Glossary of Literary Terms

A

Act: A major section of a play. Acts are divided into

varying numbers of shorter scenes. From ancient times

to the nineteenth century plays were generally

constructed of five acts, but modern works typically

consist of one, two, or three acts.

Acrostic: a poem in which the initial letters of each line,

when read downward, spell out a hidden word or words

Allegory: A narrative technique in which characters representing things or abstract ideas are used to convey a message or teach a lesson. Allegory is typically used to teach moral, ethical, or religious lessons but is sometimes used for satiric or political purposes. Examples of allegorical works include Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress

Alliteration--the repetition of initial consonant sounds in a line or succeeding lines of verse. Example: Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet: "Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds/ Towards Phoebus' lodging!"

Allusion: the reference to something in history or

literature For example, the opening sentence of Cat's

Cradle--"Call me Jonah"--alludes to both an Old

Testament prophet and the opening line of Melville's

Moby Dick.

Ambiguity: the multiple meanings, either intentional or

unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage

Anachronism: someone or something placed in an

inappropriate period of time (Shakespeare's placing of a

clock in Julius Caesar because clocks had not yet been

invented in the period where the play is set)

Analogy: A comparison between two things, or pairs of things, to reveal their similarities; sometimes expressed as a SIMILE, e.g.: "His head was like the dome of a cathedral." William Paley proposed the famous analogy in which he compared the world to a finely tuned watch, and argued that a watch (designed) requires a watchmaker (designer). Anecdote: a short narrative usually consisting a single incident or episode

Anaphora: Repeated words or phrases used to

emphasize a point, especially at the beginning of

successive sentences or paragraphs. (a type of

parallelism)

Antagonist: whoever or whatever opposes the

protagonist

Anthropomorphism: A literary technique in which the author gives human characteristics to non-human objects, e.g. the speaking animals in the Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis), the Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame), or the stories of Beatrix Potter. Anti-hero: A central character in a work of literature who lacks traditional heroic qualities such as courage, physical prowess, and fortitude. Anti-heroes typically distrust conventional values and are unable to commit themselves to any ideals. They generally feel helpless in a world over which they have no control. Anti-heroes usually accept, and often celebrate, their positions as social outcasts. Antithesis- a figure of speech characterized by strongly

contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, as in

“Man proposes; God disposes.” Antithesis is a

balancing of one term against another for emphasis or

stylistic effectiveness. The second line of the following

couplet by Alexander Pope is an example of antithesis:

The hungry judges soon the sentence sign,

And wretches hang that jury-men may dine.

Aphorism: A short, pithy and instructive statement of

truth; e.g. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power

corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton, 1887).

Apocalyptic literature--writings that aim to reveal the future history of the world and the ultimate destiny of the earth and its inhabitants. Examples: the prophetic books of the Old Testament; Revelations. From the sermons of Puritan ministers to the latest popular work of science fiction, American literature has always had a pronounced apocalyptic tendency.

Aposiopesis: [ap-uh-sahy-uh-pee-sis] A breaking off of

speech, usually due to rising emotion or excitement

(Touch me one more time, and I swear-- or "Why I

oughtta…")

Apostrophe: a figure of speech in which someone

absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as

if it were alive and present and could reply.

Archetype: a recurring symbol, character, landscape, or

event found in myth and literature across different

cultures and eras (the devil)

Aside: A comment made by a stage performer that is

intended to be heard by the audience but supposedly

not by other characters.

Assonance--the repetition of similar vowel sounds within a line or succeeding lines of verse. Example: the short i and e sounds in Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra: "then is it sin/ To rush into the secret house of death/ Ere death dare come to us?"

Asyndeton: the omission of coordinating conjunctions, such as in a series ("Be one of the few, the proud, the Marines.")

Atmosphere: the dominant mood or feeling that pervades all or part of a literary work Autobiography--An author's own life history or memoir. Example: The Education of Henry Adams. Thoreau's Walden is also an example of autobiography, and Whitman's Leaves of Grass, though it is not specifically an autobiography, contains numerous autobiographical elements.

B

Ballad: A short poem that tells a simple story and has a repeated refrain. Ballads were originally intended to be sung. Early ballads, known as folk ballads, were passed down through generations, so their authors are often unknown. Later ballads composed by known authors are called literary ballads. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

Bathos: in poetry, the unintentional lapse from the sublime to the ridiculous or trivial

Bildungsroman: (Also known as Apprenticeship Novel, Coming of Age Novel) a study of the maturation of a youthful character (J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye)

Biography: A connected narrative that tells a person's life story. Biographies typically aim to be objective and closely detailed.

Blank Verse--a verse form consisting of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. Shakespeare's plays are largely in blank verse.

Black humor--comedy mingled with horror or a sense of the macabre; extremely bitter, morbid, or shocking humor. Examples (increasingly common in post-WWII film and literature) include Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle and the recent films Pulp Fiction and Misery.

C

Cacophony: a harsh or unpleasant spoken sound

created by clashing consonants: "bifocals cracked"

Caesura: A pause in a line of poetry, usually occurring

near the middle. It typically corresponds to a break in

the natural rhythm or sense of the line but is sometimes

shifted to create special meanings or rhythmic effects.

