| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Abstract | Refers to an idea rather than an actual thing; the opposite of concrete. ex. love, evil, beauty, intelligence, pain. |
| Absurdism | Literature that blatantly rejects the notion of life, or the universe, as having some "deeper meaning" The characters usually experiance mental or emotional paralysis and feelings of isolation in response to the meaninglessness of their world. |
| Accent | Refers to a relatively strong stess placed on a particular syllable in a word or in a metrical food. |
| Allegory | A type of extended metaphor in which the elements of narrative (characters, actions, settings, and objects) represent abstract ideas |
| Alliteration | The repetition of initial sounds (usually consonants) in a series of words placed close together in verse or sometimes prose. |
| Allusion | A reference to some person, place, or thing from literary or cultural history. It is often indirect and noticing or understanding it may depend upon the reader's proir knowledge of the topic. |
| Anachronism | An object, person, or behavior that appears outside its appropriate historical time. |
| Analogy | A comparison of two fundamentally different things. The things being compared may be people, places, objects, actions, or abstract concepts. |
| Anapest | A metrical foot consisting f three syllables with the accent falling on the third syllable. |
| Anaphora | The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines of verse. |
| Anecdote | A brief narrative based in fact and involving an entertaining, exemplary or instructive incident. |
| Anthropomorphism | Personification; |
| Anticlimax | A stylistic device that occurs when a writer shifts from increasing emphasis and significance, to unexpected insignificance or triviality. |
| Antihero | A protagonist of a novel or play who lacks the qualities associated with a traditional hero or heroine. This character ay be dishonest, antisocial, ignorant, weak, inept, petty or even unlikeable. |
| Aphorism | A short statement delivered in memorable words and offering a principle, a general truth, or a wise observation about life. Sometimes reffered to as a maxim or sententia. |
| Epigram | A short, witty, carefully constructed, and often paradoxical statement. The use of tone is important for something implied. |
| Apostrophe | A poetic device in which an imaginary or absent person, a non-human creature, an object, or an abstract idea is directly addressed as if it were present. |
| Pathetic Fallacy | The tendancy of writers to portray nature as having human emotions; the conventional belief that nature may behave in sympathy with human experience. |
| Proverb | A short statement delivered in memorable words and offering a principle, a general truth, or a wise obsercation about life. Sometimes called an adage. Is passed down for many years through an oral tradition. |
| Repartee | A quick, witty comeback or clever response, especially to an attempted insult. |
| Witticism | A particular expression of wit; a brief, witty remark that neatly expresses an idea, an assertion, or a response. |
| Archaism | A word, phrase, or style of writing that is no longer commonly used, and is associated with some time in the distant past. Makes one's speech or writing seem artificial or old fashioned. |
| Archetype | An image, symbol, setting, character type, plot design, situation, incident or theme that is considered universal, having appeared so frequently and consistently throughout the history of literature and folklore. |
| Aside | In a play, a line or short speech spoken aloud by a character, but not heard by all or most of the other characters on stage. |
| Assonance | The repetition of vowel sounds in a sieries of words placed close together in verse or sometimes prose. The repeated voqel sounds dont need to occur at the beginning of words. |
| Atmosphere | The overall emotional impression conveyed by the setting, action, tone and descriptions in a narrative or part of a narrative. Generally reffers to what is suggested rather than directly stated. |
| Ballad | A narrative poem composed in ballad stanzas. Characterized by their simple presentation of dramatic events, often involving common people, supernatural elements, heroism, love and death. |
| Ballad Stanza | A stanza form consisting of four lines, whymed ABCB or sometimes ABAB with the first and third lines longer than the second and fourth. Usually written in iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. |
| Bathos | the effect of a writer's failed attempt to provoke pathos, pity, sorrow, awe or any similarly weighty response. |
| Pathos | The rousing of feelings such as sympathy, pity, or sorrow through the presentation of misfortune. |
| Bildungsroman | A novel recording the growth and development of its protagonist, from childhood into adulthood. Means "novel of development" or "novel of formation" in German. |
| Black Comedy | Comedy that focuses on situations more commonly associated with tragedy, such as suffering, anxiety, and death. Attempts to provoke morid laughter in response to these situations. |
| Blank Verse | Refers to poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It is the most common meter of narrative and dramatic verse written in English. |
| Bombast | The use of extravagantly inflated language, disproportionate to the subject being discussed. It often involves isincerity, excessive emotion, or outlandish claims. |
| Burlesque | A work of literature in which there is a distinct incongruity between style and content for the sake of humor, irony, parody, or satire. refers to the exaggeration and distortion of a particular subject through the use of a particular style. |
