Literary Terms

And like a thunderbolt he falls. (Tennyson)
Soliloquy – A long, usually serious speech that a character in a play makes to an audience and that reveals the character's thoughts and feelings.

Sonnet – A fixed form of 14 lines of 5-foot iambic verse. (English sonnet – 3 quatrains

1 couplet) (Italian sonnet – 1 octave, one sestet)

Stanza – A division of a poem made by arranging the lines into units separated by a space.

Stream of Consciousness – the presentation of thoughts and sense impressions in a life-like fashion.

Symbol – An image transferred by something that stands for or represents something

else.
In Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken, the fork in the road represents a major decision in life.

Synecdoche – a form of metaphor through which mentioning a part signifies the whole (a sail on the horizon)

Synesthesia – the simultaneous response of two or more of the senses to the stimulation of one. (blue note, grunting weight)

Theme – The central idea of a work.

Tragic knowledge - The special insight or vision sometimes granted to the tragic protagonist through his suffering.

Tone - The poet’s or speaker’s attitude in style or expression toward the subject.

(loving, bitter) It can also refer to the overall mood of the poem itself.

Understatement – implying more than is said.

Last week I saw a woman flayed and you would hardly believe how much it altered her person for the worse. (Swift)