The opening line of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"

contains a caesura following "dreary": "Once upon a

midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary...."

Canon: A body of works considered authentic (as in the body of works actually written by a particular author) or considered by a particular culture or subculture to be central to its cultural identity.

Caricature: a verbal description, the purpose of which is to exaggerate, or distort, for comic effect, a person's distinctive physical features or other characteristics

Catharsis: A process in which a character heals, though often the process is painful. It can be a process for the audience of a work, as well.

Character: Broadly speaking, a person in a literary work. The actions of characters are what constitute the plot of a story, novel, or poem. CHARACTERIZATION is the way in which an author presents and defines characters. A "flat character" is one who is stereotypical and lacks interest. A "round character" is one who is presented in greater depth, interest and detail. A character who does not undergo any change is called a "static character" while a character who undergoes some sort of trans-formation is called a "dynamic character" (e.g., Scrooge in the same work).

Chiasmus: Two phrases in which the syntax is the same but the placement of words is reversed (When the going gets tough, the tough get going.)

Climax: the point of greatest tension or importance,

where the decisive action of the work takes place.

Colloquialism: A word, phrase, or form of pronunciation

that is acceptable in casual conversation but not in

formal, written communication. It is considered more

acceptable than slang.

Comedy: One of two major types of drama, the other

being tragedy. Its aim is to amuse, and it typically ends

happily.

Comedy of Manners: A play about the manners and conventions of an aristocratic, highly sophisticated society. The characters are usually types rather than individualized personalities, and plot is less important than atmosphere.

Coming of age story: (Bildungsroman) also called a rite of passage story. It is a story that chronicles the passage of a young person into adulthood, usually by portraying their reaction to a significant event in a transitional period in a life.

Conceit: A clever and fanciful metaphor, usually

expressed through elaborate and extended comparison,

that presents a striking parallel between two seemingly

dissimilar things — for example, elaborately comparing

a beautiful woman to an object like a garden or the sun.

Concrete: Concrete is the opposite of abstract, and

refers to a thing that actually exists or a description that

allows the reader to experience an object or concept

with the senses.

Conflict: a clash between opposing forces

Connotation: The emotional implications and

associations that words may carry, as distinguished

from their denotative meanings

Consonance: The repetition at close intervals of the

final consonant sounds of accented syllables or

important words.

Couplet: Two lines of poetry with the

same rhyme and meter, often expressing a complete

and self-contained thought.

Crisis: a peak moment of tension in the action of a

work, the moment of highest indecision.

D

Dactyl: a metrical foot of verse in which one stressed syllable is followed by two unstressed syllables (bat-ter-y)

Denotation: The basic dictionary meaning of a word, as opposed to its connotative meaning.

Denouement: The "end game" or resolution of a work of fiction. More than "how the plot comes out," the denouement (a French term using French pronunciation) suggests the ways in which several plot elements work out toward the end of a text or film.

Deus ex machina: The way of closing a story with an off-stage character who suddenly appears to bring about the denouement. This approach to ending a tale has its origins in ancient Greek theater, where an actor in the role of a god might suddenly appear on stage to help bring about the ending of the performance.

Dialect: a particular variety of language spoken by an identifiable regional group or social class of people

Diameter: a verse meter consisting of two metrical feet

Diction: literary word choice.

Didactic: A work designed to impart information, advice, or some doctrine of morality or philosophy

Doppelganger: (Also known as The Double.) A literary technique by which a character is duplicated (usually in the form of an alter ego, though sometimes as a ghostly counterpart) or divided into two distinct, usually opposite personalities. (Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)

Dramatic Irony: Occurs when the audience of a play or the reader of a work of literature knows something that a character in the work itself does not know

Dramatic point of view: also called objective point of view. The third person narrator relates only what we can see and hear, without giving access to the thoughts and feelings of any of the characters.

Dynamic character: a character who undergoes a fundamental personality change as a result of the conflicts he or she has endured.

Dystopia/utopia: A fictional world so oppressive that it might be a nightmare for someone from our society. Examples of dystopian fiction would be Orwell's 1984. A utopian world is exactly the opposite--a paradise of some sort. The eternal bliss of the biblical Garden of Eden and the perfect technological future predicted at the 1939 World's Fair in the film The World of Tomorrow are both utopian.

E

Elegy- a sustained and formal poem setting forth the poet’s meditations upon death or another solemn theme. Examples include Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”; Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s In Memoriam; and Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.”

Elision: the omission of unstressed syllables usually to fit a metrical scheme (In Pope's "Rape of the Lock" "amorous" is elided to "am'rous")

End-stopped- a line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark are end-stopped lines. True ease in writing comes from Art, not Chance, As those move easiest who have learn’d to dance.

English sonnet: also called a Shakespearean sonnet: rhyme scheme organized into three quatrains with a final couplet

Enjambment- the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the next. Milton’s Paradise Lost is notable for its use of enjambment, as seen in the following lines: . . . .Or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flow’d Fast by the oracle of God, . . . ..

Epigram: a very short poem, often comic, usually ending with some sharp turn of wit or meaning

Epitaph: An inscription on a tomb or tombstone, or a verse written on the occasion of a person's death. Epitaphs may be serious or humorous. Dorothy Parker's epitaph reads, "I told you I was sick."

