Literary Terms Flashcards
Unrhymed iambic pentameter; it is used for the treatment of serious themes by many great poets including Marlowe, Shakespeare, Milton, and Wordsworth.
Blank verse
Introduces the facts of another person’s life and orders them in such a way that the reader can develop real insight into the person’s character.
Biography
A four-line stanza with four accented iambic syllables in lines one and three, and three accented syllables in lines two and four; its rhyme scheme is abcb.
Ballad stanza
A short, narrative folk song which tells of a single event in an objective manner.
Popular ballad
An imitation by a modern poet of the early English and Scottish popular ballads.
Art ballad
Often anonymous works, produced from Anglo-Saxon times until the seventeenth century, through which the common people could be understood.
Ballad
Another name for the Neoclassical Age and the Age of Pope; the first half of the eighteenth century, marked by a return to classical standards.
Augustan Age
A dramatic effect in which a character directly addresses either the audience or another character.
Aside
Words addressed to an inanimate object as if it were alive or to an absent person as if he were present.
Apostrophe
The opponent or force in conflict with the protagonist.
Antagonist
A reference to mythology, history, or a literary work.
Allusion
The repetition of the same consonant sounds.
Alliteration
A narrative in which the character, places, and events represent certain abstract qualities or ideas designed to teach some moral lesson or truth.
Allegory
The stressing of certain syllables or words.
Accent
A unique type of Romantic character developed by Byron and closely associated with him; this hero is rebellious, brooding, and proud.
Byronic Hero
A pause or break in a line of poetry.
Caesura
A popular art form which originated in medieval France and spread to other countries in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; were sung as any joyous song or hymn; has now come to be associated with Christmas in particular.
Carol
Lyricists of a lighthearted nature who emphasized the pleasures of this world and who wrote love songs to or about women; they supported and were loyal to the king.
Cavalier Poets
The portrayal of the imaginary persons who carry out the action of the plot in a novel or a story.
Characterization
Telling the reader directly what the character is like.
Direct Exposition
Allows the reader to draw his own conclusions from what the character thinks, or what other characters think about him.
Indirect Revelation
The people who perform the action of a narrative, novel, or play: each often exemplifies a particular quality found in life.
Character
A play that ends happily; the events are trivial, everyday details of life; the characters are ordinary men rather than kings or nobles; the themes deal with man’s imperfections, vices, and weaknesses.
Comedy
Type of character that undergoes some change and is different at the end of the story.
Dynamic Character
Type of character that remains essentially the same throughout the story.
Static Character
A humorous event or speech used to provide temporary relief from the intense drama of the play; the English playwrights used it as a comparison to “elevate” or increase the seriousness of the play.
Comic Relief
An elaborate comparison of two things which superficially have little in common.
Conceit
Type of conceit that points out an unusual parallel between highly dissimilar elements.
Metaphysical Conceit
Struggle between opposing forces.
Conflict
Two rhyming lines which express a complete thought.
Couplet
Two rhymed lines written in iambic pentameter.
Heroic Couplet
A belief in an impersonal God, who, after creating the world, left it to run by natural laws and who left man to take care of himself by using his intellect.
Deism
The outcome or resolution in which all the loose ends are tied up at the end of a play, usually a comedy.
Dénouement
The speeches between two or more characters in a play or all the speeches of a play taken collectively.
Dialogue
A form of literature written in prose or poetry or a combination of the two which relies on action to portray life and character.
Drama
A lyric poem in which a single character engages in conversation with a silent listener, revealing a dramatic situation. It was developed by Robert Browning.
Dramatic Monolgue
The plot of a play in the following sequence: Exposition, Rising Action, Turning Point, Catastrophe, Dénouement.
Dramatic Structure
The events that advance and complicate the action.
Rising Action
The crisis where the action changes
its course.
Turning Point
The final outcome of a tragedy.
Catastrophe
The resolution or tying up of all the
loose ends.
Dénouement
A poem characterized by sober meditations on death.
Elegiac Poem
A melancholy poem which reflects on nature and death.
Elegy
A dignified poem usually written in honor of a friend who has died; expresses feelings of grief but declares that circumstances ultimately work out for the best.
Pastoral Elegy
A London theater where many of Shakespeare’s plays were performed. The three-story structure could accommodate over two thousand people.
Elizabethan Playhouse (Globe)
The Protestant reformation in England. During this time, Henry VIII severed England’s ties with the Church of Rome and helped to establish Protestantism in England. The Bible was also translated into English during this time.
English Reformation
Also referred to as the Elizabethan Period (1485-1625). During this era, England experienced a revived interest in Greek and Roman literature.
English Renaissance
A long, narrative poem based on a series of heroic adventures that are important to the advancement of a certain race or country.
Epic
Originally, any brief poem, often used as an inscription for monuments or tombs. In modern times, it is a concise saying, often witty or satiric.
Epigram
A work of moderate length in which the writer tries to develop his own thoughts on some subject; the word means “attempt.”
Essay
Written in the Romantic Age, an informal and more personal essay than those written in the eighteenth century. It is characterized by its intimate style; light humor or wit; emphasis on individual tastes, experiences, and opinions; and a wide range of subject matter from everyday life.
Familiar Essay
Used to explain scientific theories to
the general public.
