Literary Terms Definitions Master List

Figurative Language—Language used for descriptive effect, often to imply idea indirectly

Free Verse—Poetry that has no fixed pattern or meter, rhyme, line length, or stanza arrangement

Imagery—The word pictures that writers use to help evoke an emotional response in readers

Meter—A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that gives a line of poetry a predictable rhythm

Foot—The basic unit of meter

Parallelism—The use of a series of words, phrases, or sentences that have similar grammatical form

Tone—A reflection of a writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward a subject of a poem, story, or other literary work

Drama—A story written to be performed by actors in front of an audience

Farce—A type of comedy that provokes laughter by placing one-dimensional (flat) characters in ridiculous situations