The UVic Writer's Guide


Literary and Rhetorical Terms:
An Alphabetical List


[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [XYZ]

A

Allegory
Alliteration
Ambiguity
Aphorism
Apostrophe
Archetype
Assonance and Consonance
Aubade

B

Ballad
Bathos
Bombast
Blank Verse
Burlesque

High Burlesque: Mock Epic (Mock Heroic); Parody
Low Burlesque: Travesty (Hudibrastic Poem); Lampoon

C

Canon
Character and Characterization
Chiasmus
Chorus
Comedy
Conceit
Connotation and Denotation
Creative Definitions

D

Discourse
Drama
Dramatic Lyric
Dramatic Monologue

E

Elegy
Epic
Epithet
Epigram
Euphemism

[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [XYZ]

F

Fable
Free Verse

[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [XYZ]

G

Genres: An Introduction

H

Hamartia ("error" or "flaw")
Heroic Couplet
Humour
Hyperbole And Understatement

I

Imagery
Indeterminacy
Intertext, intertextuality
Irony

J

K

L

Lyric
[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [XYZ]

M

Malapropism
Magic realism
Melodrama
Metadrama, metafiction
Meter
Metaphor
Motif
Metonymy And Synechdoche
Myth

N

Narrator
Novel

O

Ode
Onomatopoeia
Oxymoron

P

Paradox
Pastoral
Pathos
Persona
Personification (Prosopopeia)
Plot
Poetic Justice
Point of Vew
Problem Play
Protagonist
Pun

Q

R

Realism
Rhetoric And Figurative Language
Rhetorical Question
Rhyme
Romance

[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [XYZ]

S

Satire
Self-reflexive
Short Story
Sign
Simile
Soliloquy
Sonnet
Stanza
Stock Characters
Stock Situations
Stream-of-Consciousness Narration
Symbol
Sympathy and Empathy

T

Theme
Tone
Tragedy
Tragicomedy

U

V

Versification
Voice

W

Wit

XYZ

Zeugma
[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [XYZ]


Literary Terms (By Category)
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Copyright, The Department of English, University of Victoria, 1995
This page updated September 23, 1995