Lit Terms
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- abstract words
- words used to discuss intangible qualities like good and evil
- accent
-
the stressed portion of a word in poetry
-
ad hominem argument
-
- argument that appeals to emotion rather than reason
- may attack the messenger rather than the message
- aesthetic
-
- (adj) appealing to the senses
- (n) a coherent sense of taste
- (n) the study of beauty
- aestheticism
-
devotion to the idea of beauty in art
- aleatory
- an illogical poem, seems composed by chance
- allegory
-
a story in which each aspect has symbolic meaning outside the story
- alliteration
-
repetition of initial consonant sounds
- allusion
-
reference to a famous work or figure outside the poem
- amplification
- repeating a word, and adding more modifiers each time
- anachronism
-
an object misplaced in time
- anacoluthon
-
finishing a sentence with different grammatical structure from that with which it began
- analogy
- a comparison, involving two or more symbolic parts, employed to clarify an action or a relationship
- anapestic
-
metrical measurement of two unstressed syllables and then one stressed one
ie: 'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house ...
- anaphora
-
repetition of the same words at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses
- anecdote
-
a short story
- antagonist
-
one that contends with or opposes another
- antecedent
-
a word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to
- anthropomorphism
-
inanimate objects are given human characteristics, but no human shape
- anticlimax
-
an action produces far smaller results than one had led to expect, comic
- antihero
- a protagonist who is markedly unheroic
- antimetabole
-
reversing the order of repeated words/clauses to intensify the sentence, present alternatives, or show contrast
- antiphrasis
-
one word irony
ie: calling a beautiful girl "ugly"
- antistrophe
-
repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive sentences
- antithesis
-
juxtaposition of opposites
ie: heaven and hell
- aphorism
-
a short and witty saying
-
apocopated rhyme
-
a cut-off rhyme; last syllable of one of the rhymes is missing
ie: pain/gainless
- apologia
-
a defense of one's opinions, actions, or life
- apologue
-
moral fable using animals to comment on human condition
- aporia
-
expression of doubt about conclusions
- aposiopesis
- stopping abruptly and leaving statement unfinished
- apostrophe
-
speech is directed to a nonhuman object or one that is not present
- appositive
- a noun or phrase placed next to another noun for the purpose of further explaining
- archaism
-
use of deliberately old-fashioned diction
- archetype
-
original pattern or model of which all things of a similar nature are copies
-
ars poetica
- a poem written on the subject of poetic art, usually explaining poet's reasons for writing
- aside
-
a speech made by an actor to the audience as though momentarily stepping outside the action on stage
- assonance
-
the repeated use of internal vowel sounds
- atmosphere
-
the emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene
- aubade
-
a love song or poem greeting the dawn
- ballad
-
a long narrative poem in regular meter and rhyme
- bathos
- writing that strains for grandeur it can't support
-
blank verse
-
unrhymed iambic pentameter
- bombast
-
pretentious, exaggeratedly learned language
- burlesque
-
broad parody that takes on a specific style and makes fun of it
- cacophony
-
using deliberately harsh, awkward sounds
- cadence
-
the beat or rhythm of poetry
- caesura
-
a pause in a line of poetry (indicated or not)
- camera eye narrator
-
- third-person narrator who describes what would be visible to a camera
- objective
- canto
- a section/division in a longer work of poetry
- caricature
-
a portrait that exaggerates a facet of personality
- carpe diem
-
the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future
-
carpe diem
-
the enjoymet of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future
- cartharsis
-
- cleansing of emotion an audience member experience
- having lived through the experiences on stage
- catalogue
-
a complete enumeration of items, arranged systematically, with descriptive detail
-
Chaucerian stanza
-
7-lines, rhyme ababbc
- chorus
- the group of citizens who stand outside the main action on stage and comment on it
- classicism
-
a tendency to reflect the principles manifested in the art of ancient Greece and Rome
- climax
-
the point of highest tension, or a major turning point in a play
- coinage
-
a new word, usually invented on the spot
- colloquialism
-
a word or phrase used in everyday conversational English
- conceit
-
an extended metaphor, developed and expanded upon over several lines
-
concrete poetry
-
a poem wherein shape of words and lines conveys the meaning
-
confessional poetry
-
makes frank, explicit use of incidents in the poet's life
- connotation
-
the association with a word; the word suggest/implies meaning beyond the literal
- consonance
-
repetition of consonant sounds in words
- continuous form
- a poem in which lines follow each other without stanza breaks
-
couplet
-
a pair of lines ending in rhyme
-
dactylic
-
a metrical measurement of one accented syllable and two unaccented
- decorum
- the attitude one should display according to his social/economic status
- denotation
-
a word's literal meaning
- denouement
-
conclusion; the outcome of a plot
- determinism
-
- belief that man is fated to defeat under indifferent natural forces
- emphasizes vanity of free will
-
deus ex machina
-
- "god from the machine"
- conflict quickly resolved at end, often by sudden introduction of a power who solves all
- diacope
-
repetition of words before and after syntactical break
ie: We will do it, I tell you, we will do it.
