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| A summary of a piece of written work, or b) language that conveys ideas or general qualities of people or things. Abstract is the opposite of concrete, which conveys specific information about a particular person or thing. Abstract writing lacks vivid or precise detail, whereas concrete writing possesses specific detail. |
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| The major division in a play or dramatic work. An act has one or more scenes |
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| Aesthetic movement) Refers to a movement in late nineteenth-century Europe centered on a belief in "art for art's sake." Rooted in the ideas of Immanuel Kant, Baudelaire, Flaubert, Mallarmé, and others, aestheticism believed that art was not meant to serve a moral or didactic purpose; art's value was its beauty. The ideas of aestheticism came to England through writers such as Walter Pater and later influenced writers such as Wilde and Swinburne who were connected with the Decadence movement. For major writers and works in this area, see the Literary History Chart. |
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| The study of beauty in both nature and art. Aesthetics addresses philosophical questions about the nature of beauty, psychological questions about the effects of beauty, and theoretical issues related to taste and perception of beauty. |
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| A term first used by William K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley for the practice of basing literary interpretation upon the response of readers or upon the emotional effect a particular work has on readers. Wimsatt and Beardsley believed affective fallacy to be flawed, as with another fallacy they coined, intentional fallacy, in which one evaluates a literary text according to its author’s explicit or implicit intentions. These are major ideas within New Criticism. Reader Response criticism has also countered the notions of the affective and intentional fallacies. |
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| Age of Sensibility (Age of Johnson |
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| A period of British literature spanning the years 1744-1785, though 1789 and 1798 are alternate end dates. This period is sometimes referred to as the Age of Johnson because of Samuel Johnson's considerable influence upon literature. The characteristics of the Age of Johnson link this period with the end of the Neoclassical period, whereas the Age of Sensibility anticipates the Romantic period. In contrast to the Augustan era, the Age of Sensibility focused upon instinct, feeling, imagination, and sometimes the sublime. New cultural attitudes and new theories of literature emerged; the novel became an increasingly popular and prevalent form. For major writers and works in this area, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| Often referred to as Romanticism, Transcendentalism is a literary period spanning the years 1828 to 1865, the time between Jacksonian democracy and the end of the U.S. Civil War. This period was one of increased westward expansion and the beginnings of urbanization and industrialization. The Romantic period was also the first major explosion of a distinctively American body of literature; for this reason, this period is also referred to as the American Renaissance. Many of American literature's most well-known writers emerged during this time. Issues and subjects addressed in literature of this time ranged from the American identity, to the slavery debate, to historical narratives, to poems and narratives inspired by Romanticism, to prose works examining the nature the American democracy and national unity. American Romanticism is related to, but distinct from, British Romanticism. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| A narrative in which abstract concepts are represented as something concrete, typically major elements in the story, such as characters, objects, actions, or events. It possesses two parallel levels of meaning and understanding: a literal level, where a surface level story is recounted, and a symbolic level, which addresses abstract ideas. Allegories are often considered extended metaphors: the surface level story helps to convey moral, religious, political, or philosophical ideas. There are two major kinds of allegory: historical and political allegories and allegories of ideas. Related to allegory are the parable and exemplum. Parables are very short, realistic narratives about people that are meant to teach a moral or a religious lesson. Often they are used to emphasize a narrator's lesson or point. Exemplums are used in sermons to illustrate and validate a particular theme or idea. |
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| The repetition of the same sounds in initial consonants or stressed syllables in a sequence of words. |
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| An indirect reference in a literary text to a well-known person or place, or to an historical, political, or cultural event. The reference can also be to a literary, religious, or mythological text. Allusions are not usually identified, as it is assumed the reader will make the connection. |
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| Ambiguity refers to the ways words or phrases can connote a range of meanings. Ambiguity points to the openness of language to different interpretations and understanding. Also called "plurisignation" or "multiple meanings." |
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| Often referred to as the Age of Transcendentalism or, more often, the Romantic period (American), the American Renaissance refers to the first major explosion of a distinctively American body of literature. It is a literary period spanning the years 1828 to 1865, the time between Jacksonian democracy and the end of the U.S. Civil War. This period was one of increased westward expansion and the beginnings of urbanization and industrialization. Many of American literature's most well-known writers emerged during this time. Issues and subjects addressed in literature of this time ranged from the American identity, to the slavery debate, to historical narratives, to poems and narratives inspired by Romanticism, to prose works examining the nature the American democracy and national unity. American Romanticism is related to, but distinct from, British Romanticism. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| (anapest) A common metrical unit of poetry consisting of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. Metrical units (called feet) make up a poem’s meter, or rhythms in poetry made by units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables |
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| The most significant character or force that opposes the protagonist in a narrative. |
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| A term used to describe pre-Civil War American literature; the term is usually applied to pre-Civil War Southern American literature in particular |
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| A rhetorical or philosophical contrast or opposition which is emphasized by parallelism |
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| In The Anxiety of Influence (1973), and his other works, Harold Bloom introduces this concept that asserts that all poets' work is a rewriting of the poetic tradition and that this rewriting involves the misreading of previous poets. This poetic act of misreading, however, is a site of creativity and innovation. Bloom acknowledges that critics also misread and that their misreadings result in a range of interpretations which go beyond what the poet thought he or she was saying. |
