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giving the spectator an item of information that at least one of the characters in the narrative is unaware of
Example: In Romeo and Juliet, the other characters in the cast think Juliet is dead, but the audience knows she only took a sleeping potion. |
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the omission from a clause of one or more words that would otherwise be required by the remaining elements
Example: John can play the guitar; Mary can, too. |
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the repetition of the initial word or words of a clause or sentence at the end of that same clause or sentence
Example: Beloved is mine; she is Beloved. |
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the repetition of the same word or words at the end of successive phrases, clauses or sentences; the counterpart of anaphora
Example: When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. |
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an adjective or adjective phrase appropriately qualifying a subject (noun) by naming a key or important characteristic of the subject
Example: In an age of pressurized happiness, we sometimes grow insensitive to subtle joys. |
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a metaphor that continues into the sentences that follow
Example: The seeds have already been sown. It remains to be seen whether weeds or flowers will spring forth. |
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a simile that continues on in the sentences that follow
Example: His hands were like paws, his hair like a great mane and his body was covered with smooth sun bleached hairs that were like the coat of an african lion. |
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a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern
Example:
All truths wait in all things
They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it,
They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon |
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tragic flaw
Example: Many heroes in various stories have hamartias that can become a conflict within them. |
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extreme haughtiness, pride or arrogance
Example: In Antigone, Creon displays hubris when he stubbornly refuses to bury Polynices. |
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exaggerates conditions for emphasis or effect; the counterpart of understatement
Example: There are a thousand reasons why more research is needed on solar energy. |
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metrical line in traditional verse and verse drama, the particular rhythm of a line
da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM
Example: To swell the gourd, and plump the ha-zel shells. |
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using details and descriptions in order to create a sensory experience for the reader
Example: The white waves surged forward and curled like serpents around her toes, inviting her to its oceanic depths. |
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a story that begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning
Example: In Homer's Odyssey, we first learn about Odysseus' journey when he is held captive on Calypso's island. |
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