- dialect
-
the characteristic speech of a particular region or group
- diction
-
the author's choice of words
- didactic
- primary purpose is to teach
- dirge
-
a song for the dead
- dissonance
-
the grating of incompatible sounds
- doggerel
- crude, simplistic verse, often in song-song rhyme
-
dramatic monologue
- single speaker in literature talks to silent audience
-
dramatic poem
-
a poem that has conflict
- dualistic
-
two-valued
ie: good / evil
- dystopia
-
- opposite of utopia
- society where social and technological advances have served to aid corruption
- elegy
-
poem on death or mortality
- encomium
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a laudatory poem for a legendary or real person
- enjambment
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continuation of syntax over line break
- enumeration
-
listing parts, causes, or effects for added emphasis
- epic
-
- long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style
- often describes glorious or profound subject
- epigram
-
a short poem intended to impart wisdom
- epigraph
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a quotation that is placed at the start of a work or section that expresses what will be said
- epiphany
-
a sudden realization or comprehension of the meaning of something
- epistle
-
a letter directed or sent to a group of people
- epistrophe
- repeat of the same word(s) at the end of sentences
- epitaph
-
lines that commemorate the dead at the burial place
- epithalamium
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a poem that is written for the bride; celebration of a wedding
- epithet
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a word preceding or following a name which serves to describe
ie: fleet-footed Achilles
ie: wine-dark sea
- epizeuxis
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repetition of the same word for emphasis
- eponym
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substituting the name of a famous person for a description
ie: He's a real Einstein
- eulogy
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formal expression of praise, usually given at a funeral
- euphemism
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a word that takes the place of a more harsh or inappropriate word
ie: physically challenged rather than crippled
- euphony
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sounds blending harmoniously
- euphuism
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elegant Victorian prose style (filled with alliteration and similes)
- exemplum
-
citing by example
- expletive
-
word interrupting syntax to give emphasis to words around it
- expressionism
-
emphasizes the life of the mind and feeling rather than realistic external details of everyday life
-
eye of the poem
-
the central focus of the poem
-
eye rhyme
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words that look similar, but are pronounced differently
ie: wind/find
- falling/feminine rhyme
- ending with unaccented last syllable
- farce
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a comedy of unlikely, but possible, situations
-
figurative image
- representation of one thing by another
- first person narrator
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a character in the story who tells the tale from his/her POV
- flashback
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a scene that interrupts the action to show an event that happened earlier
- foil
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a secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the characteristics of the main character
- foot
- basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry, formed by two or three syllables, stressed or not
- foreshadowing
- an event or statement that, in miniature, suggests a larger event that comes later
-
free verse
-
poetry without regular rhyme or meter
- genre
-
a sub-category of literature; categorizes literature by types
- gothic
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use of eerie themes or images
ie: ghosts
- haiku
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Japanese poetry with three lines: 5, 7, 5 syllables
-
half/slant rhyme
-
words that almost rhyme
ie: dizzy, easy
- hamartia
- tragic flaw or error which brings down the protagonist of a tragedy
-
Harlem Renaissance
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- flowering of Afr Am art and music in the 1920s
- centered in Harlem, NY
- heptameter
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poem of seven metrical feet
-
heroic couplet
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a rhyming couplet in iambic pentameter
- hexameter
- poetic form of six metrical feet
- homonyms
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words that sound alike but have different spellings and meanings
ie: sale, sail
- hubris
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excessive pride/ambition which leads to a character's downfall