Epithet: a picturesque tag or nickname associated with a certain character. Epithets can serve as a mnemonic device to remember and distinguish different characters. Perhaps the most famous epithet in Homer is the one he used for the passage of time, ‘rosy-fingered Dawn'

Epiphany: a sudden moment of revelation about the deep meaning inherent in common things.

Epic--a long narrative poem usually about gods, heroes, and legendary events; celebrates the history, culture, and character of a people. Examples: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Milton's Paradise Lost.

Epistolary- narrated through letters

Euphemism: more agreeable or less offensive substitute for a generally unpleasant word or concept (Saying "earthly remains" instead of "corpse")

Euphony- a style in which combinations of words pleasant to the ear predominate. Its opposite is cacophony. The following lines from John Keats’ Endymion are euphonious: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Exemplum: A tale with a moral message. This form of literary sermonizing flourished during the Middle Ages, when exempla appeared in collections known as "example-books."

Existentialism: A predominantly twentieth-century philosophy concerned with the nature and perception of human existence. There are two major strains of existentialist thought: atheistic and Christian. Followers of atheistic existentialism believe that the individual is alone in a godless universe and that the basic human condition is one of suffering and loneliness. Nevertheless, because there are no fixed values, individuals can create their own characters — indeed,

they can shape themselves — through the exercise of free will. The atheistic strain culminates in and is popularly associated with the works of Jean-Paul Sartre. The Christian existentialists, on the other hand, believe that only in God may people find freedom from life's anguish. The two strains hold certain beliefs in common: that existence cannot be fully understood or described through empirical effort; that anguish is a universal element of life; that individuals must bear responsibility for their actions; and that there is no common standard of behavior or perception for religious and ethical matters.

Exposition: the portion of a literary work occurring at the beginning of a piece and functioning to introduce main characters and conflicts as well as provide any necessary background information.

Expressionism: An indistinct literary term, originally used to describe an early twentieth-century school of German painting. The term applies to almost any mode of unconventional, highly subjective writing that distorts reality in some way.

Extended metaphor- an implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire poem. In “The Bait,” John Donne compares a beautiful woman to fish bait and men to fish who want to be caught by the woman. Since he carries these comparisons all the way through the poem, these are considered “extended metaphors.”

Eye rhyme- rhyme that appears correct from spelling, but is half-rhyme or slant rhyme from the pronunciation. Examples include “watch” and “match,” and “love” and “move.”

F

Fable: A story intended to convey a moral. Animals or

inanimate objects with human characteristics often

serve as characters in fables. A famous fable is Aesop's

"The Tortoise and the Hare."

Falling action: the portion of a work following the

climax where the conflicts are resolved.

Farce--comedy that makes extensive use of improbable plot complications, zany characters, and slapstick humor. Examples: films by the Marx brothers and the Three Stooges; George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart's You Can't Take It with You.

Fatal flaw: a character trait that leads to tragedy, both in characters who are otherwise quite admirable and in terrible villains. Examples include King Lear's blind trust in his daughters, Eve's desire for knowledge, Ahab's thirst for revenge, Darth Vader's will to power, or Pandora's curiosity.

Feet: The pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in a line of poetry. The most common feet are the iamb (unstressed/stressed), trochee (stressed/unstressed), anapest (two unstressed/one stressed), dactyl (one stressed/two unstressed) and spondee (two stressed)

Feminine rhyme: a rhyme with two or three stressed syllables--minty/plenty

Femme fatale: A French phrase with the literal translation "fatal woman." A femme fatale is a sensuous, alluring woman who often leads men into danger or trouble.

Figurative language: language employing figures of speech; language that cannot be taken literally or only literally.

First person point of view: a character in the story is telling the story.

Flashback: the presentation of an event or situation that occurred before the time in which the work's action takes place.

Flat character: a character who is two-dimensional and not fully developed.

Foil: A character in a work of literature whose physical or psychological qualities contrast strongly with, and therefore highlight, the corresponding qualities of another character.

Foreshadow: the presentation early in a work of things that seem to have no significance at the time, but which later are revealed to have great significance.

Frame Story: The literary device of creating a larger story for the purpose of combining a number of shorter stories in a unity; e.g. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

Free Verse--poetry without any fixed pattern of meter, rhythm, or rhyme, but which instead exhibits its own natural rhythms, sound patterns, and seemingly arbitrary principles of form. Example: most of the poems in Leaves of Grass.

G

Gothic fiction: genre that creates terror and suspense, usually set in an isolated castle, mansion, or monastery populated by mysterious or threatening individuals

Genre: The French term for a type, species, or class of composition. Genre as a term is distinguished from mode in its greater specificity as to form and convention.

H

Hamartia: In tragedy, the event or act that leads to the hero's or heroine's downfall. This term is often incorrectly used as a synonym for tragic flaw.

Heroic couplet- two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with the thought usually completed in the two-line unit. See the following example from Alexander Pope’s Rape of the Lock: But when to mischief mortals bend their will, How soon they find fit instruments of ill!

Homily: the term literally means "sermon," but more informally, it can include any serious talk, speech, or lecture involving moral or spiritual advice

Hubris: the sort of pride that is so inflated that it binds, even destroys a character, even an entire people. Many characters in classical literature and Shakespeare's plays are so prideful that it destroys them. So is Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost.

