short prose or verse written in tribute of a dead person
Epithet: a word or phrase used in place of a person’s name (also known as a
kenning), much like an appositive or appositive phrase in grammar
Essay: a short, usually nonfiction work that deals with one subject; the author may give an opinion, attempt to persuade, or narrate a true event, or give an interpretation
Eulogy: a formal speech of praise, usually for someone who has died.
Euphemism: a word or phrase that is used instead of a more direct but distasteful or offensive word or phrase. (Example: We say someone has “passed away” instead of “died”.)
Euphony: the quality of a pleasant or harmonious sound of a word or group of words as an intended effect; often achieved through long vowel sounds and soft consonants.
Exaggeration: a type of irony in which something is represented as more than it really is
Exposition: the part of a plot that provides (exposes) background information; introduces the story’s setting, conflict(s), and main characters.
Fable: a brief story that is written to teach a lesson about human nature.
Fairy Tale: a simple narrative that deals with supernatural beings; a made-up story that initially taught lessons to children.
Falling Action: occurs after the climax in a work of fiction or drama; shows the effects of the climax; leads to the denouement and resolution.
Fantasy: a type of fiction that is highly imaginative and could not really happen
Farce: literature based on a highly humorous and highly improbable plot: the kind of comedy that depends on exaggerated or improbably situations, physical disasters, and sexual innuendoes to amuse the audience.
Fiction: fantasy or literature that is not true
Figurative Language/Figure of Speech: language that is NOT literal; uses comparisons to describe; the opposite of literal language, figures of speech are used (metaphor, simile, personification, metonymy, hyperbole, etc.)
Flashback: interruption of the plot to present a conversation, a scene, or an event that happened before the beginning of a story.
Flat Character: a simple, one-sided character with a few noticeable traits
Foil Characters: two characters (usually a major and a minor) whose opposite traits contrast each other.
Folklore: traditional customs, tales, or sayings preserved orally among a certain group of people.
Foreshadowing: giving hints and clues as to what will come in a story
Free Verse: poetry with no regular meter and no pattern.
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Genre: type of literature (fiction, nonfiction, drama, novel, short story, fantasy, science-fiction, etc.)
Haiku: an unrhymed Japanese poem of three lines containing 5, 7, and 5 syllables; most of the time the subject of the poem is nature.
Heroic couplet: in poetry, a rhymed couplet written in iambic pentameter (heartbeat).
Hubris: overwhelming arrogance or pride that usually serves as the tragic flaw of a tragic hero; in Greek tragedies, this almost always leads to the tragic hero’s downfall.
Humor: an amusing description, an exaggeration or sarcastic remark; anything used to incite laughter through literature.
Hymn: a song of praise or joy
Hyperbole: an extreme exaggeration usually used to be humorous or to make a point.
Idiom: slang expressions used in everyday speech.
Image: a picture created in the reader’s mind through the use of words and descriptions by the writer
Imagery: words and phrases that appeal to the reader’s senses.
In medias res: a work that begins in the middle of the story and employs
flashbacks as a part of the retelling.
Interior Monologue: a technique used in poetry and prose that reveals a character’s unspoken thoughts and feelings; may be presented directly by the character or through a narrator; often utilizes the technique of stream of
consciousness writing
Interlude: a performance between the acts of a play.
Internal Rhyme: rhyme within a line (or within two lines) of poetry rather than the end
Intrigue: something used to arouse the interest, desire, or curiosity of the reader.
Inversion: a switch in the normal word order, often used for emphasis, to maintain rhythm, and/or for rhyme scheme.
Italian sonnet: (also known as the Petrarchan sonnet) fourteen-line poem divided into two parts; the first is eight lines with the rhyme scheme abbaabba; the second is six lines with the rhyme scheme cdcdcd.
Itotes: affirmation of an idea by using a negative understatement; the opposite of hyperbole.
Lament: to mourn or regret
Lampoon: a satire usually directed against an individual or group of people; can be harsh or light in nature.
Limerick: a light, humorous verse form of 5 chiefly anapestic verses of which lines 1,2, and 5, and lines 3 and 4 are of 2 feet with a rhyme scheme of AABBA.
