Literary & Grammar Terms

Literature Schools, Styles, and Forms

elegy

mournful or melancholy poem

epic

long poem or story describing heroic deeds

farce

light comedy

myth

legendary story, person, etc.

novel

long fictional narrative

parody

comic imitation of a literary or musical work

prose

ordinary language as distinguished from verse

rhyme

agreement in the end sounds of lines or words

satire

the use of irony or ridicule in exposing vice, folly, etc.

sonnet

poem of 14 lines

tragedy

  serious drama with an unhappy ending 

 

 

 

Rhetoric and Figures of Speech

allegory

story in which characters and actions are symbols for ideas

ambiguity

doubtfulness or uncertainty of meaning or intention

anecdote

short true story

aphorism

brief maxim

connotation

associated meanings of a word in addition to its explicit or dictionary definition

denotation

explicit or direct meaning or set of meanings of a word or expression

diatribe

bitter, abusive denunciation

diction

style of speaking or writing

discourse

formal discussion of a subject

euphemism

mild expression substituted for one thought to be offensive

exposition

writing or speech primarily intended to convey information or to explain

hypothesis

proposition set forth as an explanation of something

innuendo

indirect, usually disparaging, remark

oxymoron

figure of speech that uses seeming contradictions

paradox

statement that seems self-contradictory

pun

humorous use of words alike in sound but different in meaning

rhetoric

the skillful use of language

sarcasm

scornful, ironic language

simile

phrase comparing two things using 'like' or 'as'

synecdoche

figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or vice versa (as 'law' for 'police')

thesis

  proposition to be proved; lengthy essay 

  

 

 http://dictionary.reference.com/wordlist/literary