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Alliteration
the repetition of consonant sounds close to each other. TERM 2
Doggerel
DEFINITION 2 Doggerel is poetry that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme, often deliberately for burlesque or comic effect. TERM 3
syndoche
DEFINITION 3 A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of something, or vice versa. TERM 4
caesura
DEFINITION 4 In meter, a caesura; alternative spellings are csura and cesura) is a complete pause in a line of poetry and/or in a musical composition. TERM 5
metonymy
DEFINITION 5 Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something associated in meaning with that thing or concept.
anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; for example, the word anagram can be rearranged into nag-a- ram. TERM 7
dirge
DEFINITION 7 A dirge is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. TERM 8
ode
DEFINITION 8 Ode is a type of lyrical stanza. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. TERM 9
allegory
DEFINITION 9 An allegory is a symbolism device where the meaning of a greater, often abstract, concept is conveyed with the aid of a more corporeal object or idea being used as an example. TERM 10
allusion
DEFINITION 10 Allusion is a figure of speech, in which one refers covertly or indirectly to an object or circumstance from an external context.
Anadiplosis
Anadiplosis is the repetition of the last word of a preceding clause. TERM 17
Antistrophe
DEFINITION 17 One of three sections of the Greek dramatic chorus and the Pindaric ode, along with the strophe and epode. TERM 18
aporia
DEFINITION 18 A term used in deconstruction, absence of meaning and multiplicity of possible meanings within a text. TERM 19
Assonance
DEFINITION 19 The repetition of vowel sounds close to each other TERM 20
bildungsroman
DEFINITION 20 a novel that traces the development of a young person from childhood or adolescence to maturity.
Catharsis
a purging of the emotions that, according to Aristotle, results from attending a tragedy TERM 22
Cavalier
DEFINITION 22 type of verse from the seventeenth century that is characterized by smooth elegance, a focus on beautiful things (including women), and an interest in life's pleasures. TERM 23
connotation
DEFINITION 23 the secondary significance a word acquires through association that goes beyond its literal meaning. TERM 24
cyberpunk
DEFINITION 24 a subgenera of science fiction that taps into peoples anxieties about computer technology and corporate control. TERM 25
Deism
DEFINITION 25 the view that God, the creator of the universe, exists but does not continue to influence the natural order.
first folio
the 1623 collection of william shakespeare's plays published after his death by members of his acting company. TERM 32
folio
DEFINITION 32 a book made of big sheets folded in two. folio means "fold." TERM 33
foul papers
DEFINITION 33 the messy manuscripts drafted by a playwright. during the renaissance, they sometimes served as the manuscript source for a printed play. TERM 34
blank verse
DEFINITION 34 unrhymed iambic pentameter poetry, often used in poetic drama and narrative verse. TERM 35
free verse
DEFINITION 35 poetry that has no fixed meter, although it has rhythmic lines and line breaks and is therefore presumably composed with rhythmic qualities in mind.
Georgics
poems about farming TERM 37
gothic novels
DEFINITION 37 Gothic fiction, which is largely known by the genre of Gothic horror and gothic fiction, is a genre or mode of literature and film that combines fiction, horror, death and romance. TERM 38
hagiography
DEFINITION 38 the study of saints. more specifically, it is a saint's biography TERM 39
hamartia
DEFINITION 39 the human failing or "tragic flaw" of the protagonist in a tragedy. TERM 40
heroic couplets
DEFINITION 40 rhymed pairs of iambic pentameter lines used in much heroic tragedy of the renaissance and Augustan narrative poetry.
