Found 30 literary terms starting with A:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Abecedarius An acrostic in which the first letter of every word, strophe or verse follows the order of the alphabet
Accent Noun used to describe the stress put on a certain syllable while speaking a word. Ex.- In Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” there has been much controversy over the pronunciation of “Abora” in line 41. According to Herbert Tucker of the website For Better For Verse, the accent is on the first and last syllable of the word, making its pronunciation: AborA.
Accentual verse Accentual verse is common in children's poetry; nursery rhymes and the less well-known skipping-rope rhymes are the most common form of accentual verse in the English Language.
Acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other form of writing in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message. An Acrostic By Edgar Allan Poe.
Active Voice The subject of the sentence performs the action of the verb. e.g., The man kicked the can.
Adjective A word or phrase which modifies a noun or pronoun, grammatically added to describe, identify, or quantify the related noun or pronoun.
Adjective Clause A clause that modifies a noun or pronoun and is often introduced by a relative pronoun (i.e., that, which, who, whom, whose). e.g., My aunt, who left her bag in the taxi, missed her flight.
Adverb A describing word used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Typically ending in -ly, adverbs answer the questions when, how, and how many times.
Adverb Clause A clause that functions as an adverb in a sentence. e.g., I saw a bear when I was hiking.
Affix One or more letters occurring as a bound form attached to the beginning, end, or base of a word and serving to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form (e.g., a prefix or suffix).
Allegory A specific type of writing in which the settings, characters, and events stand for other specific people, events, or ideas.
Alliteration Repetition of the initial sounds of words, as in “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”
Allusion A figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication.
Anachronism Erroneous use of an object, event, idea, or word that does not belong to that time period.
Anagnorisis The point in a plot where a character recognizes the true state of affairs
Analepsis An interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached
Analogy Comparison between two things that are otherwise unlike.
Analysis The process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and their relationships to one another.
Anapest A version of the foot in poetry in which the first two syllables of a line are unstressed, followed by a stressed syllable. Ex. Intercept (the syllables in and ter are unstressed followed by cept which is stressed)
Anecdote A short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.
Antagonist The adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work: Iago is the antagonist[18] of Othello.
Antecedent A word or phrase referred to by any relative pronoun.
Antonym A word that is the opposite in meaning to another word.
Apostrophe A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an object, concept, or person (usually absent) that is unable to respond.
Appositive A word or phrase close to the noun it is modifying. e.g., My neighbor, Mr. Roberts, is very quiet.
Argument/Position The position or claim the author establishes. Arguments should be supported with valid evidence and reasoning and balanced by the inclusion of counterarguments that illustrate opposing viewpoints.
Astrophic Stanzas having no particular pattern.
Asyndeton The omission of conjunctions between clauses. An example is when John F. Kennedy said on January the 20th 1961 "...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
Audience The intended readers of a piece of writing.
Author’s Purpose The author’s intent either to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people or to persuade or convince his/her audience to do or not do something.

Abecedarius

An acrostic in which the first letter of every word, strophe or verse follows the order of the alphabet

Accent

Noun used to describe the stress put on a certain syllable while speaking a word. Ex.- In Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” there has been much controversy over the pronunciation of “Abora” in line 41. According to Herbert Tucker of the website For Better For Verse, the accent is on the first and last syllable of the word, making its pronunciation: AborA.

Accentual verse

Accentual verse is common in children's poetry; nursery rhymes and the less well-known skipping-rope rhymes are the most common form of accentual verse in the English Language.

Acrostic

An acrostic is a poem or other form of writing in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message. An Acrostic By Edgar Allan Poe.

Active Voice

The subject of the sentence performs the action of the verb. e.g., The man kicked the can.

Adjective

A word or phrase which modifies a noun or pronoun, grammatically added to describe, identify, or quantify the related noun or pronoun.

Adjective Clause

A clause that modifies a noun or pronoun and is often introduced by a relative pronoun (i.e., that, which, who, whom, whose). e.g., My aunt, who left her bag in the taxi, missed her flight.

Adverb

A describing word used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Typically ending in -ly, adverbs answer the questions when, how, and how many times.

Adverb Clause

A clause that functions as an adverb in a sentence. e.g., I saw a bear when I was hiking.

Affix

One or more letters occurring as a bound form attached to the beginning, end, or base of a word and serving to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form (e.g., a prefix or suffix).

Allegory

A specific type of writing in which the settings, characters, and events stand for other specific people, events, or ideas.

