English literature – subject terminology
Alternate rhyme
When every other line rhymes
Prose
Any writing that is not poetry
Soliloquy
a long speech made by a character in a play while no other characters are on stage. They speak with the audience to reveal thoughts
Oxymoron
A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.
Monologue
a speech by one actor; a long talk by one person
Foreshadowing
suggesting, hinting, indicating, or showing what will occur later in a narrative
Metaphor
A comparison without using like or as
Echoing
Referencing past events
blank verse
unrhymed iambic pentameter
Prologue
A speech, passage, or event coming before the main speech or event
falling action
Events after the climax, leading to the resolution
Sonnets
14 line long poems about love
Rising Action
the development of complications that create the conflict of a story
Climax
the most intense, exciting, or important point of something; a culmination or apex.
Denouement
an outcome or solution; the unraveling of a plot
Exposition
provides important background information and introduces the characters
Plot
the sequence of events in a story
Iambic Pentameter
A line of poetry that contains five iambic feet
Ambiguity
Something with more than one possible meaning
Aside
A line or two addressed to the audience by a character in play
Assonance
Repetition of a vowel sound. Eg, how now brown cow
Dialect
words and phrases particular to a region of area.
Dramatic irony
When the audience knows more than the characters in a play.
Diction
The kinds of words and phrases used, formal diction, violent diction.