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| In The Anxiety of Influence (1973), and his other works, Harold Bloom argued that a poet must confront and resist the poetic tradition in order to find and assert his or her individual poetic voice. Bloom also describes how an Oedipal-type relationship arises between the poet and the poetic tradition. Emerging from Bloom's work is the concept of antithetical criticism. Bloom asserts that all poets' work is a rewriting of the poetic tradition and that this rewriting involves the misreading of previous poets. This poetic act of misreading, however, is a site of creativity and innovation. Bloom acknowledges that critics also misread and that their misreadings result in a range of interpretations which go beyond what the poet thought he or she was saying. |
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| A figure of speech wherein a thing, place, abstract idea, dead or absent person is addressed directly as if present and capable of understanding and responding. |
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| A type of literary criticism that focuses on particular archetypes, narrative patterns, themes, motifs, or characters that recur in a particular literary work or in literature in general. |
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| According to Carl Jung, archetypes are characters, images, plot patterns, rituals, and settings that are shared by diverse cultures. Jung believed that archetypes are part of humanity's "collective unconscious" and that they appear in literature, myth, folklore, and rituals from a wide range of cultures. They also manifest themselves in the subconscious thoughts and dreams of people. Literary critic Northrop Frye argued that literary archetypes are recurrent images and symbols in literature. Archetypal criticism focuses on particular archetypes, narrative patterns, themes, motifs, or characters that recur in a particular literary work or in literature in general. |
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| A short remark or speech spoken by a character to the audience or to another character. According to convention, it is assumed that the aside is not heard by the other characters. Asides tend to reveal insight into plot, character, or emotion. |
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| The repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in a sequence of words. Usually the repetition occurs in the stressed syllables and the vowel sound is followed by different consonant sounds. The effect of assonance is thought to be euphony. |
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| The general feeling or emotion created in the reader at a given point in a literary work. Atmosphere (also called mood) is created by language, setting, imagery, sensory, and extra-sensory perceptions. It should not be confused with tone. |
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| A period of British literature beginning in 1700 and ending in 1745. Writers in this period linked themselves with writers in the age of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Augustan writers imitated the literary forms of Horace, Virgil, and Ovid and drew upon the perceived order, decorum, moderation, civility, and wit of these writers. For major writers and works in this area, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| A term used since the late nineteenth century to suggest art or writing that challenges tradition, or that is innovative, experimental, revolutionary, or ahead of its time. |
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| A poem that recounts a story, usually a single episode, that was originally intended to be sung. Ballads feature simple language, dramatic action, and frequently, but not always, a tragic ending. |
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| Beat Writers (Beat Generation) |
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| Refers to a period of American literature in the 1950s which was anti-traditional, anti-establishment, and anti-intellectual. Their writings challenged social and literary traditions and were characterized by a loose and informal structure and an informal, slang-filled diction. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| A novel, or extended piece of fictional prose, that traces the development of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood and chronicles the maturation of his or her character, intellect, and often spirituality or morality. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a Bildungsroman because, even though Huck is only thirteen years old, by the end of the novel, he learns a great deal about himself and others. Throughout the course of the novel, he grows from a naïve, carefree boy who accepts others’ sense of morality as truth to one who trusts his own morals in a corrupt society and—perhaps most importantly—recognizes the humanity of slaves. |
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| A literary work or style where disturbing subject matters such as death, misfortune, disease, war, and suffering are treated with a sardonic or bitter humor. Usually black comedies are designed to shock or offend and often feature an element of futility or hopelessness. |
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Lines of unrhymed verse, almost always in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a specific type of meter (the rhythms in poetry made by units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables) with lines made up of ten units, or feet, of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. Blank verse is the meter that most closely resembles the natural patterns of English speech. John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost is written in blank verse:
Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat,
Each of these lines is made up of ten feet, or beats, of unstressed and then stressed syllables: “of MANS first DISoBEDiENCE and the FRUIT / of THAT forBIDden TREE whose MORtal TAST,” and so on. |
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| Combinations of words that sound and convey harshness and roughness. Sometimes called "dissonance," cacophony is the opposite of euphony. |
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| Comes from the Latin for "a cutting." Caesura is a pause in a line of verse replicating natural breaks in language. Often caesuras occur between clauses or sentences or through the poet's use of punctuation. |
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| In literary criticism, canon refers to a) a body of works attributed to a particular author, or b) works that are given special cultural status. Works that are labeled "classics" or "Great Books" or that are frequently taught or anthologized are called "canonical." |
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| Carnival (Carnivalization) |
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| As theorized by Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975), the carnival is a liberating and potentially subversive event that allows participants to transgress, overturn, or challenge hierarchies, customs, and laws, often only temporarily. Bakhtin argues that carnivalization has an effect on everyday life and on literature and language. Carnival is an element of Bakhtin’s dialogic criticism in which he described literary works as either monologic or dialogic. Unrelated to the number of characters, monologic works have one dominant voice or discourse, which is often but not always the voice of the dominant culture or ideology of the author's culture. In contrast, dialogic works allow numerous voices or discourses to emerge and interact. Thus, dialogic criticism is the analysis of these numerous voices and discourses, and the carnival is one event which brings out these multiple voices to challenge the hierarchies of the dominant culture or ideology. |
