Literary and Rhetorical Terms 1

15 terms by sunshineCA 

Create a new folder

Advertisement Upgrade to remove ads


An extended narrative that carries a second meaning along with the surface story. The second meaning usually involves incarnations of abstract ideas.


The repetition of accented consonant sounds either at the beginning of words (or a stressed syllable within a word) that are close to each other.


A reference in literature to previous literature, history, mythology, pop culture, or especially the Bible.


The quality of being intentionally unclear. Makes the situation able to be interpreted in more than one way. For example, when Hamlet says to Ophelia :get thee to a nunnery: is he literally urging her to go to a convent or is he calling her a whore?

American Renaissance

The writing of the peiod before the Civil War, Beginning with Emerson and Thoreau and the Transcendentalist movement including Whitman, Hawthorne, and Melville. These writers are essentially Romantics of a distinctively American stripe.


In a literary work, something placed in an inappropriate period in time e. g. a clock with hands in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Often, but not always, a mistake on the part of the author


A comparison, usually extended, of two different things


The repetition of an identical word or group of words in successive verses or clauses:
I gaver her cakes and I gave her Ale,
I gave her sack and Sherry
I kissed her once and I kissed her twice,
And we were wonderous merry


The inversion of normal word order to achieve a particular effect, usually rhyme or meter


A brief account of a story about an individual or incident


A character who functions as a resisting force to the goals of the protagonist, without association of good or evil e.g. the creature in Fankenstein.


A drop, often sudden and unexpected, from a dignified or important idea or situation to one that is trivial or humorous. Also, a sudden descent from something sublime to something ridiculous.




A rhetorical opposition or contrast of ideas expressed within a balanced grammatical structure, "They promised freedom but provided slavery."


A short pithy statement of a truth or accepted doctrine.

Please allow access to your computer’s microphone to use Voice Recording.

Having trouble? Click here for help.

We can’t access your microphone!



Reload the page to try again!


Press Cmd-0 to reset your zoom

Press Ctrl-0 to reset your zoom


Please upgrade Flash or install Chrome
to use Voice Recording.

For more help, see our troubleshooting page.

Your microphone is muted

For help fixing this issue, see this FAQ.

Star this term

You can study starred terms together

NEW! Voice Recording

Create Set