- hyperbaton
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- departure from normal word order
- a form of inversion
ie: a personality indescribable
- hyperbole
- exaggeration or deliberate overstatement
- hypophora
-
raising a question, then proceeding to answer it
- iambic
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a metrical foot with an unstressed first syllable and a stressed second syllable
-
in media res
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a piece of writing that begins in the middle of the action
- incongruity
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the joining of opposites to create an unexpected situation
-
interior monologue
-
recording of mental talk in character's head
- invective
- speech/writing that abuses, denounces, attacks
- inversion
- switching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase
- irony
-
- events turn out exactly the opposite of how they might be expected
- saying the opposite of what is meant
- lament
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a poem of sadness or grief over the death of a loved one or some intense loss
- lampoon / satire
- work in which human vice or folly is attacked with irony, derision, or wit
-
linked rhyme
-
first syllable of a line echoes the last syllable of the previous line
ie: On the rooftop / Stops the light of the cop
-
literal image
-
concrete replication in words of an object or experience
- litotes
-
type of understatement achieved by denying the opposite
ie: Heat waves are not rare in summer.
-
local color
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use of specific details describing dialect, dress, customs, and scenery associated with a particular region
-
loose sentence
-
a sentence complete before its end
ie: Jack loved Barbara despite her irritating laugh.
- lyric
-
poetry that explores the poet's personal interpretation of and feelings about the world
- madrigal
-
a short lyric on love or pastoral themes
-
masculine / rising rhyme
- rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable
- melodrama
-
- cheesy theater
- often emphasizes plot or actions over character development
- metabasis
-
brief summary of what has been said and what will follow
- metanoia
-
modifies a statement by recalling it and expressing it in a better way
ie: Max is the best of all bichons, nay of all dogs.
- metaphor
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comparison or analogy that states that one thing is another
- meter
-
rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up feet
- metonymy
-
a single characteristic used to describe something outside itself
ie: "the bottle" for a "strong drink"
-
mixed metaphor
-
- combination of incompatible comparisons
- trying to compare objects too dissimilar to carry of a comparison
- mood
-
prevailing atmosphere created by language, tone, setting
- motif
- a recurring feature such as a name, image, or phrase in a work of literature
- narrative
-
a story poem
- naturalism
-
- emphasis on man as animal, behaving strictly according to dictates of nature
- emphasizes lack of free will and the sordid
- neo-classicism
-
- sees man as flawed or with flawed institutions
- nature is neither good nor evil
- man needs to seek harmony with what is
- neologism
- coinage; forming a new word, usually spontaneously
- nonce
-
open form poem (shape is unique to the poem) written for a special occasion
-
novel of manners
-
novel describing social habits/customs of a social group
- octave
-
eight line stanza
- ode
- long poem on a serious subject that develops its theme with dignified language, intended to be sung
-
omniscient narrator
- a third-person narrator who sees into characters' heads
- onomatopoeia
-
words that sound like what they mean
- opposition
-
a pair of elements that contrast sharply
- oxymoron
-
a phrase composed of opposites, a contridiction
ie: sweet vinegar
- palinode
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a poem retracting a regretted derogatory statement
- parable
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a story told in prose or verse that illustrates a religious or ethical idea
- paradigm
-
a formal plan or sequence of changes which acts as a model
- paradox
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a statement that seems contradictory, but is not
- parallelism
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repeated syntactical similarities used for effect
- parenthetical
-
a phrase set off by commas that interrupts the flow of a sentence
- parody
-
exaggerating a specific work so that it appears ridiculous
- pastoral
-
a poem set in a tranquil nature (ideally around shepherds)
-
pathetic fallacy
-
a cliched personification of nature
ie: rain weeps
- pentameter
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a line of verse containing five metrical feet
-
periodic sentence
-
a sentence that is grammatically incomplete until its final phrase
ie: Despite Barbara's irritation, she cut Jack's hair.
