Glossary of Literary Terms

Appositive

Appositives are noun phrases that follow or precede another noun, and give more information about it.

Archaism

An archaism is an old word or expression that is no longer used with its original meaning or is only used in specific studies or areas.

Archetype

An archetype (ARK-uh-type) is an idea, symbol, pattern, or character-type, in a story. It’s any story element that appears again and again in stories from cultures around the world and symbolizes something universal in the human experience.

Argument

An argument is a work of persuasion. You use it to convince others to agree with your claim or viewpoint when they have doubts or disagree.

Assonance

Assonance is the repetition of the same or similar vowel sounds within words, phrases, or sentences.

Asyndeton

Asyndeton is skipping one or more conjunctions (and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet) which are usually used in a series of phrases. Asyndeton is also known as asyndetism.

Autobiography

An autobiography is a self-written life story.

Auto = self

Bio = Life

Graph = print or written

It is different from a biography, which is the life story of a person written by someone else. Some people may have their life story written by another person because they don’t believe they can write well, but they are still considered an author because they are providing the information.