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| The fourth era of the Renaissance period in British literature defined by the reign of Charles I (1625-1649). The Caroline age was that of the English Civil War between the supporters of the king (called Cavaliers) and the supporters of Parliament (called the Roundheads). Literature of this period featured poetry, nonfiction prose, and the Cavalier Poets, who were associated with the court and wrote poems of gallantry and courtship. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| Latin for "seize the day," carpe diem is a frequent and traditional literary theme. In lyric poetry, carpe diem is used to convey the transience of life, youth, and love, and to implore readers to make the most of each fleeting moment. |
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| According to Aristotle, viewers watching tragic drama would feel a catharsis or a release of emotion. Catharsis refers to the purging or cleansing of emotion, which leads to relief or other beneficial emotions in an audience. |
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| Distributed by "chapmen" or peddlers from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, chapbooks contained popular literature such as ballads, tracts, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes. |
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| A fictional or imagined person in a narrative or literary text. Characters are often defined as flat, round, or stock. Flat characters are usually minor characters with one outstanding trait; flat characters rarely change during the course of the work (also called static characters) and are often based on stock characters. A round character is usually one of the main characters and is presented in a complex and detailed manner. A round character usually undergoes a significant change in response to the events or circumstances described in the plot. Because they change during the work, these characters are often called dynamic characters. Stock characters are common or stereotypical types of characters that are commonly seen in literature. |
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| How an author uses description, action, dialogue, and emotion to convey the complexities of a character. Authors frequently use descriptions of a character's appearance, history, conversations, thoughts, reactions, and emotions. In this way, characterization is created, developed, conveyed, and revealed. Characterization also involves creating a character's motivation for why a particular character is driven or inspired to act in the ways he or she does in response to events of the plot. |
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| In Greek tragedy, the chorus often sang, danced, and interacted with the events of the play or functioned as a commentator on the characters or events. In Elizabethan tragedy, a chorus often spoke a prologue and epilogue to the play and offered a commentary on the events or characters. Choral characters or choral figures are also characters in a literary work who stand apart from the action and provide insight or commentary on the events or characters. |
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| A thorough and detailed analysis of a literary text and the elements that make up that literary work. Close readings examine all aspects and complexities of a specific text, including style, content, form, imagery, symbolism, and diction. They are also called explications and are often connected with Practical Criticism and New Criticism. |
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| An informal or everyday expression, phrase, or word. |
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| A period in American literature beginning with the founding of the English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia and lasting until the passing of the Stamp Act in 1765. Americans' opposition to the British Parliament's Stamp Act was a spark for the American Revolution (1776). Because the Colonial period was dominated by Puritan beliefs, imaginative literature was very rare; in some colonies it was banned for being immoral. Literature of this period was therefore often historical, religious, or didactic. Writings were primarily in genres such as tracts, polemics, journals, narratives, sermons, and some poetry. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| Broadly, comedy means anything that is amusing or entertaining. In a dramatic context, comedy usually involves a movement from unhappiness to happiness and often relates to themes of regeneration, renewal, and human triumph over chance. Comedy usually refers to plays or films, but prose fiction and narrative poetry can also contain comic elements. Forms of comedy include commedia dell arte ("comedy of the professional actors"), which emerged in Italy in the mid-sixteenth century and usually involved love intrigues, stock characters, and a mostly improvised dialogue surrounding a scenario. Commedia dell arte influenced European dramatists, particularly Elizabethan writers. Romantic comedy usually involves themes of love and young lovers and almost always has a happy ending. Comedy of manners is a high comedy, usually about love, that relies on intellectual rather than physical comedy and is meant to appeal to a "cultivated" audience. Comedy of manners is often associated with Restoration drama, and the setting is frequently aristocratic or high society. Farce is a form of low comedy and relies upon exaggerated character and physical action and unpredictable or improbable plot situations. Farce aims at entertaining, often with elements of panic, surprise, and cruelty. |
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| A form of high comedy, usually about love, that relies on intellectual rather than physical comedy and is meant to appeal to a "cultivated" audience. Comedy of manners is often associated with Restoration drama, and the setting is frequently aristocratic or high society. More specific than the broader sense of anything amusing or entertaining, comedy usually involves a movement from unhappiness to happiness and often relates to themes of regeneration, renewal, and human triumph over chance. |
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| “Comedy of the professional actors,” commedia dell arte is a form of comedy which emerged in Italy in the mid-sixteenth century that usually involved love intrigues, stock characters, and a mostly improvised dialogue surrounding a scenario. Commedia dell arte influenced European dramatists, particularly Elizabethan writers. More specific than the broader sense of anything amusing or entertaining, comedy usually usually involves a movement from unhappiness to happiness and often relates to themes of regeneration, renewal, and human triumph over chance. |
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| Also called the Puritan Interregnum (meaning "between reigns"), the Commonwealth period is the fifth era of the Renaissance period in British literature. This era begins with the execution of Charles I in 1649 and lasts until the restoration of the Stuart Monarchy with the crowning of Charles II in 1660. During this era, England was ruled by Parliament and the Puritan Oliver Cromwell until his death in 1658. Puritan rule was significant to literary history because theatres were closed on moral and religious grounds. While drama did not flourish, significant examples of nonfiction prose and poetry were written during this period. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| A form of poetry that is meant to be seen not only as a written text but also as a visual object. Words, phrases, and punctuation are placed on the page in a way that creates an image or a graphic form. The shape of the poem suggests the content, subject, or theme. |