| Cacophony | A harsh, unpleasant group of sounds, used either accidentally or deliberately. |
| Ceasura | A distinct pause within a line of verse, often near the center. |
| Canto | A section in a long poem (especially a narrative poem), roughly equivalent to a chapter in a novel. |
| Caricature | In a piece of writing, a character presented in such a way that features of his or her personality or appearance are greatly exaggerated, often to comic effect. |
| Catharsis | The emotional release that the resolution of a tragedy evokes in its audience. |
| Character | the representation of a person or personified being in a narrative work of literature or folklore. |
| archaism | a word, phrase, or style of writing that is no longer commonly used, and is associated with some time in the distant past |
| archetype | an image, symbol, setting, etc. that is considered universal, having appeared so frequently and consistently throughout the history of literature and folklore |
| aside | in a play, a line or short speech spoken aloud by a character, but not heard by all or most of the other characters onstage |
| assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds in a series of words placed close together in verse or sometimes prose |
| atmosphere | the overall emotional impression conveyed by the setting, action, tone, and descriptions in a narrative or part of a narrative |
| ballad | a narrative poem composed in _________ stanzas |
| ballad stanza | a stanza form consisting of four lines, rhymed ABCB with the first and third lines longer than the second and fourth |
| bathos | the effect of a writer's failed attempt to provoke pity, sorrow, awe, or any similarly weighty response |
| pathos | the rousing of feelings such as sympathy, pity or sorrow through the presentation of misfortune |
| Bildungsroman | a novel recording the growth and development of its protagonist, from childhood into adulthood |
| black comedy | comedy that focuses on situations more commonly associated with tragedy, such as suffering, anxiety, and death |
| blank verse | refers to a poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| bombast | the use of extravagantly inflated language, disproportionate to the subject being discussed |
| burlesque | a work of literature in which there is a distinct incongruity between style and content for the sake of humor, irony, parody, or satire |
| cacophony | a harsh, unpleasant group of sounds, used either accidentally or deliberately |
| caesura | a distinct pause within a line of verse, often (but not always) near the center |
| canto | a section in a long poem (especially in a narrative poem), roughly equivalent to a chapter in a novel |
| caricature | in a piece of writing, a character presented in such a way that features of his or her personality or appearance are greatly exaggerated, often to comic effect |
| catharsis | the emotional release that the resolution of a tragedy evokes in its audience |
| character | the representation of a person or personified being in a narrative work of literature or folklore |
| Enjambment | The continuation of a sentance, clause, phrase, or thought from one line of verse to the next, with no punctuation between. |
| Epic | A narrative presenting the adventurous progress of a hero of national, historical, or legendary significance. Serves to celebrate the origins, history, traditions, values, and leaders of a culture or people. |
| Epigraph | A brief quotation printed before the text of a book, chapter, or poem. May be chosen to reflect an important theme or prepare the reader in some way. |
| Epiphany | A moment of sudden understanding or revelation, when a character is able to see herself or her situation more clearly. Means "showing forth" |
| Epistolary Novel | A novel composed wholly or primarily of letters. Unfolds through the written documents passed from person to person. |
| Epitaph | An inscription or commemorative verse marking a tomb, or a piece of writing representing such an inscription. |
| Epithet | A noun, adjective, or adjective phrase added to the name of a person, place, or thing in order to emphasize some quality or characteristic, usually in figurative terms. |
| Euphemism | An indirect and often more agreeable or socially acceptable way of saying something. |
| Euphony | A pleasing or smooth group of sounds. |
| Explication | A thorough, detailed, and systematic interpretation of a difficult text, with close reading as its basis. |
| Fable | A brief tale illustrating a moral lesson. The moral is often stated at the conclusion in the form of an aphorism. |
| Fabliau | A medieval tale, traditionally written in octosyllabic couplets. They are primarily satirical rather than instructive. |
| Farce | Comedy that is marked by its use of (often stereotypical) characters in ridiculous or improbable situation. Emplasis is placed on physical humor. |
| Feminine Ending | An unaccented syllable falling at the end of a line of metrical verse. |
| Figurative Language | The language used in creating a figure of speech. The opposite of literal language. |
| Foil | A (usually minor) character who provides a strong contrast to a main character (often the protagonist.) It functions to reveal and emphasize certian aspects of the main character. |
| Foot | A group of consecutive syllables sharing a specific pattern of accents. |
| Foreshadowing | In a narrative, the technique of suggesting to the reader what events are to follow while still maintaining suspense. |
