allegory
The rhetorical strategy of extending a metaphor through an entire narrative so that objects, persons, and actions in the text are equated with
... [Show More] meanings that lie outside the text.
"There is an obvious allegory in Avatar, the Navi stand for Native Americans."
alliteration
The repetition of an initial consonant sound, as in "a peck of pickled peppers."
00:01
01:17
allusion
A brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event--real or fictional.
analogy
A type of composition (or, more commonly, a part of a composition or speech) in which one idea, process, or thing is explained by comparing it to something else.
anaphora (also called epanaphora)
A scheme in which the same word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences. Example: "I will fight for you. I will fight to save Social Security. I will fight to raise the minimum wage."
anastrophe
A scheme in which normal word order is changed for emphasis. Example: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
anecdote
A short account (or narrative) of an interesting or amusing incident, often intended to illustrate or support some point.
annotation
A concise statement of the key idea(s) in a text or a portion of a text. Annotations are commonly used in reading instruction and in research.
antagonist
Character in a story or poem who opposes the main character (protagonist). Sometimes the antagonist is an animal, an idea, or a thing. Examples of such antagonists might include illness, oppression, or the serpent in the biblical story of Adam and Eve.
antecedent
The noun or noun phrase that a pronoun refers to. "When giving treats to ~friends~ or ~children~, give them what they like, emphatically not what is good for them."
antimetabole
Half of expression is balanced, other half is backwards. ABC-CBA. It's a type of chiasmus.
"I know what I like, and I like what I know"
antithesis
Placement of contrasting or opposing words, phrases, clauses, or sentences side by side. Following are examples:"The more acute the experience, the less articulate its expression."
(Harold Pinter, "Writing for the Theatre," 1962)
anthropomorphism
Attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena
antithesis
A rhetorical term for the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced phrases or clauses. "You're easy on the eyes
Hard on the heart." - (Terri Clark)
aphorism
A brief statement of a principle that makes a wise observation about life.
"Haste makes waste."
"The first rule of Fight Club is--you do not talk about Fight Club." (Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, Fight Club) [Show Less]