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| Language that conveys specific information about a particular person or thing. Concrete is the opposite of abstract, which conveys general ideas or qualities of people or things. Abstract language lacks concrete language’s vivid or precise detail. |
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| The struggle between two forces in a literary work that constitutes the foundation of plot, or the arrangement of events, actions, and situations in a narrative work. Conflicting forces can include other characters, situations, events, and fate. Other forces can be a character's own personality, the inexorable progress of history, or simple circumstance. Generally, there are four types of conflict: 1) physical conflict between a character and the natural or physical world; 2) social conflict between a character and another character, or characters and society or a segment of society; 3) psychological conflict between a character and his or her thoughts, ideas, actions, or beliefs; and 4) metaphysical conflict between a character and fate or a deity. |
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| The repetition of identical or similar consonants in a sequence of words with different vowel sounds. |
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| Context is either a) the parts of a text that either precede or follow a given passage, or b) the social, cultural, biographical, and literary circumstances that exist outside a text. In both cases, context works against looking at a text in isolation. |
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| Either a) a character, plot, device, image, theme, or motif used frequently in literature, or b) an unrealistic device, such as an aside, that an audience or reading public has agreed to tolerate. |
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| A grouping of two rhymed verse lines typically with a common metrical pattern or line length. |
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| Criticism (Literary criticism) |
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Definition
| The detailed and reflective analysis of a literary work in order to understand meaning or to describe significance, interpretation, or evaluation. There are many different approaches to literary criticism based on various theories of interpretation, analysis, and reading. |
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| (dactyl) A common metrical unit of poetry consisting of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. Metrical units (called feet) make up a poem’s meter, or rhythms in poetry made by units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables. |
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| A movement in British literature during the late nineteenth century. The term "decadence" was used to refer to qualities found in Greek and Roman literature in the last three centuries B.C.E. Decadence writers believed this classical literature possessed high refinement with an element of impending decay. They found this body of classical literature to be an appropriate reflection of European society. The ideas of Decadence were articulated by writers such as Baudelaire and Théophile Gautier. Decadence arrived in England through Swinburne in the 1890s. Because Decadence was concerned with unconventional artistic forms and ideas, many of its followers led unconventional lives in terms of behavior, dress, and sexuality. For major writers and works in this area, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| A close reading of a text that aims to demonstrate that a literary text is not a unified or logical whole, but is instead a text of many irreconcilable and contradictory readings. A deconstructive reading shows how conflicting elements undermine a seemingly unified structure and meaning and conveys that there is an unlimited number of interpretations. Deconstruction focuses on the text itself: as Jacques Derrida wrote, "there is nothing outside the text." |
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| Also referred to as resolution, dénouement is what follows the climax of a narrative and is usually the final scene in a play or the final chapter or section in a narrative or novel. French for "unknotting," dénouement is the final untying or clearing up a plot where its mysteries, confusions, or uncertainties are resolved. Dénouement can be applied to tragedy and comedy but catastrophe is usually used to describe the final resolution in tragedy. There are two main types of dénouement: open dénouement refers to endings where the author leaves several unresolved issues or loose threads for the reader to consider; closed dénouement refers to endings where all or almost all of the uncertainties are resolved, leaving very few loose threads. |
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| Latin for "god out of a machine." It refers to a) the practice in Greek drama of a god descending into the play from a crane-like machine in order to solve a problem in the plot and thus enable the play to end, or b) an unexpected, contrived, or improbable ending or solution in a literary text. |
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| A method of literary criticism based on the ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin. Bakhtin described literary works as either monologic or dialogic. Unrelated to the number of characters, monologic works have one dominant voice or discourse, which is often but not always the voice of the dominant culture or ideology of the author's culture. In contrast, dialogic works allow numerous voices or discourses to emerge and interact. Thus, dialogic criticism is the analysis of these numerous voices and discourses. |
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| n literature, dialogue is either a) the representation of spoken exchanges between or among characters, or b) a literary work where characters discuss or debate a particular subject. |
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| Either a) the author's choice of words or vocabulary in a literary work, or b) a performer's manner or style of speaking, including phrasing and punctuation. Poetic diction refers specifically to the choice and phrasing of words suitable to verse. |
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| A literary work that overtly attempts to instruct or convey a lesson about morality or behavior. |
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| A line of poetry consisting of two metrical units, or feet. Meter is the rhythm in poetry made by these units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables. |
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| Discourse (Discourse analysis |
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Definition
| Broadly defined, discourse is any mode of utterance which is part of social practice. Often discourse describes a discourse community that shares specific word or word usages, rules, and ideas. In linguistics, discourse describes units of language longer than a single sentence. In literary studies, discourse also includes the thoughts, statements, utterances, and dialogues of literary characters. Discourse analysis is a) the study of the relationships between sentences in written and spoken discourse, and b) the study of the way human knowledge is collected and structured into discourse or discourse communities. |
