Here is a list of terms you should become familiar with when writing comments and critical essays on writing.
Address - a poem set out like a speech, usually addressed to something e.g. a famous example is "to a mouse"
Allegory- writing which has more than one possible meaning which can be interpreted in more than one way.
Alliteration- the use of the same first letter to emphasize the meaning of the used words e.g. Blast, Bang, Boom.
Ambiguity - when something has more than one meaning or can be understood in more than one way.
Anaphora - sentences starting with the same word or phrase. Usually done in poetry.
Anthropomorphism - giving god like characteristics to man. Or giving human characteristics to non-humans.
Atmosphere - intangible quality appealing to sensory perception.
Cliché - figure of speech with has lost it effect due to overuse.
Contrast - bringing two very different objects together to show the differences between them.
Litotes - figure of speech including an understatement.
Oxymoron - two words of opposite meaning used together.
Paradox - self - contradictory statement.
Personification - giving inanimate objects human qualities.
Syntax - grammatical arrangement of sentences.
Zeugma - condensed sentence.
I know that there are more. I have chosen the less obvious ones, which are most often used.
Connor Davidson 3/21/09
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