- persona
-
the character created by the author to narrate
- personification
-
inanimate objects or animals that take on human shape
-
Petrarchan sonnet
- 14 lines: abba abba cde cde
-
picaresque novel
- a novel about a picara, rogue, or vagabond
- prelude
-
an introductory poem to a longer work of verse
-
private symbol
-
an author's personal symbol that the reader understands through the context
- protagonist
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the main character of a novel or play
-
public voice
-
a writer who is speaking for all people
- pun
-
humorous use of a word in a way to suggest two or more meanings
-
pure rhyme
-
initial sounds differ, but the rest is identical
ie: sing, wing
- pyrrhic
-
a metrical foot with two unstressed syllables
- quatrain
- four-line stanza
- quintet
-
five lines of poetry with no prescribed rhyme
- realism
-
nature is benign and there is optimism that man can rise above his own animal nature if he desires
- refrain
-
a line or a set of lines repeated several times in a poem
- requiem
-
a song of prayer for the dead
- rhapsody
-
passionate verse or section of verse, usually addressing love or praise
-
rhetorical question
-
a question that suggests an answer, and therefore doesn't need to be answered
-
rhetorical shift
-
a change in tone or attitude; key words include "but," "however," "even though," "although", and "yet"
-
rhyme royal
- rhyming scheme first used by Chaucer: ababbc
- ridicule
-
words intended to belittle and generate contempt/laughter
-
romanticism
-
- man is good but institutions and their imposed orders are evil
- nature is good
- man can live in harmony with nature
- saga
-
generally long novels, often about several generations
- sarcasm
-
ridicule expressed in ironic praise
- scansion
-
analysis of a poem's rhythm and meter
- second intensity
-
weak poems that could have been better
- septet
-
7 lines of poetry
- sestet
- a stanza or poem of six lines
- sestina
-
- 6 six-line stanzas ending with tercet
- last words of each line in first stanza are repeated as last words in next stanza
-
Shakespearean sonnet
-
14 lines in iambic pentameter: abab cdcd efef gg
- simile
-
comparison using "as" or "like"
- soliloquy
- speech spoken by single character on stage
- sonnet
-
14 rhymed lines of verse in iambic pentameter
-
Spenserian sonnet
-
14 lines: abab bcbc cdcd ee
- spondee
-
a metrical foot with two stressed syllables
- stanza
-
a unit within a longer poem
-
stock character
-
standard or cliched character types
-
stream of consciousness
- reader sees inside main character's head and is privy to all character's conscious, random thoughts
- subjunctive
-
setting up a hypothetical situation
- surrealism
-
allowing the subconscious or dream-like imagery to guide the poem; leaps from image to image
-
suspension of belief
-
demand of the audience to accept stage limitations and believe
- syllogism
-
deductive reasoning
- synecdoche
-
a type of metaphor where a part stands for the whole
ie: He asked for her hand in marriage.
- synesthesia
-
a mixing of senses
ie: a blue smell
- tautology
-
a repetition so redundant as to be frozen with obvious foolishness
- technique
-
styles, devices, and diction used by the author
- tetrameter
-
a poetic line with four metrical feet
-
texture of poem
-
the sound of the poetic words in a piece
- theme
-
general idea or insight about life that writer wishes to convey
- tone
-
the attitude of the poet
- transcendentalism
-
- holds that basic truths can be reached through intuition
- transcends reason
- the divine is in nature and people
- traversty
-
grotesque parody
- trochaic
-
a metrical measurement of one stressed syllable and one unstressed
- trope
- any figurative language
- truism
-
a way too obvious truth
- understatement
- ironic minimalizing of fact
-
unreliable narrator
-
first person narrator is crazy, very young, or not entirely credible
- utopia
-
an ideal place
- verisimilitude
-
how precisely the characters/events in fiction match reality
- vernacular
-
everyday spoken language of people in a particular region
- villanelle
-
19 lines: 5 tercets (aba) +a quatrain (abaa)
- voice
-
- associated with the basic vision of a writer
- a writer's general attitude toward the world
-
weak specification
-
imprecise, abstract language
- wit
-
words that are intellectually amusing; delight that surprises
- zeugma
-
word modifies two or more words for different meanings
ie: The dance floor was square as was his personality.