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Definition
| Usually referring to plays or the telling of a story through impersonation. Also refers to works written for the theater or works written in prose or verse that are meant to be performed theatrically. |
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| A poem where a single persona addresses an imaginary and silent audience. Dramatic monologues attempt to imitate natural speech and to reveal something about the character and situation of the persona. |
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| The cast of characters usually in a play but sometimes in a novel. In a play, Dramatis Personae is sometimes the heading given to the list of characters preceding the play that often contains short descriptions of the characters. |
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| A type of poetry emerging in the 1970s from Jamaica and England that was heavily influenced by the rhythms and themes of reggae music and meant to be performed publicly and orally. |
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| A specific type of character, or fictional or imagined person in a narrative or literary text. A dynamic (also called round) character is usually one of the main characters, is presented in a complex and detailed manner, and usually undergoes a significant change in response to the events or circumstances described in the plot. A dynamic character is distinct from a static or flat character, typically a minor character, identified by a single outstanding trait, who doesn’t change in the text. In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Macon “Milkman” Dead III begins the novel as a selfish, narcissistic man with no respect for his family or community. By then end, he’s recognized his shortcomings, developed the ability to empathize with others, and gained a sense of awe and admiration for his ancestors. In contrast, the handyman Freddie is the town gossip who doesn’t change and primarily serves to give Milkman his nickname after seeing him breastfeed at an inappropriate age. |
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| A period of American literature that spans the years between 1775 and 1828, beginning with the American Revolution and ending with the rise of Jacksonian democracy. This period is sometimes called the Federalist period after the conservative federalists in power at the time. During this period, a distinctly American body of imaginative literature began to emerge. The first American novel, William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy, was published in 1789. Poetry, essays, and sketches also began to flourish. Slave narratives were also published. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| Refers to the first era of the Renaissance period in British literature spanning 1500-1558. The Early Tudor period is known for its poetry and nonfiction prose. British literature's first dramatic comedy, Ralph Roister Doister, was first performed in 1553. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| Also called onomatopoeia. There are two applications of this term: a) broadly, it refers to words or passages in which the sound echoes the sense, or the words or passages sound like the words they describe either in terms of movement or sound, or b) more specifically, it refers to the sound of a word closely resembling or echoing the sound it conveys, such as “buzz” or “hiss.” |
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| A period of British literature named for the reign of Edward VII (1901-1910) and referring to literature published after the Victorian period and before World War I. The Edwardian period is not characterized by a consistent style, theme, or genre; the term generally refers to a historical period rather than a literary style. For major writers and works in this area, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| In Greek and Roman times, elegies were poems that used elegiac meter (alternating hexameter and pentameter lines). In the European tradition, elegy has become a term referring to poems lamenting the loss of someone or something. Elegies are poems of mourning, loss, and lament and are often, but not always, about love. |
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| The second era of the Renaissance period in British literature, spanning the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). The Elizabethan Age was a period marked by developments in English commerce, nationalism, exploration, and maritime power. It is considered a great age in literary history, particularly for drama. For major writers and works in this area, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| The similar sound in syllables or paired groups of syllables at the end of a line of verse. Less common is internal rhyme in which the rhyme occurs within a line of verse |
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Definition
Generally, a sonnet is a one-stanza lyric poem of fourteen lines in iambic pentameter with a specific rhyme scheme. Sonnets address a range of themes, but love is the most common. The English (or Shakespearean) sonnet has three quatrains (4 lines) and a concluding couplet (two lines) with an abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme. The Spenserian sonnet offers a variant rhyme scheme of abab bcbc cdcd ee. In the English sonnet, the sestets describe a problem or situation that is repeated in each sestet with some variation; the remaining couplet offers a summary, usually with a turn of thought. William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130,” more commonly recognized by its first line, illustrates the common form and content of the English sonnet:
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare. |
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| Enjambement (or enjambment) |
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Definition
| French for "striding over," enjambement occurs when the sense and/or grammatical structure of a sentence moves from one verse line to the next without a punctuated pause. |
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| In literature, it is a moment of insight, discovery, revelation, or understanding that alters a character's life in a meaningful way. Originally, epiphany had only spiritual implications but now it is frequently used in secular situations. |
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| A long, formal narrative poem with elevated style. Epics narrate a story of national importance based on the life and actions of a hero. Frequently the fate of the nation depends upon the hero and his actions. Often the hero is either descended from or protected by the gods. |
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| Either a) a concluding section of a play or other literary work; b) a recitation by an actor at the end of a play asking for applause or favorable reviews; or c) the end of a fable where the moral is stated. |
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| A novel, or extended piece of fictional prose, told through the characters’ writing and exchange of letters. |
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| An adjective or adjectival phrase used to define a person or a thing. It can also refer to a characteristic attribute or quality of a person or thing. |
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| A novel, or extended piece of fictional prose, which chronicles a character's education. |
