Poetry
literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature. |
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Allusion
An allusion is when an author refers to the events or characters from another story in her own story with the hopes that those events will add context or depth to the story she's trying to tell. |
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Diction Diction refers to an author's choice of words. When describing the events of her story, an author never has just one word at her disposal. Rather, she must choose from many words that have similar denotative meanings (the definition you'd find in a dictionary), but different connotative meanings (the associations, positive or negative with a given word). |
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Foreshadowing
In order to create suspense for her readers, an author often wishes to hint where the story is going. At the same time, she doesn't wish to give away the ending. When an author hints at the ending of or at an upcoming event in her story without fully divulging it, she is using what's called foreshadowing. |
Imagery
Just as when an author chooses words for their connotative associations (see the above discussion of 'diction'), she chooses sensory details for the associations or tones they evoke. This is the author's selection of imagery. |
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Metaphor
When attempting to describe an image or event, an author often will find it useful to compare what she's describing to another image or event. This is called metaphor, and it gives the reader a fresh, sometimes startling way of imagining what's going on. |
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Personification
To add liveliness to a story, an author will sometimes assign lifelike traits to inanimate objects. This strategy is called personification. |
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Hyperbole
exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally. |
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Simile
a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox ). |
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