Glossary of Literary Terms

• alliteration
  repetition of the same sounds or of the same type of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables
• assonance
  repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds
• consonance
  repetition of consonants or of a consonant pattern, especially at the ends of words
• ellipsis
  omission of a word or phrase necessary for a complete construction of a phrase or sentence but not necessary for understanding
• foot
  a section from a line of verse
• free verse
  verse with no regular pattern in either rhyme or line length
• half-rhyme
  partial or imperfect rhyme, often using assonance or consonance (also known as imperfect rhyme and pararhyme)
• iambic
  a foot of verse which uses unstressed, followed by stressed syllables
• iambic pentameter
  a common meter in poetry consisting of an unrhymed line with five feet, each foot containing an unaccented syllable and an accented syllable
• imagery
  use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas
• metaphor
  figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison
• onomatopoeia
  formation or use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions to which they refer
• oxymoron
  figure of speech in which contradictory terms are combined
• parable
  simple story illustrating a moral or religious lesson
• simile
  figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, in a phrase containing such words as: like or as
• syntax
  the grammatical arrangement of words in sentences, to express a meaning