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Literal language: words used in their ordinary, denotative senses
Literary tradition: written tradition of literature, distinguished from oral
tradition
Local Color: the use of regional detail in a literary work.
Lyric: a category of poetry that expresses thoughts and feelings, often in a
songlike style or form.
Lyric Poem: a fairly short, emotionally expressive poem that shares the feelings and observations of a single speaker
Malapropism: exchanging words for other words that sound alike.
Masque: a short allegorical dramatic performance of the 16 th and 17 th century performed by masked actors.
Melodrama: an extravagantly theatrical play in which action and plot predominate over characterization.
Memoir: a narrative account of something noteworthy composed from personal experience; a short piece in which the author focuses on one event in his/her life rather than the development of the author over a long period of time.
Metaphor: a direct comparison; one thing is pictured as if it were something else
Meter: the rhythm of a poem; the beat one hears in the lines of poem dependent on stressed and unstressed syllables of words and phrases
Metonymy: a figure of speech that replaces the name of something with a word or phrases closely related to that thing; uses something more generally or loosely associated with a concept to stand in for it. (Closely related to synecdoche yet not quite the same.)
Mime: an ancient dramatic performance representing scenes from life usually in a ridiculous, exaggerated manner.
Minor Characters: secondary characters; supporting characters
Monologue: a dramatic sketch performed by one actor.
Mood: the attitude or feeling the reader takes toward the subject and theme.
Moral: lesson taught by a literary work
Motif: a theme or design; details work together to convey a specific theme.
Motivation: details or specifics that drive a character to act a certain way in a situation; reason that explains why a character thinks, feels, believes, or behaves in a certain way.
Mystery: a literary work dealing with a puzzling crime.
Myth/Mythology: a traditional story usually involving magic or supernatural beings that explains how something connected with humans or nature came to be.
Narration: writing that tells a story
Narrative: any literary work that tells a story; story told in fiction, nonfiction,
poetry, or drama
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Narrator: the person who tells a story
Near Rhyme: (also called slant rhyme) imperfect or incomplete sounds that almost rhyme or sound close to the same sound
Nemisis: the protagonist’s arch enemy or supreme and persistent difficulty
Nom de Plume: pen name
Nonfiction: writing about real people, places, and things
Novel: a fictional prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals with human experience through a connected series of events.
Novella: a short novel; often times teaches a moral lesson or incorporates satire
Novelette: see novella
Ode: lyric poem usually of a serious or meditative nature and having an elevated style and formal stanzaic structure
Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sound.
Oral tradition: passing of songs, poems, and stories from generation to generation by word of mouth
Oration: a speech or lecture
Oxymoron: two words that directly contradict each other
Paean: a song of joy or triumph
Palindrome: A word, phrase, verse, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward. For example: A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!
Pantomime: the art or genre of conveying a story by bodily movements only; also related to mime.
Parable: a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle.
Paradox: a statement that seems contradictory, but upon closer examination one can see that it is true
Parallelism: the use of identical or equivalent sentence constructions in corresponding clauses or phrases; the repeated use of the same grammatical structure in a sentence or a series of sentences intended to emphasize what is said to underscore the meaning; can also refer to two or more stories within a literary work that are told simultaneously to reinforce one another.
Paraphrase: a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another form.
Parody: a comical imitation of a serious piece with the intent of ridiculing author or speaker; a take-off of another piece of literature; a satire or lampoon of an original
Pastoral: a poem describing the simple life of country folk; a world of beauty, music, and love.
Pathos: the reader feels pity towards a character(s) situation.
Periodical: any publication issued at regular intervals of more than one day
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Personification: giving human characteristics to inanimate objects. Not to be confused with anthropomorphism, personification gives inanimate objects human shape and physical features.
Persuasion: a speech used to convince the reader or listener to share the opinions of the writer
Petrarchan Sonnet : (also known as the Italian sonnet) fourteen-line poem divided into two parts; the first is eight lines with the rhyme scheme abbaabba; the second is six lines with the rhyme scheme cdcdcd.
Picaresque: a class of literature in which the principal character is the Spanish picaro, meaning a rascal, a knave, a rogue, an adventurer.
Plagiarism: the act of stealing and passing off as one’s own; can apply to ideas or words of another.
Plot: the sequence of events in a literary work.