Hyperbole (also called overstatement): a type of verbal

irony in which the speaker exaggerates, says more than

what he or she means.

I

Iamb: a metrical foot in verse in which an unaccented

syllable is followed by an accented one, as in "ca-ress"

Iambic pentameter--popular English verse form

consisting of five metrical feet--with each foot

consisting of an iamb (i.e., an unstressed syllable

followed by a stressed syllable: daDUM).

Imagery- the images of a literary work; the sensory

details of a work; the figurative language of a work.

Imagery has several definitions, but the two that are

paramount are the visual auditory, or tactile images

evoked by the words of a literary work or the images

that figurative language evokes

Inference/Infer: to draw a reasonable conclusion from

the information presented

In medias res: A Latin term meaning "in the middle of

things." It refers to the technique of beginning a story at

its midpoint and then using various flashback devices to

reveal previous action.

Invective: an emotionally violent, verbal denunciation

or attack using strong, abusive language

Irony- the contrast between actual meaning and the

suggestion of another meaning. Verbal irony is a figure

of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in

words which carry the opposite meaning.

Internal rhyme- rhyme that occurs within a line, rather

than at the end. The following lines contain internal

rhyme:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping. . suddenly there came a tapping . . .

Italian sonnet: also called a Petrarchan sonnet: a sonnet

with an octave and sestet

J

Juxtaposition: The arrangement of two or more ideas, characters, actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or in similar narrative moments for the purpose of comparison, contrast, rhetorical effect, suspense, or character development. In Hamlet the relationship between Ophelia and Hamlet creates an opportunity for us to see Hamlet’s character development. Ophelia’s role serves as a catalyst for Hamlet. Romeo and Juliet is full of structural juxtapositions between light and dark and between age and youth.

Jargon: Language that is used or understood only by a select group of people. Jargon may refer to terminology used in a certain profession, such as computer jargon, or it may refer to any nonsensical language that is not understood by most people.

K

Kenning: a metaphorical phrase, used in Anglo-Saxon

poetry to replace a concrete noun (the sea being called

"the whale's home")

L

Legend: a traditional narrative handed down through

popular oral tradition to illustrate and celebrate a

remarkable character, an important event, or to explain

the unexplainable. Legends, unlike other folktales,

claim to be true and usually take place in real locations,

often with genuine historical figures

Limerick: a short and usually comic verse form of five

anapestic liens usually rhyming aabba.

Limited omniscient point of view: third person narrator

who gives the reader access to the thoughts and

feelings of one character, usually the protagonist.

Litotes: (pronounced almost like "little tee") a

deliberate understatement for effect ("not half bad")

using the affirmative expressed by negating it's opposite

Local color: the use of specific regional material--unique

customs, dress, habits, and speech patterns of ordinary

people--to create atmosphere or realism in a literary

work

Lost Generation: A term first used by Gertrude Stein to describe the post-World War I generation of American writers: men and women haunted by a sense of betrayal and emptiness brought about by the destructiveness of the war. The term is commonly applied to Hart Crane, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and others.

Lyric--a short, highly formal, song-like poem, usually passionate and confessional, often about love; a song expressing a private mood or an intense personal feeling. The sonnet and the ode are two specific types of lyric.

M

Magical realism: a type of fiction in which the world appears just as ours in all respects but very extraordinary things happen: a poor family finds a sick angel in the back yard and nurses him back to health, one morning a man wakes up in his family's apartment to find that he's become a giant bug. Unlike science fiction, most magical realism makes no attempt to explain such events. They simply happen, often with people reacting as if such things are not all that unusual.

Malapropism: A comic misuse of common words; e.g. "Condemned to everlasting redemption" (Much Ado About Nothing, 4.2).

Masculine rhyme- rhyme that falls on the stressed and concluding syllables of the rhyme-words. Examples include “keep” and “sleep,” “glow” and “no

Meiosis: a form of understatement in which something is referred to by a name that is disproportionate to its true nature (She glanced at the ball gown and exclaimed, "I'm supposed to wear this old rag?")

Melodrama: A play in which the typical plot is a conflict between characters who personify extreme good and evil. Melodramas usually end happily and emphasize sensationalism. Other literary forms that use the same techniques are often labeled "melodramatic."

Memento Mori: Latin phrase meaning "remember that you must die"; a common theme in literature

Memoirs: An autobiographical form of writing in which the author gives his or her personal impressions of significant figures or events. This form is different from the autobiography because it does not center around the author's own life and experiences.

Metafiction: fiction that consciously explores its own nature as a literary creation (Borges)

Metaphor- a figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term like “as,” “like,” or “than.” A simile would say, “night is like a black bat”; a metaphor would say, “the black bat night.”

Meter- the repetition of a regular rhythmic unit in a line of poetry. The meter of a poem emphasizes the musical quality of the language and often relates directly to the subject matter of the poem. Each unit of meter is known as a foot. 1. iambic, with measures of two syllables, in which the first is unaccented and

the second is accented; e.g. “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield” (A.