| Found Poem | A poem composed of text written by someone other than the poet herself, who has found the text in some non-literary context and arranged it in the form of verse. |
| Mock Epic | A work of literature that applies the characteristics and conventions of epic poetry to trivial subject matter for the sake of humor, irony, parody, or satire. |
| Frame | When a story is told within another story. This reffers to the story that surrounds the sub story. |
| Hyperbole | Overstatement or exaggeration; describing something in terms that overstate its true importance or magnitude. |
| In Medias Res | Describes the technique of beginning a narrative at some point in the middle of the story's action, with earlier eents to be narrated through flashbacks. |
| Inversion | Altering or reversing the normal order of words in a sentance. |
| Hendiadys | A rhetorical device in which a single idea is expressed using two nouns connected by "and" instead of a single noun or noun modified by an adjective. |
| Genre | French for "type" or "kind" the term refers to any one of the categories into which works of literature are devided, according to the medium, length, verse type, dramatic or narrative type, formal structure, or specific sub categories. |
| Idiom | A common use of language that cannot be literally translated from one language to another. |
| Intentional Fallacy | Refers to an author's mental conception of his or her work supposedly preceding or corresponding with the act of writing itself. |
| Juvenilia | The works written by an author during his or her youth. |
| Iamb | A metrical foot consisting of two syllables, with the accent falling on the second. |
| Free Verse | Verse written without a set meter, line length, stanza form, or rhyme scheme. |
| Hamartia | The primary error of judgement that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine. |
| Invocation | A poet's request to a muse of diety for help in writing the poem. |
| Irony | The effect created when an apparently direct statement, event, or situation is given a quite different significance due to its context. |
| Exameter | cant find definition please look up on ur own. |
| Heptameter | Describes a line of metrical verse consisting of seven feet. |
| Interior Monologue | An extended passage of writing in which the inner thoughts of a character are presented as directly as possible. |
| Imagry | The images used in a work of literature (images are language reffering to that which can be precieved by one or ore of hte five senses) |
| Gothic Novel | A novel in which generally virtuous characters experiance horror, danger, and violence at the hands of a mysterious and villaninous antagonist admist an atmosphere that is dark and foreboding. |
| Free Indirect Discourse | Writing in which the inner thoughts of a character are presented directly in an otherwise third person narrative. |
| Kenning | A metaphorical phrase used in place of a common noun. Use circumlocation in order to refer to something more vividly than if the thing itself were simply named. |
| Masque | A type of verse drama portraying a mythological, allegorical, or pastoral narrative enhanced by song, dance, and lavish staging. |
| Latinate | Describes a literary text written in the style of classical Latin literature. |
| Melodrama | Emotionally exaggerated situations or conflicts, often involving unbelievably good and evil characters. |
| Limerick | A form of light verse with five lines rhymed AABBA; the A-rhymed lines have three accented syllables and the B-rhymed lines have two accented syllables. |
| Metalepsis | The compounding of multiple figures of speech. |
| Local Color | Details of a particular region's physical setting, dialect, habits of speech and throught, customs, manners, values, and folklore. |
| Metanarrative | Describes elements of a narrative that openly refer to or comment upon their own placement within the narrative. |
| Lyric Poetry | Poetry that expresses the subjunctive mood, emotions, thoughts, or imagination of a specific speaker. |
| Metaphor | An indirect or implicit comparison of two fundamentally different things, without using the words like or as. |
| Malaprop | A word mistakenly substituted for another which is similar in sound, with humorous (and sometimes bawdy) effect. |
| Meter | In verse, a rhythmic pattern of syllables arranged by number, degree of stress, or both. |
| Magical Realism | A genre of fiction in which elements of fantasy, myth, or the supernatural are included in a narrative that is otherwise objective and realistic. |
| Metonymy | A figure of speech in which the name of one thing is replaced by the name of some closely related thing. |
| Magnum Opus | Literally "great work" or masterpiece. |
| Synechdoche | A figure of speech in which a part of something stands for the whole (or less frequently the whole stands for one of its parts.) |
| Masculine Ending | An accented syllable falling at the end of a line of metrical verse. |
| Mimesis | Greek for "imitation." used to describe the artistic representation of reality. |
| Mise en Scene | The visual setting of a dramatic performance, whether in a theatre or in film. |
| Monometer | Describes a line of metrial verse consisting of one foot. |
| McGuffin | a plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but the details of which are of little or no importance otherwise. |
| Mood | The attitdude an author conveys towards his or her subject. |
| Morality Play | A genre of medieval drama in which allegorical figures are used to illustrate Christian moral struggles. |
| Motif | A recurring element that appears in various works of literature or throughout a single work. |