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| A short, written prose composition that discusses a subject or proposes an argument without claiming to be an exhaustive or complete study of the subject. Frequently, essays attempt to persuade or express a particular point of view. |
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| Words that sound pleasant, smooth, or musical and whose meanings also evoke pleasant feelings. Euphonic sounds include long vowel and liquid consonants like l's and r's. Euphony's opposite is cacophony. |
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| A type of allegory (narrative in which abstract concepts are represented as something concrete, typically major elements in the story, such as characters, objects, actions, or events) used in sermons to illustrate and validate a particular theme or idea. |
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| Also called close reading. A thorough and detailed analysis of a literary text and the elements that make up that text. Explication involves examining all aspects and complexities of a specific text, including style, content, form, imagery, symbolism, and diction. |
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| In literature and visual art, expressionism was a reaction to realism and naturalism. Rather than expressing verisimilitude and external reality, expressionism seeks to convey subjectivity, feeling, imagination, and emotional states of mind. |
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| A form of low comedy that relies upon exaggerated character and physical action and unpredictable or improbable plot situations. Farce aims at entertaining, often with elements of panic, surprise, and cruelty. More specific than the broader sense of anything amusing or entertaining, comedy usually involves a movement from unhappiness to happiness and often relates to themes of regeneration, renewal, and human triumph over chance. |
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| Generally, rhyme refers to the similar sound in syllables or paired groups of syllables. Feminine rhymes are rhyming stressed syllables followed by identical unstressed syllables. Masculine rhymes are rhymes with single-syllable stressed words. |
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| A school of literary criticism emerging in the late 1960s, feminist criticism examines literary depictions of gender and gender issues. Although there are many subsets of feminist criticism, they are related in their attention to their analysis of gender in relation to literature, language, and culture. |
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Definition
| Figurative language uses figures of speech such as metaphor, simile, and alliteration. In contrast to literal language wherein words are taken in their primary or denotative sense, figurative language is connotative and conveys the richness and complexity of language. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot, Prufrock worries about “The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase” so much that he imagines himself “formulated, sprawling on a pin, / When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall.” Literally, his language refers to an insect collection; it figuratively points to Prufrock’s fears about what others think about him. He imagines others looking at him with judgments so harsh that they feel like torture. Later, he asks, “Do I dare to eat a peach?” Reading this line literally would suggest the speaker is worried about eating fruit, but a figurative reading would reveal that he is too timid, too self-doubting to even consider himself sensual or sensuous, invoked by the image of the fleshy, juicy, messy experience of eating a peach. |
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| The narrator of a story told from the perspective of a persona who uses "I" or "me" to recount the story’s events. Usually a first person is involved in the plot, but not always. Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick begins “Call me Ishmael,” immediately introducing its first-person narrator. Mark Twain’s titular narrator of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn begins, “You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter.” |
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| A short story under 1000 words. Also called sudden fiction. |
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| A scene used to show events that occur before the opening scene. Flashbacks are used to provide insight into or background about events, settings, characters, or context and can take the form of a character's dreams, remembrances, or reflections or a narrator's comments. Also called analepsis. |
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| A specific type of character, or fictional or imagined person, in a narrative or literary text. A flat or static character is typically a minor character with a single outstanding trait and is often based on a stock character, or a common, stereotypical character. A flat character doesn’t change in the text, distinguishing it from a round (also called dynamic) character, who is usually one of the main characters, is presented in a complex and detailed manner, and usually undergoes a significant change in response to the events or circumstances described in the plot. |
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| A character whose qualities or actions are in stark contrast with those of another character, usually the protagonist. Foils are often used to convey or develop the protagonist's character. |
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| A short narrative, usually of unknown authorship, that is passed down and preserved by oral tradition. Folktales can include genres such as legends, fables, tall tales, and fairy tales. |
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| A unit of rhythm, created by one or more stressed syllables combined with one or more unstressed syllables, that makes up a line of poetry. Examples of feet include iamb (iambic, adj.), an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable; trochee (trochaic, adj.), a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable; dactyl (dactylic, adj.), a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables; and anapest (anapestic, adj.), two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. Two less-common metrical feet include the spondee (spondaic, adj.), a foot of two successive syllables that are equally or almost equally stressed, and the pyrrhic (pyrrhic, adj.), a foot of two successive syllables that are equally or almost equally unstressed. The type of foot and the number of feet per line determine the poem’s meter. |
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| Suggestions of what is to come later on in a narrative. Foreshadowing can be created through imagery, dialogue, diction, events, or actions. Authors use foreshadowing to create narrative cohesion, build suspense, and develop plot. Because foreshadowing hints at what is to come, it helps an author prepare readers for an ending, thus helping to create resolutions that do not seem contrived. |
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| Either a) the genre or the general type of a literary work (i.e., sonnet, novel, or short story), or b) the way a literary work's component parts are arranged into a shape or structure. |
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| ormalism is the study of a literary work's component parts. Rather than examining factors external to the text, formalist critics analyze the literary work as an object in and of itself. |
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Term
| Frame narrative (frame story |