Tennyson, “Ulysses”); 2. dactylic, with measures of three syllables, in which the first is accented, the other two are not, e.g.: “Rage, goddess, sing the rage, of Peleus’ son, Achilles” (Homer, The Iliad); 3. trochaic, with measures of two syllables, the first accented and the second unaccented, e.g.: “”Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater” (Nursery Rhyme); 4. anapestic, with measures of three syllables, with the only accent on final syllable, e.g.: “The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold” (Byron, Destruction of Sennacherib); 5. spondaic, with measures of two syllables, both of them accented, e.g.: “Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens and shades of death” (Milton, Paradise Lost). The number of times these patterns are repeated in a single line is referred to as the number of metrical “feet”: once: monometer; twice: dimeter; thrice: trimeter; four times: tetrameter; five times, pentameter; etc. The great epics of Greece and Rome were composed in dactylic hexameter (Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and Virgil's Aeneid) in their original languages (Greek and Latin). Shakespeare usually wrote in iambic pentameter, e.g.: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Sonnet 18). Today most poetry is characterized by FREE VERSE, a type of poetry which does not conform to a regular meter.

Metonymy- a figure of speech which is characterized by the substitution of a term naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word itself. In this way we commonly speak of the king as the “crown,” an object closely associated with kingship.

Microcosm: the small world as created by a poem, play, or story that reflects the tensions of the larger world beyond

Mixed metaphors- the mingling of one metaphor with another immediately following with which the first is incongruous. Lloyd George is reported to have said, “I smell a rat. I see it floating in the air. I shall nip it in the bud.”

Mock epic--a long narrative poem that lightly parodies or mimics the conventions of classical epic. Whitman's elaborate "invocation" of a muse in "Song of the Exposition" is a mock-epic device.

Monologue: A composition, written or oral, by a single

individual. More specifically, a speech given by a single

individual in a drama or other public entertainment. It

has no set length, although it is usually several or more

lines long.

Mood: The atmosphere that pervades a literary work with the intention of evoking a certain emotion or feeling from the audience. In drama, mood may be created by sets and music as well as words; in poetry and prose, mood may be created by a combination of such elements as SETTING, VOICE, TONE and THEME. The moods evoked by the more popular short stories of Edgar Allen Poe, for example, tend to be gloomy, horrific, and desperate.

Motif: A recurrent image, word, phrase, represented

object or action that tends to unify the literary work or

that may be elaborated into a more general theme.

Also, a situation, incident, idea, image, or character type

that is found in many different literary works, folktales,

or myths

Modernism: A literary movement in the early 20th

century which prided itself on its novelty in breaking

away from established rules and traditions.

Motivation: what a character in a story or drama wants

Myth: An anonymous tale emerging from the traditional

beliefs of a culture or social unit. Myths use

supernatural explanations for natural phenomena. They

may also explain cosmic issues like creation and death.

Collections of myths, known as mythologies, are

common to all cultures and nations, but the best-known

myths belong to the Norse, Roman, and Greek

mythologies.

N

Narrative poem- a non-dramatic poem which tells a story or presents a narrative, whether simple or complex, long or short. Epics and ballads are examples of narrative poems.

Narrator: The narrator is the speaker in a work of prose.

The persona is the speaker in a work of poetry. Not to

be confused with or assumed to be the poet, the

persona may be an animal or an inanimate object.

Neologism: [nee-ol-uh-jiz-uhm] a new or invented

word, expression, or usage

Nonfiction: a genre in which actual events are

presented as a novel-length story, using the techniques

of fiction

Novel: An extended piece of prose fiction: a major

category in literature.

Novel of Manners: A novel that examines the customs

and mores of a cultural group.

The novels of Jane Austen and Edith Wharton are

widely considered novels of manners

Novella: An Italian term meaning "story." It also refers

to modern short novels.

O

Objective point of view: also called the dramatic point

of view. The third person narrator relates only what we

can see and hear, without giving access to the thoughts

and feelings of any of the characters.

Octave- an eight-line stanza. Most commonly, octave refers to the first division of an Italian sonnet.

Ode--a classical lyric form, typically of medium length with complex stanzas and ornate prosodic effects. Ancient odes were usually written to commemorate ceremonial occasions such as anniversaries or funerals. The Romantic poets wrote odes in celebration of art, nature, or exalted states of mind.

Omniscient point of view: third person narrator who tells everything that everyone says and does as well as what they think and feel.

Onomatopoeia- the use of words whose sound suggests their meaning. Examples are “buzz,” “hiss,” or “honk.”

Oxymoron- a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single expression. This combination usually serves the purpose of shocking the reader into awareness. Examples include “wise fool,” “sad joy,” and “eloquent silence.”

P

Palindrome: a word, phrase, or sentence that reads the

same backward and forward ("civic")

Pantomime: acting on the stage without speech, using

only posture, gesture, bodily movement, and

exaggerated facial expressions to mimic a character's

actions and express feelings

Parable: A story intended to teach a moral lesson or

answer an ethical question. In the West, the best

examples of parables are those of Jesus Christ in the

New Testament, notably "The Prodigal Son,"

Paradox: A statement that appears to be contradictory,

but which reveals a deeper (or higher) truth. For

example, one of the most important principles of good

writing is this: “Less is more.” It means that the most

effective writing is clear and focused; everything

extraneous is avoided.