| Movement | Refers to the members and work of any group of writers or critics who share a more or less cohesive and defined attitude toward literary creation and interpretation. |
| Muse | One of the nine goddesses (daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory) responsible for the various fields of art and study. |
| Myth | An often supernatural or highly imaginative narrative in the oral tradition, used to express explanations for or collective attitudes toward human or natural events, social customs or beliefs, or the origins of life. |
| Narrator | Someone who tells a story; the imagined or understood speaker of a narrative. |
| Negative Capability | One's capability or willingness to be receptive to a complex or uncertian situation rather than ignoring ambiguity or pushing toward and artificially simple solution. |
| Neologism | A word newly invented and introduced into a language. |
| Nonce Word | A word invented by a writer for use on a single occasion. Differs from a neologism in that it generally does not become an established part of the written or spoken language. |
| Portmanteau Word | A neologism or nonce word made up of two pre-existing words fused together; also called a blend. ex. smog= smoke +fog. |
| Occasional Verse | Poetry written for or in response to a specific occasion, such as a birth, death, marriage, anniversary, or other notable event. |
| Octameter | Describes a line of metrical verse consisting of eight feet. |
| Octave | Any stanza of eight lines, whether rhymed or unrhymed. Sometimes called an octet. |
| Ode | A realitively long, formal and elaborate lyric poem marking an important event, praising a person or thing, or meditationg upon an important subject. |
| Oeuvre | French for "work," the term refers to the total body of works written by a particular author. |
| Onomatopoeia | the use of a word that imitates the sound of something, or a word with a sound suggesting its meaning. |
| Organic Form | Describes the form of a work of literature (usually a poem) that doesnot adhere to any set formal arrangement or structure. |
| Ottava Rima | A stanza of eight lines in iambic pentameter, rhymed ABABABCC. |
| Oxymoron | A word or phrase made up of two contradictory terms. |
| Pun | A play in two words with the same or similar sounds but different meanings. |
| Protagonist | The central character in a narrative; The character whose progressor experiances form the primary interest of the story. |
| Pastoral | Traditionally, the term refers to a mode or genre of poetry portraying shepherds and rural life in an idealized manner. The most famous being monologues. |
| Parallelism | The arrangement of a sentence or group of sentences so that corresponding elements of equal importance are expressed in a balanced and similar fashion. |
| Refrain | A word, phrase, line, or group of lines that is repeated periodically throughout the poem, often at regular intervals and sometimes at the end of each stanza. |
| Recognition | A scene or moment in a narrative when the protagonist (or sometimes another character) gains some knowlege that causes a reversal in the plot. |
| Plot | The events of a story as they are selected, organized and presented in a narrative. |
| Pyrrhic | A metrical foot consisting of two syllables, niether of which is accented. |
| Rhyme | Usually, the repetition of vowel and end consonant sounds (along with the variation of initial consonant sounds) in the final accented syllables of two words or lines of verse. |
| Persona | Literally, a "mask"; the identity (in the form of a voice) taken on by an author in writing a work of literature. |
| Parable | A brief tale illustrating a moral lesson. A type of fable told in a specific (often spiritual) situation. Most famous are those in the Bible. |
| Pentameter | Describes a line of metrical verse consisting of five feet. |
| Saga | A medieval genre of narrative, similar to a folk epic but in prose; generally focuses on heroes defending their ruling families. |
| Polysemy | The ability of a sign or symbol (most often a word) to have more than one meaning. ex: right means to turn right and you are correct) |
| Prosody | The techniques, structures, and defining rules of poetic form; also, the study of those techniques, structures, rules and forms. |
| Romance | A fictional story not bound by the restrictions of realism; one in which fantastic or idealized characters experiance strange or marvelous events in an antiquated or faraway setting. |
| Spondee | A metrical foot consisting of two accented syllables. |
| Paradox | A statement or idea that at first seems self-contradictory or nonsensical, but nonetheless reveals itself to be true. |
| Parody | A work written in conscious imitation of another work. The work being imitated is generally a more serious one. Used to satire or ridicule an author, style, or subject of the original work. |
| Peripeteia | In a narrative, a protagonist's sudden and significant chane of fortune or circumstances; also called the reversal. |
| Scansion | Analyzing the meter in lines of verse by marking the accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into metrical feet, and indicating any distinct pauses within the lines. |
| Sonnet | A poem consisting of fourteen lines, traditionally in iambic pentameter, with one of several regular rhyme schemes. |
| Septet | Any stanza (or poem) of seven lines, whether rhymed or unrhymed. |
| Sestet | Any stanza (or poem) of six lines, whether rhymed or unrhymed. |
| Sestina | A poem consisting of six sestets and a three line envoy (thirty nine lines total). |