mass culture
Culture that's commodified and mass produced by industry and sold for profit to consumers. TERM 47
metaphor
DEFINITION 47 an image used figuratively to represent something it isn't, as in "love is a rose" TERM 48
metaphysical poetry
DEFINITION 48 Poetry characterized by elaborate, sometimes bizarre use of metaphor; rough, rugged versification; dramatic speakers; and paradoxical reasoning. TERM 49
meter
DEFINITION 49 the rhythmic structure of poetry. TERM 50
metonym
DEFINITION 50 Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is called not by its own name but rather by the name of something associated in meaning with that thing or concept. example "Wheels" to represent a car
mystery plays
plays presented during the middle ages by guilds on feast days. they depict important events in christian history. TERM 52
mystification
DEFINITION 52 the processDeception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification and subterfuge is the act of propagating beliefs in things that are not true, or not the whole truth. TERM 53
neo-platonism
DEFINITION 53 a philisophy of the middle ages and renaissance that accommodated the thinking of Plato to Christian theology. TERM 54
new criticism
DEFINITION 54 New Criticism was a formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American literary criticism in the middle decades of the 20th century. it stresses the importance of paying close attention to the literary text as a way to develop critical intelligence. TERM 55
onomatopoeia
DEFINITION 55 the use of words that sound like the things they mean. thew word comes from a greek word that means name making. examples: "boom" "chug" "bang bang"
poststructuralism
Major, influential thrust of postmodern theory. the term refers to the insight that the structure apparent in language and culture is unstable, both internally and in relation to whatever outside of it. TERM 62
prosody(or versification)
DEFINITION 62 refers to the sound and structure of poetry, including meter, rhyme assonance, and alliteration. TERM 63
quarto
DEFINITION 63 a book made of big sheets of paper folding into four pages per sheet (quarto means "four) TERM 64
realism
DEFINITION 64 in fiction, the concern with representing life as it might actually be lived. the term is problematic, however, as modes of verbal representation keep changing over time together with cultural conceptions of reality. TERM 65
relativism
DEFINITION 65 the view that there is no single, overarching set of values or beliefs that is good for everybody, but that different groups are right to embrace their own perspectives.
rhyme scheme
the pattern of rhymes in a stanza TERM 67
satire
DEFINITION 67 a literary work that exposes evil or folly through the use of irony, ridicule, or derision. TERM 68
semantics
DEFINITION 68 the branch of linguistics concerned with meaning. TERM 69
sensation novel
DEFINITION 69 a melodramatic novel devoted to scandalous doings, guilty secrets and lurid intrigues. TERM 70
simile
DEFINITION 70 a metaphor in which the figurative comparison is made explicitly, often by use of like or as.
structuralism
a theoretical approach, originally to linguistics and later to anthropology. structuralists reard their field, whether language or culture, as a structure that's organized internally rather than from without. TERM 77
syllepsis
DEFINITION 77 the use of a single word in two different sentences at once. Example: "I just quit smoking and my job." TERM 78
tenor (of a metaphor)
DEFINITION 78 the literal term of a metaphorical comparison TERM 79
Tetralogy
DEFINITION 79 a group of four works TERM 80
theater of the absurd
DEFINITION 80 the dramatic genre of the 1950's that enacts the idea of existential meaninglessness.
theophrastan character
a prose form describing personality types. it was extremely popular during the seventeenth century but has died out since then. TERM 82
tone
DEFINITION 82 the mood or emotional attitude evoked or reflected in a written work TERM 83
trace
DEFINITION 83 in deconstruction, things that are absent from yet suggested by a text. a trace may be the opposite of a written word. TERM 84
typology
DEFINITION 84 the study of biblical symbolism. biblical "types" could be found not only in the Old and New Testaments, but in nature and society as well. TERM 85
Verisimilitude
DEFINITION 85 The semblance of truth, a quality that helps distinguish the early novel from fable and romance.
quatrains
A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines. TERM 92
sestets
DEFINITION 92 the last six lines of a sonnet. TERM 93
octave
DEFINITION 93 In music, an octave or perfect octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. TERM 94
heroic couplets
DEFINITION 94 A heroic couplet is a traditional form for English poetry, commonly used in epic and narrative poetry, and consisting of a rhyming pair of lines in iambic pentameter. TERM 95
closed couplets
DEFINITION 95 In poetics, closed couplets are two line units of verse that do not extend their sense beyond the line's end.
spondee
In grammar, a spondee is a two-syllable word in which there is equal emphasis placed on both syllables. TERM 97
elision
DEFINITION 97 In linguistics elision or deletion is the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase. TERM 98
epitaph
DEFINITION 98 An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person. TERM 99
pun
DEFINITION 99 a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings. TERM 100
litote
DEFINITION 100 In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech wherein understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives for effect.