Parallelism- a similar grammatical structure within a

line or lines of poetry.

Paralipsis: The technique of drawing attention to

something by claiming not to mention it (I won't stoop

to describing his infidelities)

Parody: A literary technique which imitates and

ridicules (usually through exaggeration) another author

or literary genre. For example, in the Canterbury Tales

Chaucer parodies the medieval romance (of selfless,

noble knights) in his Tale of Sir Topaz, and to a lesser

extent in the Knight’s Tale (where the heroes are

imperfect, and their quarrel is more of a sibling

rivalry). The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is “mock-heroic,”

another type of parody.

Paraphrase- a restatement of an ideas in such a way as

to retain the meaning while changing the diction and

form. A paraphrase is often an amplification of the

original for the purpose of clarity.

Pastoral: Poetry idealizing the lives of shepherds and country folk, although the term is often used loosely to include any poems with a rural aspect. Pedantic: an adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly, academic, or bookish (language that might be described as "show offy"; using big words for the sake of using big words)

Peripeteia: [per-uh-pi-tahy-uh } anglicized as peripety: Greek for "sudden change." Reversal of fortune. In a play's plotting, a sudden change of circumstance affecting the protagonist, often also including a reversal of intent on the protagonist's part Personification: Attributing human qualities to

inanimate objects, to animals, things or ideas; e.g. “the

man in the moon.”

Picaresque: a type of narrative, usually a novel, that

presents the life of a likeable scoundrel who is at odds

with respectable society. The narrator of a picaresque

was originally a picaro (Spanish for "rascal" or "rogue")

who recounts his adventures tricking the rich and

gullible

Plagiarism: Accidental or intentional intellectual theft in

which a writer, poet, artist, scholar, or student steals an

original idea, phrase, or section of writing from

someone else and presents this material as his or her

own work without indicating the source via appropriate

explanation or citation

Plot: The plot is the author's plan or scheme to

accomplish some purpose. Plot is the unified structure

of events and incidents (usually including "conflict,"

"climax" and "denouement") which expresses the

author's purpose for writing.

Poetic Justice: An outcome in a literary work, not necessarily a poem, in which the good are rewarded and the evil are punished, especially in ways that particularly fit their virtues or crimes. For example, a murderer may himself be murdered, or a thief will find himself penniless. (See also Deus ex machina.) Poetic License: Distortions of fact and literary convention made by a writer — not always a poet — for the sake of the effect gained. Poetic license is closely related to the concept of "artistic freedom." An author exercises poetic license by saying that a pile of money "reaches as high as a mountain" when the pile is actually only a foot or two high. Point of view: the narrative voice that the author

creates to tell the story. There are four traditional

points of view. The "third person omniscient" gives the

reader a "godlike" perspective, unrestricted by time or

place, from which to see actions and look into the

minds of characters. This allows the author to comment

openly on characters and events in the work. The "third

person" point of view presents the events of the story

from outside of any single character's perception, much

like the omniscient point of view, but the reader must

understand the action as it takes place and without any

special insight into characters' minds or motivations.

The "first person" or "personal" point of view relates

events as they are perceived by a single character. The

main character "tells" the story and may offer opinions

about the action and characters which differ from those

of the author. Much less common than omniscient,

third person, and first person is the "second person"

point of view, wherein the author tells the story as if it

is happening to the reader.

Polysyndeton- The device of repeating conjunctions in

close succession ("Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!")

Portmanteau word: [pawrt-man-toh] an artificial word

that combines parts of other words to express some

combination of their qualities. Sometimes portmanteau

words prove so useful that they become part of the

standard language. ( For example, smog from smoke

and fog)

Post Modernism: A term used for the pessimistic, contemporary worldview which began in the 1960s, rejecting tradition, resisting authority, and denying any final or enduring meaning and purpose in life (and literature). Postmodern literature tends to focus upon the way in which institutions and traditions use (and have used) their power to deny individuals and minorities of their freedom. Cf. Deconstruction. Prose: The ordinary use of language, without the artistic embellishments of rhythm, meter or rhyme. In general usage, prose is any form of language, written or spoken, which is not poetry.

Prosody--the technical analysis of all the sound elements (e.g., rhythm, alliteration, rhyme) in poetry or speech

Protagonist: A protagonist is the central character in a literary work. The protagonist of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, for example, is the good Christian slave Uncle Tom

Pun: A humorous use of words which sound alike; e.g. "A little more than kin and less than kind" (Hamlet, 1.2); "By noting of the lady" (Much Ado, 4.1). An example is Thomas Hood’s:" They went and told the sexton and the sexton tolled the bell.”

Q

Quatrain: A four-line stanza of a poem or an entire

poem consisting of four lines.

R

Realism: A nineteenth-century European literary

movement that sought to portray familiar characters,

situations, and settings in a realistic manner. This was

done primarily by using an objective narrative point of

view and through the buildup of accurate detail. The

standard for success of any realistic work depends on

how faithfully it transfers common experience

into fictional forms. The realistic method may be altered

or extended, as in stream of consciousness writing, to

record highly subjective experience.

Refrain- a group of words forming a phrase or sentence

and consisting of one or more lines repeated at

intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza.

