2. Allusion:
A reference to something or
someone often literary. For
instance, if you were trying to
instill confidence in a friend
and said, “Use the force,” that
would be an allusion to Stars
Wars. The verb form of
allusion is to allude.
7. Blank verse:
Unrhymed lines of poetry
usually in iambic pentameter.
Plenty of modern poetry is
written in blank verse.
8. Climax:
The point at which the action
in a story or play reaches its
emotional peak.
9. Contrast:
To explain how two things
differ. To compare and
contrast is to explain how two
things are alike and how they
are different.
10. Couplets:
A pair of rhyming lines in a
poem often set off from the
rest of the poem.
Shakespeare’s sonnets all
end in couplets.
11. Denouement:
The resolution of the conflict in a
plot after the climax. It also
refers to the resolution of the
action in a story or play after the
principal drama is resolved—in
other words, tying up the loose
ends or wrapping up a story.
12. End rhyme:
Rhyming words that are at
the ends of their respective
lines—what we typically
think of as normal rhyme.
13. Figurative Language:
Language that does not mean
exactly what it says. For
example, you can call
someone who is very angry
“steaming.” Unless steam
was actually coming out of
your ears, you were using
figurative language.
14. First Person Point of View:
The point of view of writing
which the narrator refers to
himself as “I.”
19. Imagery:
The use of description that helps
the reader imagine how
something looks, sounds, feels,
smells, or taste. Most of the
time, it refers to appearance.
For example, “The young bird’s
white, feathered wings flutter as
he made his way across the
nighttime sky.”