Dramatic Monologue
A form of dramatic poetry in which the speaker describes a crucial moment in his or her life to a silent listener-and in the process reveals much about his or her own character
Elegy
A serious poem of lament, usually mourning a death or other great loss
Empathy
An individual’s close identification with a person, place or thing, as when audience members experience the same emotions as a character in a play
Enjambment
the continuation of a sentence from one line of a poem to another
Epic
A long narrative poem that recounts, in formal language, the exploits of a larger-than-life hero
Epigram
A short, witty poem; a saying
Epilogue
A concluding statement or section added to a work of literature
Epiphany
A moment of sudden realization of the true meaning of a situation, person, or object
Epitaph
A tombstone inscription or brief poem composed in memory of someone who has died
Epithet
A brief phrase that is used to characterize a person, place or thing
Essay
A short piece of nonfiction writing in which the author presents his or her view on a particular topic
Exemplum
A brief story used as an example to illustrate a moral point
Extended metaphor
a metaphor that compares two unlike things in various ways throughout a paragraph, stanza, or selection
Fable
A very brief, often humorous, story intended to teach a lesson about human behavior or to give advice on how to behave
Farce
A type of comedy with ridiculous situations, characters, and events
Fiction
A narrative in which situations and characters are invented by the writer
Figurative Language
Language that is not meant to be interpreted literally and is used for descriptive effect, often to imply ideas indirectly
Figure of speech
A specific device or kind of figurative language
Flashback
A narrative passage set in an earlier time that interrupts the chronological order of the rest of a story
Epigraph
A quotation from another work that suggests a theme, or main idea, of the work at hand