Regionalism: the literary representation of a specific

locale that consciously uses the particulars of

geography, custom, history, folklore, or speech

Repetition: the duplication, either exact or

approximate, of any element of language such as a

sound, word, phrase, clause, sentence, or grammatical

pattern

Resolution: the final stage in the plot where all the

loose ends are tied up.

Rhetoric: from the Greek "orator," this term describes

the principles governing the art of writing or speaking

effectively, eloquently, and persuasively

Rhyme: The repetition of accented vowel sound and all

succeeding sounds in important or importantly

positioned words. When this effect is regularly repeated

over the course of a poem or stanza and obeys a precise

and predictable formal pattern, it is called a rhyme

scheme.

Rhythm: refers to the pattern of stresses and pauses in

spoken language.

Rising action: the conflicts develop in intensity.

Round character: a character who is three-dimensional

and multi-faceted.

S

Sarcasm: a conspicuously bitter form of irony in which

the ironic statement is designed to hurt or mock its

target

Satire: A work that uses ridicule, humor, and wit to

criticize and provoke change in human nature and

institutions. Jonathan Swift's essay "A Modest

Proposal" is an example of satire

Scansion: The analysis or "scanning" of a poem to

determine its meter and often its rhyme scheme. The

most common system of scansion uses accents (slanted

lines drawn above syllables) to show stressed syllables,

breves (curved lines drawn above syllables) to show

unstressed syllables, and vertical lines to separate

each Foot.

monometer one foot per line

dimeter two feet per line

trimeter three feet per line

tetrameter four feet per line

pentameter five feet per line

hexameter six feet per line

heptameter seven feet per line

octameter eight feet per line

Scene: A subdivision of an Act of a drama, consisting of

continuous action taking place at a single time and in a

single location. The beginnings and endings of scenes

may be indicated by clearing the stage of actors and

props or by the entrances and exits of

important characters.

Semantics: the branch of linguistics that studies the

meaning of words, their historical and psychological

development, their connotations, and their relation to

one another

Sestet: Any six-line poem or stanza.

Sestina: a complex verse form in which six end words

are repeated in prescribed order through six stanzas,

total of 39 lines

Setting: The time, place, and culture in which the action

of a narrative takes place.

Simile: A comparison, usually using "like" or "as", of two

essentially dissimilar things, as in "coffee as cold as ice"

or "He sounded like a broken record."

Situational irony: the situation turns out differently

than expected.

Slang: A type of informal verbal communication that is

generally unacceptable for formal writing. Slang words

and phrases are often colorful exaggerations used to

emphasize the speaker's point; they may also be

shortened versions of an often-used word or phrase.

Slant rhyme: a rhyme in which the final consonant

sounds are the same but the vowel sounds are different

as in "litter" and "letter"; near rhyme, off rhyme,

imperfect rhyme

Slapstick comedy: a kind of farce, featuring pratfalls, pie

throwing, fisticuffs, and other violent action

Soliloquy: A monologue in a drama used to give

the audience information and to develop the

speaker's character. It is typically a projection of the

speaker's innermost thoughts. Usually delivered while

the speaker is alone on stage, a soliloquy is intended to

present an illusion of unspoken reflection.

Sonnet: A fourteen-line poem, usually composed in

iambic pentameter, employing one of

several rhyme schemes.

Spondee: In Poetry Meter, a Foot consisting of two long

or stressed syllables occurring together. This form is

quite rare in English Verse, and is usually composed of

two monosyllabic words.

Stanza: A subdivision of a poem consisting of lines

grouped together, often in recurring patterns of rhyme,

line length, and Meter. Stanzas may also serve as units

of thought in a poem much like paragraphs in prose.

Static character: a character who does not change in

the course of a literary work, regardless of the conflicts

he or she endures.

Stock character: a common or stereotypical character

that occurs frequently in literature (mad scientist,

strong-but-silent cowboy, etc)

Stream of Consciousness: A narrative technique for

rendering the inward experience of a character. This

technique is designed to give the impression of an ever-

changing series of thoughts, emotions, images, and

memories in the spontaneous and seemingly illogical

order that they occur in life.

Style: A writer's distinctive manner of arranging words

to suit his or her ideas and purpose in writing. The

unique imprint of the author's personality upon his or

her writing, style is the product of an author's way of

arranging ideas and his or her use of diction, different

sentence structures, rhythm, figures of

speech, rhetorical principles, and other elements of

composition.

Surrealism: associated with painting and film more than

with writing, but the term has grown with use.

Surrealist work tends to delve into the nonsensical, or

the wildest sides of psychological and physical

experiences. Some horror movies become surreal (a

man's severed hand begins to stalk him) and even in

realistic work, surreal scenes can occur.

Suspense: A literary device in which the author

maintains the audience's attention through the buildup

of events, the outcome of which will soon be revealed.

Syllogism: a formal argument involving deductive

reasoning, in which a specific conclusion is inferred

from a general statement. Ex: All cats purr. This animal

is a cat. Therefore, this animal must purr.

Symbol: Something that suggests or stands for

something else without losing its original identity.