Poem/Poetry: a composition in verse; possesses a quality that stirs the imagination.
Point of View: the perspective from which the story is told
First person: a character who is involved in the events tells the story.
Third person limited: an outsider tells the story
Third person omniscient: an all-knowing outsider tells the story; reports the
feelings and thoughts of one or more characters
Preamble: an introductory statement.
Prelude: an introductory performance, action, or event preceding and preparing for the principle or more important matter.
Profile: a brief account of someone’s life focusing on one or two major events; see also biographical sketch.
Prologue: the preface or introduction
Props: objects that actors use
Prose: the ordinary language of men in speaking of writing; writing that is distinguished from poetry especially by its lower level of intensity
Protagonist: the character who plays the central role in a literary work; the one who takes the leading part in a drama, novel, or story
Proverb: a brief, popular epigram or saying.
Pseudonym: a fictitious name
Pun: a play on words; when words have double meaning or used with words that sound the same but have different meanings
Quatrain: four-line stanza
Realism: realistic fiction; fictitious literature that portrays life and the social world as it may seem to the “common” reader.
Redundant: repetitive and unnecessary
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Refrain: a division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually recurring pattern of meter and rhyme.
Regionalism: the use of regional characteristics, as of locale, custom, or speech, in literature or art.
Renaissance: a rebirth or revival; revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning that originated in Italy in the 14th century and later spread throughout Europe
Repartee: a retort; a swift and witty reply
Requiem: an elegy or funeral song
Resolution: the closure of a story; all conflicts are resolved
Review: a critical evaluation
Revue: a variety show or cabaret
Rhetorical Question: a thought-provoking question; one that is not necessarily meant to be answered aloud.
Rhyme Scheme: rhyme at the end of lines in a specific pattern
Rhyme: the repetition of vowel sounds at the end of a word
Rhythm: patterned, recurring alternations of contrasting elements of sound or speech.
Riddle: a misleading or puzzling question posed as a problem to be solved or guessed.
Rime: frost; accumulation of ice
Rising Action: the series of conflicts or struggles that build a story or play toward the climax; the part of the plot that intensifies, the conflict runs its course, and the action moves towards the climax.
Romance: a form of literature that presents life as we would like it to be rather than as it actually is; usually has a great deal of adventure, love, and excitement.
Romanticism: idealism; optimism represented in literature
Round Character: a complex character with believable traits; the reader sees different sides of the character
Saga: a story or legend
Sarcasm: the use of praise to mock someone or something
Satire: a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing
Scenario: An outline of the plot of a dramatic or literary work.
Scene: a subdivision of an act in drama, many times it indicates a change in the
setting; the setting or locale
Science fiction: fiction dealing with the impact of actual or imagined science upon society or individuals
Sensory language: writing or speech appealing to one or more of the senses.
Sentimentality: extravagant in expressing emotion
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Serenade: a performance given in honor of someone; to sing or perform for someone
Sestet: a six-line stanza of poetry; also, the last six lines of a sonnet
Set: decorations of the stage that help show setting
Setting: the time and place of a literary work
Shakespearean Sonnet: (also known as the English sonnet) a sonnet pattern established by William Shakespeare which uses iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG, employing the heroic couplet
Shift: a movement in writing from one thought, idea, theme, or speaker to another; often the shift is where interpretations of meaning can occur.
Short Story: a brief fictional work that usually contains one major conflict and at least one main character
Simile: a comparison using “like” or “as”
Situational Irony: an event that happens that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, readers, or audience.
Sketch: an outline
Slang: informal, nonstandard vocabulary composed of changed words
Slant Rhyme: (also known as near rhyme) imperfect or incomplete sounds that almost rhyme or sound close to the same sound
Socratic: an interactive system of learning established by Socrates (teacher and philosopher); the instruction is based on a series of questions leading the one to whom they were addressed to perceive and admit what was true or false in doctrine, or right or wrong in conduct.
Soliloquy: a speech delivered by a character when he or she is alone on stage
Song: a lyric poem or ballad
Sonnet: a poem consisting of 14 lines on one subject. The two most famous types of sonnets are Shakespearean and Petrarchan (also known as the English
Sonnet and Italian Sonnet respectively)
Speaker: a person (not necessarily the writer) or thing that is the voice in a literary work; also referred to as persona
Stage Directions: instructions usually separated from the dialogue for the actors and readers in a drama.