| Surrealism | In literature, the term refers to an attempt to push, question or cross the boundaries of reality and rationality. |
| Subplot | In a narrative, a secondary sequence of events that constitutes a plot subordinate to the main plot. |
| Stock Character | A conventional character who fills a sterotypical role in a work of literature or folklore. |
| Suspension of Disbelief | The reader's (or viewer's) willingness or tendency to set aside questions of probability or truth when encountering a work of fiction. |
| Stream of Consciousness | The progression of one's entire awareness over a period of time -- including thoughts (both verbal and non verbal), impressions, perceptions, memories, associations, and emotions. |
| Stichomythia | A style of dialogue in which two characters exchange single, antagonistic lines of speech, partially repeating and manipulating each others' words. |
| Summary Method | A method of narration in which action and dialogue are presented indirectly, in the form of a summary. |
| Stasimon | A passage of text recited or sung by the chorus between the episodes of a classical Greek play. |
| Spenserian Stanza | A stanza of nine lines in iambic meter, rhymed ABABBCBCC. The first eight lines are in iambic pentameter, and the ninth line is in iambic hexameter. |
| Scenic Method | A method of narration in which action and dialogue are presented directly, in a form similar to that of a dramatic scene. |
| Syllabic Verse | Metrical verse in which the lines have a set number of syllables, but not a set number or pattern of accents. |
| Soliloquy | In a play, a speech delivered by a character who is alone onstage, serving to inform the audience of his or her private thoughts, feelings, motives, plans, or prior actions. |
| Scop | A royally appointed Anglo-Saxon poet and performer of epics. |
| Satire | Literature that uses irony, humor, and wit in order to criticize or ridicule an institution, a group of people, a culture or society, or even humanity in general. |
| Sapphic Verse | an Aeolic verse form spanning four lines; form is two hendecasyllabic verses, and a third verse beginning the same way and continuing with five additional syllables |
| Hendecasyllabic | a quantitative metre used in Ancient Greek Aeolic verse. |
| Sprung Rhythm | a poetic rhythm designed to imitate the rhythm of natural speech. It is constructed from feet in which the first syllable is stressed and may be followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables |
| Stanza | A group of two or more lines of verse, separated vertically by a space from other, similar groups in the same poem. |
| Trope | A figure of speech involving the addition of a non-literal meaning to a word or phrase. |
| Trochee | A metrical foot consisting of two syllables, with the accent falling on the first (one strongly stressed syllable followed by one lightly stressed syllable. |
| Verisimilitude | The appearance of truth or reality in a fictional work of literature. |
| Voice | The sense of a specific personality, often imagined as an actual speaking voice, conveyed by the tone and style of a particular author, narrator, or speaker. |
| Tetrameter | Describes a line of metrical verse consisting of four feet. |
| Tone | The attitude an author conveys to the reader of a text; this may include the author's attitude toward the reader, the subject, or both. |
| Truncation | The omission of one or more syllables from a foot or line of metrical verse, resulting in a unit that is metrically incomplete. |
| Unities | The effects conveyed by a literary work (especially a play) in which the author adheres to one or more of the classical principles of dramatic structure (action, place and time) |
| Travesty | A work of literature that presents a serious or important subject in a trivial or ridiculous manner for the sake of humor, irony, parody, or satire |
| Terza Rima | A stanza form consisting of tercets, rhymed ABA BCB CDC DED etc. |
| Symbol | A concrete image that also suggests an abstract idea. |
| Litote | A figure of speech in which, a certain statement is expressed by denying its opposite |
| Thesis | A statement that presents an author's attitude or position regarding a given question; a proposition that an author plans to defend. |
| Theme | A key idea in a work of literature. typically some general or abstract idea that is made specific and concrete through the characters, plot, action, or imagery of the work. |
| Tercets | Any stanza of three lines, whether rhymed or unrhymed. |
| Villanelle | A complex verse form consisting of five tercets and a final quatrain. |
| Vernacular | The informal, common language spoken by a particular group of people, often in a specific geographical region (as opposed to the formal written language) |
| Syntax | The particular arrangement of words, phrases,and clauses in a sentence. |
| Tragedy | A narrative (especially a play) that portrays the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine in a serious and dignified manner. |
| Syncope | The contradiction of a single word through the omission of one or more letters. |
| Synaesthesia | The blending or confusion of multiple senses (hearing, sight, smell, taste, touch), used in the description of a single sense experiance. |
| Utopian Literature | Literature set in an ideal world. |
| Zeugma | The use of a single verb or preposition having two different objects, each of which requires the word to have a different degree of literal meaning. OR the use of a conjunction linking together a number of terms, not all of which are grammatically correct in relation to other elements of the sentence. |
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