Literary TermsSet 1

SimileA comparison that uses “like” or “as”Ex

As light as a featherThe cloth felt like a piece of sandpaper.

MetaphorA directly stated comparison (without using

like or as)Ex

"Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food.“- (Austin O'Malley)

Your room is a pigpen!

Extended MetaphorA metaphor that is developed over a long(er) period of

time or throughout a workEx.

Will Ferrell's Extended Metaphor: The University of Life"I graduated from the University of Life. All right? I received a degree from the School of Hard Knocks. And our colors were black and blue, baby. I had office hours with the Dean of Bloody Noses. All right? I borrowed my class notes from Professor Knuckle Sandwich and his Teaching Assistant, Ms. Fat Lip Thon Nyun. That’s the kind of school I went to for real, okay?"(Will Ferrell, Commencement Address at Harvard University, 2003)

Rhyme SchemeA pattern of rhymeEx.

Roses are red AViolets are blue BSugar is sweet CSo are you! B

AlliterationThe occurrence of the same letter or sound at

the beginning of words.Ex

Carries cat clawed her couch, creating chaos.Eric’s eagle eats eggs, enjoying each episode

of eating.

Assonancethe repetition of the sound of a vowel or

diphthong in non-rhyming stressed syllablesEx

“I must confess that in my quest I felt depressed and restless." - "With Love" by Thin Lizzy

RepetitionThe action of repeating something (in

literature: sounds, words, images, phrases, etc)

Ex"A horse is a horse, of course, of course,

And no one can talk to a horse of courseThat is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed."(Theme song of 1960s TV program Mr. Ed)

PersonificationGiving something NOT human human-like

characteristicsEx

The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.

Iambic Pentametera common meter in poetry consisting of an

unrhymed line with five feet or accents, each foot containing an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable

Syllables alternate between stressed and unstressed beats, creating this pattern: “de/DUM de/DUM de/DUM de/DUM de/DUM”

Iambic PentameterTwo households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foesA pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

- From the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet

HaikuA Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in

three lines of five, seven, and five.Example:

The last winter leavesClinging to the black branchesExplode into birds.

Narrative PoetryA poem that has a plot to it- a poem that tells

a story.Ex

The IliadThe Odyssey

SonnetA poem of 14 lines, usually with the rhyme

scheme ABAB- CDCD- EFEF- GG

Sonnet 18- William ShakespeareShall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed, And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature's changing course

untrimmed:

Sonnet 18- CtdBut thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his

shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.  

OnomatopoeiaA word that mimics the sound it makesEx

SizzleZap!HssssCuckooMeow

LimerickA humorous, frequently bawdy, verse of three

long and two short lines rhyming aabbaEx

A Clumsy Young Fellow Named Tim There once was a fellow named Tim (A) whose dad never taught him to swim. (A) He fell off a dock (B) and sunk like a rock. (B) And that was the end of him. (A)

ToneThe author’s attitude toward the subjectEx

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world - The Second Coming by Yeats.

MoodThe way the reader feels about a piece- the

“atmosphere” of the piece.

BalladA poem or song narrating a story in short

stanzas.

ImagesSimileMetaphorAlliterationPersonificationTone