Stanza: a group of lines in a poem; a division of a poem consisting of a series of lines arranged together in a usually recurring pattern or meter and rhyme.
Static Character: a character who stays the same throughout a literary work
Stock Character: stereotypical character; similar to conventional characters and
flat characters, the audience expects the character to act and appear a certain way.
Stream of Consciousness: literary technique that presents the thoughts and feelings of a character as they occur rather than organizing the action
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sequentially; replicates the way the human minds works; ideas are presented in random order and often unfinished; used often with interior monologue.
Structure: pertaining to the arrangement and order of a literary work; the way in which parts of a written work are combined and presented
Dramatic structure: consisting of a series of scenes, each of which is presented
in vivid detail.
Narrative structure: based on straight-forward, chronological framework
Style: The combination of distinctive features of literary or artistic expression, execution, or performance characterizing a particular person, group, school, or era; the writer’s way of writing, determining by factors such as diction, imagery,
syntax, formality, and organization; the way the writer uses language. Also known as writer’s voice.
Subplot: a story within the main storyline
Subgenre: subdivision of a genre; for example fiction’s subgenre’s are novel,
novella, short story, and short short story.
Surrealism: a 20th-century literary and artistic movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic
imagery and strange combination of subject matter.
Suspense: not knowing what will occur next in a story.
Suspension of Disbelief: occurs when the reader or audience accepts the limitations that sometimes occur on a stage or on a page. If there are too many coincidences or improbable occurrences, the reader or viewer can no longer suspend disbelief and will lose interest.
Syllabus: an outline or a summary of the main points of a text, lecture, or course of study.
Symbol(ism): an object, animal, or person is used to represent something deeper
Synecdoche: a figure of speech where one part represents the entire object or vice versa. (Closely related to metonymy)
Synonym: one or more words that have the same or nearly the same essential meaning
Synopsis: a condensed statement or outline
Syntax: the way in which words, phrases and sentences are ordered and connected; sentence structure
Tale: an intentionally untrue telling
Tall Tale: a huge exaggerated story
Theme: a main idea or statement about life of a literary work (there can be more than one)
Thesis: a statement of theme or purpose; the directly stated purpose or main idea of an article or essay.
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Tone: attitude or feelings of writer or speaker towards the subject or theme of a literary work
Tongue in Cheek: expressing a thought in a way that appears to be sincere, but is actually joking
Tragedy: a literary work in which the hero is destroyed by a character flaw; begins in relative calm but ends in catastrophe.
Tragic flaw: the main personality trait that leads the tragic hero to his downfall
Tragic Hero: a character who evokes both pity and fear within the reader, is caught up in a sequence of events that results in disaster, and has a character
flaw that leads to his demise.
Travesty: an exaggerated imitation, as in a parody
Trilogy: a literary work that occurs in three parts or installments
True-life Adventure: true accounts of heroic deeds and adventures
Understatement: a type of irony in which something is represented as less than it really is
Unity: harmony; a combination or arrangement of parts into a whole
Universality: appealing to any person in any time period living in any culture
Unreliable Narrator: when the person telling the story is overcome with extreme emotion, deemed crazy, proven to be a liar, too young or immature, or for some other reason found not credible.
Usage: the way in which words or phrases are actually used, spoken, or written in a speech community.
Utilitarian: practical; emphasis on the use of something
Verbal Irony: words suggest the opposite of the usual meaning
Vernacular: the informal writing that uses dialect and idioms in stories; related to language of an area
Verisimilitude: writing that is very similar to the truth; believable, realistic
fiction.
Verse: metrical writing
Villain: the deliberate scoundrel or criminal of a literary work; the wicked character who often opposes the protagonist
Villanelle: a poem with 5 three-line stanzas and a final four-line stanza; 1 st and
3 rd lines are repeated alternately.
Whimsical: unpredictable; odd or fantastic; erratic
Wit: an intelligent sense of humor in writing or dialogue
Zeugma: a device that joins together two apparently incongruous things by applying a verb or adjective to both which only really applies to one of them.
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