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Definition
| A story or narrative that includes or encloses one or more stories. Usually there is a thematic or plot-based connection between the frame narrative and the interior stories. Also called "tale within a tale." |
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| A form of verse where rhythm is not organized into regular meter. Free verse also has irregular line lengths, lacks rhyme schemes, and depends on natural speech rhythms. Also known as "open form." |
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| Gay and lesbian theory/ Queer Theory |
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Definition
| A form of gender criticism focusing on literary representations of and issues connected with homosexuality (and heterosexuality). Queer Theory is related to gay and lesbian theory but offers a distinct approach to analyses of gender and sexualities. |
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| French for "type." Genre is used to classify literature according to form, style, or content. Sonnet, novel, tragedy, and elegy are all examples of genre. |
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| As applied to literature, Gothic refers to a kind of literature that creates a sense of terror and suspense. The Gothic can be characterized by its use of claustrophobic and confining spaces, macabre and medieval-based settings, and gloomy moods. Another feature is its recurring use of dark, threatening, violent forces which often trap virtuous young heroines. The Gothic novel is still a vibrant form and can be traced back to Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto (1764). |
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| A period in American literature in the 1920s and 1930s emerging from African-American writers, artists, musicians, and performers. The Harlem Renaissance was the first major burgeoning of visual, literary, and performing arts by African Americans concerned with African-American life, art, culture, and politics. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| A line of poetry consisting of seven metrical units, or feet. Meter is the rhythm in poetry made by these units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables. |
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| Originally referring to the principles used to interpret Biblical readings, hermeneutics now refers to theories and philosophies related to the interpretation, perception, and understanding of texts. |
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| A line of poetry consisting of six metrical units, or feet. Meter is the rhythm in poetry made by these units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables. |
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| A novel, or extended piece of fictional prose, using historical events, situations, and characters for its premise. The historical novel was made popular in the nineteenth century by Sir Walter Scott. |
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Definition
| Stanzas of identical form, number of lines, and rhyme scheme. Homostrophic stanzas are common in Horatian odes, or reflective, private lyric poems with an elaborate stanza structure and distinct tone of formality and stateliness, addressing either a person or an abstract idea or entity. |
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Definition
| Reflective, private lyric poems with an elaborate stanza structure and distinct tone of formality and stateliness, addressing either a person or an abstract idea or entity. Meditative and personal Horatian odes are distinct from the public, choral celebrations of Pindaric odes. Horatian odes use homostrophic stanzas, or stanzas of identical form, number of lines, and rhyme scheme. |
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| Excess of pride usually leading to divine retribution. Hubris usually leads a character toward ignoring warnings from gods or higher powers, transcending human limits, or violating a moral or cultural code. The character's downfall is usually seen as the gods' retribution for hubris. Hubris is a specific form of tragic flaw, or defect in a protagonist’s character or reasoning that brings about his or her downfall. |
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| A figure of speech which uses exaggeration for comic, ironic, or serious effect. Its opposite is understatement or meiosis. |
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Definition
| A unit of poetic meter (or foot) that involves an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Metrical units (feet) make up a poem’s meter, or rhythms in poetry made by units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables. |
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| A set of beliefs or assumptions that are common to a particular group. For members of a group, the dominant ideology will seem natural or entirely logical and will usually be taken as a given. Generally, a society has one or more dominant ideologies, but other ideologies can co-exist. |
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| Imagery (collective form of image) refers to a) depictions of objects or qualities perceived by the five senses; b) the figurative language used to convey abstract ideas concretely; or, more specifically, c) the depiction of visual objects or scenes. Imagery is what makes language and literature concrete and not abstract. |
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| In literature, impressionism refers to the depiction of a character's fleeting impressions of character, place, setting, and events, as well as his or her subjective observations. Impressionism focuses primarily on the inner or emotional life of a character rather than on external reality. |
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| A term used by William K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley to critique the practice of basing literary interpretations on either explicit or implicit statements by an author about his or her intentions regarding his or her literary text. The intentional fallacy posits that the author is an unreliable source regarding the meaning and purpose of his or her text. Instead of focusing on the author's intentions, readers should base their interpretations upon the text itself and what is in it. |
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| A written depiction of a character's inner thoughts, sensations, memories, ideas, and impulses. Interior monologues can be a form of stream of consciousness. |
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Definition
| Generally, rhyme refers to the similar sound in syllables or paired groups of syllables. Internal rhyme, which occurs within a line of verse, is less common than end rhyme, which occurs at the end of a line of verse. |
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| The processes of analyzing and describing a literary work in order to articulate its meaning or significance in terms of genre, style, form, content, theme, etc. Interpretation is an important part of literary criticism, a larger concept using interpretation, analysis, and reading to describe the overall significance, meaning, or evaluation of a literary work. |
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Definition
| A story’s narrator who offers comment, critique, interpretation, or additional information to readers about characters or events as he or she recounts the events in the story. Its opposite is an unintrusive narrator, who relates a story’s events with a minimum of commentary, observation, or interpretation. |
