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- Abstract:
- Language that refers to intangible concepts and qualities Ex: Love,
freedom, peace.
- Accent:
- Poetic term that means stress. Ex: In the word "Ac-cent," the stress,
or accent, is on the first syllable.
- Action:
- The occurrences within a literary piece that make up the plot.
- Alliteration:
- A form of slant rhyme created by repeating the same sound at the
beginning of words. Ex: The silver sky screams at the shining beams
from the shimmering moon.
- Allusion:
- A figure-of-speech used to make a reference to something commonly
known outside of the work. Ex: "John was not his brother's keeper" is
an allusion to the biblical story of Cain and Abel.
- Ambiguity:
- A work, or passage within a work, which may be interpreted in several
different ways.
- Analogy:
- A way of describing one thing by comparing it to another. Ex: He
was like a tyrant and ordered us around without explanation.
- Antagonist:
- The character that causes conflict within a story, often the enemy
or rival of the main character. Ex: The Wicked Witch of the West is
the antagonist in The Wizard of Oz.
- Archaic:
- Language that is obsolete; generally no longer considered appropriate
for contemporary poetry. Ex: yore, thee, hence, 'tis, o'er.
- Atmosphere:
- The mood of the work. Ex: cheery, gloomy, nervous.
- Character:
- A personage of the imagination in a work.
- Characterization:
- Technique used to create a character including what that character
says and does, as well as what other characters think and feel toward
that character.
- Cliche:
- Also called a "dead metaphor," a cliche is a description that is
overused to the point that the metaphor is no longer even recognized
Ex: "Kill two birds with one stone," "to rise to the occasion," "passion
burned," "broken heart."
- Climax:
- The moment of a work in which the tension or conflict is at its highest;
often this is also the major turning point.
- Concrete:
- Language that uses material, tangible objects and descriptions of
their qualities and characteristics; opposite of abstract. Ex: The leather
binding on the book was rough to the touch, and it cracked and creaked
as I opened the book to the marked page.
- Conflict:
- Tension and actions caused by different forces within a plot.
- Connotation:
- A subjective meaning or association held by a particular word. Ex:
The word "sauntered" creates a different image than the word "walked"
in the sentence, "Karen sauntered down the street."
- Convention:
- An accepted means of expression within a certain literary form; the
"rules" of writing works of various structures. Ex: Starting a new paragraph
in a story each time the speaker changes is a convention of prose dialogue.
- Couplet:
- A two-line unit in poetry.
- Denotation:
- The dictionary definition of a word.
- Dialect:
- Regional or cultural differences within speech; sometimes called
an accent. Ex: Cajun dialect in Louisiana.
- Dialogue Tag:
- The statements that identify a speaker within written dialogue. Ex:
"he said," "she whispers," "they screamed."
- Diction:
- The word choice used in a work.
- Draft:
- A version of a work in progress.
- End Rhyme:
- Rhymes that occur at the ends of lines of poetry.
- End-Stopped lines:
- Lines of poetry that end in conjunction with a sense of grammatical
completeness. Ex: She ran into the street / Before she was hit by the
car.
- Enjambed lines:
- Lines of poetry that do not end in conjunction with a sense of grammatical
completeness; run-on lines. Ex: She flew past the / Rooftops and chimneys
- Epiphany:
- A sudden realization; commonly understood as "the light bulb over
the head" effect.
- Fiction:
- A narrative created by the imagination, generally written in prose.
- Fixed Form:
- A style of poetry that has set rules. Ex: sonnet, villanelle, limerick.
- Flashback:
- A scene that interrupts the present action to relate an occurrence
from the past
- Foot:
- A unit of stressed and unstressed syllables of set patterns in metric
poetry.
- Free Verse:
- Poetry that does not follow a fixed form.
- Genre:
- Types, forms, or kinds of literature that are recognized by their
conventions. Ex: novel, short story, poetry, drama (play).
- Image:
- Concrete language used to represent sensory reality.
- Imagery:
- The collected images of a work.
- Internal rhyme:
- Rhyme words that appear within lines, not at the beginning or end
of lines. Ex: Peter gave the sea his heart / And the wave washed away.
- Line break:
- The end of a line in poetry.
- Metaphor:
- A phrase used to make an analogy by using one object to describe
another. Ex: The moon is a silver mask.
- Narrate:
- The act of telling a story.
- Narrator:
- Person who tells a story.
- Overwriting:
- Writing with excessive use of adjectives and adverbs with an intent
to impress.
- Paradox:
- A contradiction that creates tension in a work.
- Persona:
- The speaker in poetry or prose fiction that is different from the
author.
- Personification:
- The technique of giving inhuman things human traits and qualities.
Ex: The crying sky dropped tears on our heads.
- Plot:
- The planned sequence of events in a work.
- Point of View:
- The perspective from which a story is presented.
- Proofread:
- The act of reading a work with the intent to identify and correct
grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors.
- Protagonist:
- The main character of a work.
- Resolution:
- The moment a work's conflicts are resolved.
- Revise:
- Literally, "to see again." The act of changing, rearranging, adding
and eliminating elements of a work with the goal of overall improvement
of the piece.
- Rhythm:
- A repetition of effort, movement, or sounds at regular intervals
within a work.
- SASE:
- Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope. Used as an abbreviation in publication
submission notices.
- Simile:
- A comparison between two objects using the words "like" or "as" Ex:
She was as mad as a rabid dog.
- Stanza:
- A group of poetic lines.
- Syntax:
- The order in which words are placed in a sentence.
- Theme:
- The meaning or message of a work that can be paraphrased.
- Tone:
- The speaker's attitude toward the subject.
Aspiring writers are hard workers. ÊMain goals
vary from a desire to gain notoriety through publication to build a portfolio,
or simply to explore ourselves. Whatever the drive behind it, entering
contests for writers is often a popular avenue. However, contests for
writers are not always on the up and up. In this Edition of Moondance,
learn the "Top Ten Things to Know About Contest Scams for Writers".
In this prolific poem, Angela
Tourond-Hrechanyk describes soaring Heaven bound, wing tip to wing
tip, in the spirit of togetherness.
Elizabeth Stewart
shares her poetic memory box, filled with hopes, dreams, and potential.
Pride is an all-consuming, all empowering, unbelievable
gift, according to high school student, Melissa Benscoter,
in her enthusiastic essay, "Proud to Be Proud".
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