Alliteration

Repetition of the initial sounds of words, as in “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”

Allusion

A figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication.

Anachronism

Erroneous use of an object, event, idea, or word that does not belong to that time period.

Anagnorisis

The point in a plot where a character recognizes the true state of affairs

Analepsis

An interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached

Analogy

Comparison between two things that are otherwise unlike.

Analysis

The process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and their relationships to one another.

Anapest

A version of the foot in poetry in which the first two syllables of a line are unstressed, followed by a stressed syllable. Ex. Intercept (the syllables in and ter are unstressed followed by cept which is stressed)

Anecdote

A short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.

Antagonist

The adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work: Iago is the antagonist[18] of Othello.

Antecedent

A word or phrase referred to by any relative pronoun.

Antonym

A word that is the opposite in meaning to another word.

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an object, concept, or person (usually absent) that is unable to respond.

Appositive

A word or phrase close to the noun it is modifying. e.g., My neighbor, Mr. Roberts, is very quiet.

Argument/Position

The position or claim the author establishes. Arguments should be supported with valid evidence and reasoning and balanced by the inclusion of counterarguments that illustrate opposing viewpoints.

Astrophic

Stanzas having no particular pattern.

Asyndeton

The omission of conjunctions between clauses. An example is when John F. Kennedy said on January the 20th 1961 "...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

Audience

The intended readers of a piece of writing.

Author’s Purpose

The author’s intent either to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people or to persuade or convince his/her audience to do or not do something.

Abecedarius An acrostic in which the first letter of every word, strophe or verse follows the order of the alphabet
Accent Noun used to describe the stress put on a certain syllable while speaking a word. Ex.- In Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan,” there has been much controversy over the pronunciation of “Abora” in line 41. According to Herbert Tucker of the website For Better For Verse, the accent is on the first and last syllable of the word, making its pronunciation: AborA.
Accentual verse Accentual verse is common in children's poetry; nursery rhymes and the less well-known skipping-rope rhymes are the most common form of accentual verse in the English Language.
Acrostic An acrostic is a poem or other form of writing in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message. An Acrostic By Edgar Allan Poe.
Active Voice The subject of the sentence performs the action of the verb. e.g., The man kicked the can.
Adjective A word or phrase which modifies a noun or pronoun, grammatically added to describe, identify, or quantify the related noun or pronoun.
Adjective Clause A clause that modifies a noun or pronoun and is often introduced by a relative pronoun (i.e., that, which, who, whom, whose). e.g., My aunt, who left her bag in the taxi, missed her flight.
Adverb A describing word used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb. Typically ending in -ly, adverbs answer the questions when, how, and how many times.
Adverb Clause A clause that functions as an adverb in a sentence. e.g., I saw a bear when I was hiking.
Affix One or more letters occurring as a bound form attached to the beginning, end, or base of a word and serving to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form (e.g., a prefix or suffix).
Allegory A specific type of writing in which the settings, characters, and events stand for other specific people, events, or ideas.
Alliteration Repetition of the initial sounds of words, as in “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”
Allusion A figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication.
Anachronism Erroneous use of an object, event, idea, or word that does not belong to that time period.
Anagnorisis The point in a plot where a character recognizes the true state of affairs
Analepsis An interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached
Analogy Comparison between two things that are otherwise unlike.
Analysis The process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and their relationships to one another.
Anapest A version of the foot in poetry in which the first two syllables of a line are unstressed, followed by a stressed syllable. Ex. Intercept (the syllables in and ter are unstressed followed by cept which is stressed)
Anecdote A short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.
Antagonist The adversary of the hero or protagonist of a drama or other literary work: Iago is the antagonist[18] of Othello.
Antecedent A word or phrase referred to by any relative pronoun.
Antonym A word that is the opposite in meaning to another word.
Apostrophe A figure of speech in which the speaker addresses an object, concept, or person (usually absent) that is unable to respond.
Appositive A word or phrase close to the noun it is modifying. e.g., My neighbor, Mr. Roberts, is very quiet.
Argument/Position The position or claim the author establishes. Arguments should be supported with valid evidence and reasoning and balanced by the inclusion of counterarguments that illustrate opposing viewpoints.
Astrophic Stanzas having no particular pattern.
Asyndeton The omission of conjunctions between clauses. An example is when John F. Kennedy said on January the 20th 1961 "...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
Audience The intended readers of a piece of writing.
Author’s Purpose The author’s intent either to inform or teach someone about something, to entertain people or to persuade or convince his/her audience to do or not do something.