In literature, symbols combine their literal meaning with

the suggestion of an abstract concept. Literary symbols

are of two types: those that carry complex associations

of meaning no matter what their contexts, and those

that derive their suggestive meaning from their

functions in specific literary works. Examples of

symbols are sunshine suggesting happiness, rain

suggesting sorrow, and storm clouds suggesting

despair.

Synaesthesia- the use of one kind of sensory experience

to describe another. (They had a great thirst for viewing

new paintings)

Synecdoche: From the Greek: "to receive from; sense;"

interpretation; a figure of speech by which a part of

something refers to the whole, as in "Give us this day

our daily bread" (for basic necessities of life) or "fifty

wagging tails" (for fifty dogs). In Sonnet 55 Shakespeare

refers to art as "rhyme": "Not marble, nor the gilded

monuments of princes, shall outline this powerful

rhyme." Synecdoche can also be used when a part is

referred to as the whole, as in: "Use your head!" (for

brain).

Syntax: An author’s distinctive form of sentence

construction. Distinctive forms include: very long

sentences; very short sentences; parallelism (e.g. “on

the sea, in the air, etc.); and repetition of key words or

phrases.

T

Tercet- a stanza of three lines in which each line ends

with the same rhyme

Terza Rima: A three-line stanza form in Poetry in which

the rhymes are made on the last word of each line in

the following manner: the first and third lines of the

first stanza, then the second line of the first stanza and

the first and third lines of the second stanza, and so on

with the middle line of any stanza rhyming with the first

and third lines of the following stanza. An example

of terza rima is Percy Bysshe Shelley's "The Triumph of

Love":

As in that trance of wondrous thought I lay

This was the tenour of my waking dream.

Methought I sate beside a public way

Thick strewn with summer dust, and a great stream

Of people there was hurrying to and fro

Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam,...

Theme: The main point of a work of literature. A theme

is an author’s insight about life.

Tone: The author's attitude toward his or

her audience may be deduced from the tone of the

work. A formal tone may create distance or convey

politeness, while an informal tone may encourage a

friendly, intimate, or intrusive feeling in the reader. The

author's attitude toward his or her subject matter may

also be deduced from the tone of the words he or she

uses in discussing it. The tone of John F. Kennedy's

speech which included the appeal to "ask not what your

country can do for you" was intended to instill feelings

of camaraderie and national pride in listeners.

Tragedy: A drama in prose or Poetry about a noble,

courageous hero of excellent character who, because of

some tragic character flaw or hamartia, brings ruin

upon him- or herself. Tragedy treats its subjects in a

dignified and serious manner, using poetic language to

help evoke pity and fear and bring about catharsis, a

purging of these emotions.

Tragic Flaw: In a tragedy, the quality within

the hero or heroine which leads to his or her downfall.

Examples of the tragic flaw include Othello's jealousy

and Hamlet's indecisiveness, although most great

tragedies defy such simple interpretation. (Compare

with hamartia.)

U

Understatement: A statement which says less than is

really meant. It is a figure of speech which is the

opposite of HYPERBOLE. Hyperbole exaggerates;

understatement minimizes. In Much Ado About

Nothing, when Benedick says, "This looks not like a

nuptial," he is greatly understating the fact that what

was supposed to be a joyful wedding has turned into

bitter hostility, a veritable nightmare for Hero (Much

Ado, 4.1).

Unreliable narrator: a question to consider when the

point of view is either first person or third person

limited. This narrator relates the story inaccurately and

is not a trustworthy storyteller.

Utopia: A fictional perfect place, such as "paradise" or

"heaven."

V

Verbal irony: the speaker means the opposite of what

he or she says. Both speaker and listener must be

aware of the discrepancy.

Verse: A line of metered language, a line of a poem, or

any work written in verse.

Verisimilitude: the quality in a literary work of

appearing true to life. In fiction, verisimilitude is usually

achieved by careful use of realistic detail in description,

characterization, and dialogue

Villanelle- a nineteen-line poem divided into five tercets

and a final quatrain. The villanelle uses only two

rhymes which are repeated as follows: aba, aba, aba,

aba, aba, abaa. Line 1 is repeated entirely to form lines

6, 12, and 18, and line 3 is repeated entirely to form

lines 9, 15, and 19; thus, eight of the nineteen lines are

refrain. Dylan Thomas’s poem “Do Not Go Gentle Into

That Good Night” is an example of a villanelle.

Voice: An author’s distinctive literary style, basic vision

and general attitude toward the world. This “voice” is

revealed through an author’s use of SYNTAX (sentence

construction); DICTION (distinctive vocabulary);

PUNCTUATION; CHARACTERIZATION and DIALOGUE.

W

Wit: in modern usage, intellectually amusing language

that surprises and delights. A witty statement is

humorous, while suggesting the speaker's verbal power

in creating ingenious and perceptive remarks.

X

Y

Z

Zeitgeist: A German term meaning "spirit of the time."

It refers to the moral and intellectual trends of a given

era.

Examples of zeitgeist include the preoccupation with

the more morbid aspects of dying and death in some

Jacobean literature, especially in the works of

dramatists Cyril Tourneur and John Webster, and the

decadence of the French Symbolists.

Zeugma: a figure of speech in which one verb or

preposition joins two objects within the same phrase,

often with different meanings (I left my heart--and my

suitcase--in San Francisco)