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| Broadly speaking, irony is an incongruity or contradiction between appearance and reality. Events, situations, statements, plots, or structures can be ironic. There are numerous kinds of irony found in literary works. Verbal or rhetorical irony is when there is a discrepancy between either what a character says and what that character believes to be true, or when a character says the opposite of what he or she means. Situational irony features a discrepancy between expectation and reality and appears in two forms: dramatic irony; where there is a discrepancy between what a character sees or perceives and what the audience knows is true; and tragic irony, which involves an imperfect interpretation of information or a situation resulting in a character's tragic downfall. Another form of irony is structural irony, which occurs when the author uses a structural element such as an unreliable narrator to create a discrepancy between what is perceived and what is true. One form of structural irony is cosmic irony, where there is a disparity between a character's belief that he or she is in control of his or her own destiny and the audience's or reader's understanding that the character's fate is determined by an external force, such as the hands of the gods. Another form of structural irony is romantic irony, where the author builds and then shatters the illusion of reality he or she has created. Romantic irony reveals the author as the creator and manipulator of this particular reality. |
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Term
| Irregular (or Cowleyan) ode |
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Definition
| Generally, an ode is a lyric poem with an elaborate stanza structure and distinct tone of formality and stateliness, addressing either a person or an abstract idea or entity. Irregular odes are based upon Pindaric odes, originally public, choral celebrations of athletes but now more commonly known as odes with an unfixed number of stanzas that are arranged in groups that replicate movements of a chorus. The strophe and antistrophe are the same length and possess the same metrical pattern. They are followed by an epode of a different length and meter. Irregular or Cowleyan odes are more common than true Pindaric odes and contain varying lengths of strophes, line lengths, and rhyme schemes. |
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| The third era of the Renaissance period in British literature defined by the reign of James I (1603-1625). In this era, many Elizabethan writers, especially playwrights, continued to flourish. Drama remained prominent; significant writings in prose, including the King James Bible, and poetry were also written. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| In a literary context, a jeremiad refers to a prolonged lamentation that describes how misfortunes befalling a society are the result of social and moral evils. Frequently jeremiads express a sense of hope that these misfortunes can be overcome with social or moral change. |
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| A novel, or extended piece of fictional prose, which specifically traces the artistic development of a writer or other kind of artist. James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a classic Küntstlerroman, revolving around the young Stephen Dedalus as he pursues his calling as a poet. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening has also been called a Küntstlerroman—though perhaps a failed one—because Edna Pontellier develops confidence in her artistry and tries to live independently with room and time and freedom to paint; however, her struggles with society to live this independent, artistic life are unsuccessful. |
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| A traditional narrative handed down via oral culture. Unlike folktales, legends claim to be true and often feature an historical figure and a real setting. Usually legends celebrate a significant figure or historical event or attempt to explain an inexplicable event. Sometimes legends are distinguished from myths on the grounds that legends do not deal with gods. |
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| A recurring image, phrase, symbol, or situation in a literary work. A leitmotif is usually connected with a significant theme or idea in the work. |
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| The formal structural unit of a poem that is usually described by the number of feet. |
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| Language in which words are taken in their primary or denotative sense. Its contrast is figurative language, connotative language which uses figures of speech such as metaphor, simile, and alliteration and conveys the richness and complexity of language. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot, Prufrock worries about “The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase” so much that he imagines himself “formulated, sprawling on a pin, / When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall.” Literally, his language refers to an insect collection; it figuratively points to Prufrock’s fears about what others think about him. He imagines others looking at him with judgments so harsh that they feel like torture. Later, he asks, “Do I dare to eat a peach?” Reading this line literally would suggest the speaker is worried about eating fruit, but a figurative reading would reveal that he is too timid, too self-doubting to even consider himself sensual or sensuous, invoked by the image of the fleshy, juicy, messy experience of eating a peach. |
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| In literary criticism, the literary canon refers to a body of works that are given special cultural status. Works that are labeled "classics" or "Great Books" or that are frequently taught or anthologized are called "canonical." |
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| The system of principles or assumptions about literature, literary analysis, interpretations, readings, and how meaning is created. Theory helps to formulate approaches and articulate the questions critics ask about literature and the conclusions they reach. Theory, informally, has always been a central part of literary criticism but has moved to the forefront since poststructuralism. |
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| A figure of speech in which a statement is made indirectly by denying its opposite. Examples of litotes include "not uncommon" (meaning “common”), "not bad" (meaning “good”), or "no mean feat" (meaning “an easy task”). |
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| Descriptions in prose (usually prose fiction) which show particulars about setting, dialect, custom, habits, dress, mannerisms, and folklore about a specific region. Local color is used to create atmosphere or realism. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| After World War I, a group of American writers grew increasingly disillusioned by, and resistant to, what they saw as hypocrisy in dominant American ideology and culture. Many of these writers left America in search of a freer and more artistic life in London or Paris. For major writers and works in this period, see the Literary History Chart in the Writing and Research section. |
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| n contemporary usage, lyric refers to a moderately short (usually 12-30 lines) poem expressing one speaker's emotions and thoughts. Lyric poems are not limited to a specific meter or form but are almost always about emotion, frequently concerning themes of love and grief. |
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