Epigram : rhetorical device that is a memorable, brief, interesting, and surprising satirical statement.

“If we don’t end war, war will end us.”

Epigraph: literary device in the form of a poem, quotation, or sentence having a few sentences, but
which belongs to another writer.

Epistolary: writers use letters, journals, and diary entries in their works, or they tell their stories or
deliver messages through a series of letters

Diary of a Young Girl (By Anne Frank)

Epistrophe: repetition of phrases or words at the ends of the clauses or sentences

“Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who
is here so rude that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is
here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended …”

Explication: used for a close analysis of an excerpt or text taken from a lengthy piece of work

The Scarlet Letter (by Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Traveling Through the Dark (by William Stafford)
A Tale of Cities (by Charles Dickens)
The Road Not Taken (by Robert Frost)

Ethos: ethical appeal

“John is a forensics and ballistics expert, working for the federal government for many years.
If anyone’s qualified to determine the murder weapon, it’s him.”

Epic: long narrative poem, which is usually related to heroic deeds of a person of an unusual courage
and unparalleled bravery.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

The Iliad
Paradise Lost

Epithet: describes a place, a thing, or a person in such a way that it helps in making its characteristics
more prominent than they actually are

coloured counties
crying-sweet,
scattering-bright
soft and drunken laughter
April twilight on the river

Exposition: introduce background information

“A long time ago in a galaxy far away, far away…”

Frame story: story set within a story, narrative, or movie, told by the main or the supporting character

Frankenstein
Odyssey
Inception
Titanic
Canterbury Tales
Heart of Darkness

Flat character:
 Free verse:

Half-rhyme: stressed syllables of ending consonants match, however the preceding vowel sounds do
not match

“If love is like a bridge

or maybe like a grudge”

“When have I last looked on

The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies
Of the dark leopards of the moon?”

“That is no country for old men. The young

In one another’s arms, birds in the trees
– Those dying generations – at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long”

Hamartia: tragic flaw of hero’s personality

Hamlet’s indecisiveness

Hyperbole: Exaggeration, over-casting for emphasis

My grandmother is as old as the hills.

Your suitcase weighs a ton!
She is as heavy as an elephant!
I am dying of shame.
I am trying to solve a million issues these days.