Literary Terms, short list.

Literary Terms

Alliteration(al-lit-er-a-tion): The repetition of the same letter or sound at the front of consecutive words. For example, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Assonance (as-uh-nuh ns): Repeating vowel sounds in verse or prose.

Hyperbole (hahy-pur-buh-lee): boastful comments or claims that are used as examples and not meant to be taken literally. i.e., I could eat a horse. Synonyms include: embellishment, magnify, and exaggerate.

Metaphor (met-aw-fawr): A metaphor is a comparison without like, as or than. For example: The star twinkled loudly. A comparison of unlike objects.

Motif (moh-teef): Weather, geography, season, illness, violence, characters, a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work.

Personification (per-son-uh-fi-key-shuhn): Adding a human quality to a non-human thing or idea. For example, the sky wept.

Similes (sim-uh-leez): Similes use like, as, or than, to make comparisons. My love is like a red rose.

Symbol: Objects that are used to represent an idea or subtext.

Writing, rewriting, drafting, editing, revising, publishing

• Drafting (draf-ting): A first draft is the beginning step in the creation of a document.The process of collecting notes, writing outlines, and early drafts.

• Editing(ed-iting): The correcting process of the document, removing and adding material, fixing punctuation.

• Revising (ri-vahyzing): Reviewing material, getting notes and adding material to a project.

• Publishing (puhb-li-shing): The final step in the cycle, whether digital or printed copies of the material.

• Colon (koh-luhn): A colon is used to connect two parts of a sentence: the second part balances out the first part or answers the obvious question, [:]. Use a colon to introduce a concept or quotation that has an explanation or details that follow the colon. Also, use a colon after the opening salutation of a formal letter, or between hours and minutes in expressing time. For an informal letter, use a comma after the introduction, also use a colon for ratios as well as to separate titles and subtitles in a list.