Formal Essay
A short tale or anecdote told to teach a lesson.
Exemplum
Material that introduces the characters, the main conflict, and necessary background for a literary work.
Exposition
The pattern in a line of poetry, consisting of one accented syllable and one or two unaccented syllables.
Foot
Type of foot: Two unaccented syllables followed by an
accented one.
Anapest
Type of feet: An accented syllable followed by two unaccented ones.
Dactyl
Type of foot: the most common type of rhythm in English verse; consists of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one.
Iamb
Type of foot: One accented syllable.
Monosyllabic
Type of foot: Two accented syllables.
Spondee
Type of foot: An accented syllable followed by an unaccented one.
Trochee
Poetry having no metrical pattern. It differs from prose only in that it is written in lines.
Free Verse
Poets who lived during the rule of King George V (1910-1936) and who idealized the beauties of nature. They included Rupert Brooke, Walter de la Mare, and John Masefield.
Georgians
A professional performer who sang poetry or recited poetry to a musical accompaniment.
Gleeman
A popular meter consisting of five iambic feet.
Iambic Pentameter
A brief picture, sketch, or scene; short works describing pleasant scenes of country or domestic life.
Idyll
The use of words which appeal to the senses.
Imagery
The use of precise concrete images, free verse, and suggestion rather than complete statement.
Imagism
A literary movement around the turn of the twentieth century which restored Irish Nationalism and produced great drama and poetry. The leaders were William B. Yeats, John Millington Synge, Sean O’Casey, and Padraic Colum.
Irish Literary Renaissance
The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning, usually with a humorous effect.
Irony
Contrasting what a character says and what a reader or audience knows to be true.
Dramatic Irony
Presenting a discrepancy between appearance and reality or between expectation and fulfillment.
Irony of Situation
Saying the opposite of what is meant.
Verbal Irony
Metaphorical, compound words or phrases that refer to persons, places, or things; characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
Kenning
A short poem characterized by emotion, melody, and imagination; germinated during the medieval period and brought to maturity during the Elizabethan period.
Lyric
Characterized by a positive attitude toward life, an awakening to feeling, a love for nature, and an emphasis on personal expression.
Lyrical Poetry
A popular love song during the Elizabethan Age. It consisted of five or six voice parts sung independently, without accompaniment, and woven into an intricate pattern.
Madrigal
A narrative form popular during the medieval period; this form of writing is based primarily on the adventures of knights, kings, or distressed ladies. The themes include love, religious faith, the desire for adventure, and often an involvement with supernatural forces.
Medieval Romance
An implied comparison in which one thing is described in terms of another.
Metaphor
Lyricists interested in the things of the mind, the soul, and eternity. These poets used rich imagery and elaborate conceits to express devotional themes and the complexity and contradictions of life.
Metaphysical Poets
The measured rhythm of a poem.
Meter
A meter in which the first and third lines contain eight syllables and the second and fourth lines contain six syllables.
Common Meter
A four-line stanza with each line containing eight syllables.
Long Meter
A meter in which the first, second, and fourth lines have six syllables and the third line has eight syllables.
Short Meter
Substituting a word or phrase for another term closely related with it. For example, Heaven is often used as a name or metaphor for God.
Metonymy
The traditional moral values of the middle class based on Christian principles; often used by liberals as a derogatory term.
Middle-class Morality
A medieval play founded on the legend of a saint or on a miracle performed by a saint.
Miracle Play
A dramatic allegory in which the vices and virtues waged for the possession of the human soul.
Morality Play
A medieval play based on biblical history and scriptural themes.
Mystery Play
A European movement characterized by an interest in and imitation of classical works and styles, emphasizing conformity to fixed literary standards, proper patterns of outward social conduct, formality, restraint, polish, and elegance.
Neoclassicism
A type of extended prose fiction.
Novel
The original mystery and horror story set in the Middle Ages in a castle with dark rooms, squeaking doors, mysterious stairways, underground passages, and trapdoors-—all used to create an uncanny atmosphere.
Gothic Novel
Sought to show the spirit of a past age or to recreate a person or series of events of the past; introduced by Sir Walter Scott.
Historical Novel
Dealt with social customs and manners of a particular time and place; perfected by Jane Austen.
Novel of Manners
Works out through characters and incidents some central problem dealing with a special social, political, economic, or moral issue or problem and often strongly advocates a specific solution.
Novel of Purpose / Problem Novel
Novel dealing with the motives of characters as well as the problems they are faced with.
Psychological Novel
An eight-line stanza often used to emphasize the first eight lines of an Italian sonnet.
Octave
One of the most formal and most complex types of lyrical poetry. It has a fixed purpose and deals with one dignified theme. It may be written according to a variety of forms.
Ode
Using words which sound like what they mean.
Onomatopoeia
A movement within the Anglican Church led by John Henry Newman from 1833 to 1845 which sought to return to the rituals and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
Oxford Movement
A movable stage, platform, or scaffold upon which medieval dramas were performed.
Pageant (pageant wagon)
The false idea that the spirit of God dwells in nature and that to commune with nature is to commune with God.
Pantheism
A truth expressed in the form of an apparent contradiction.
Paradox
The repetition of ideas in slightly differing form; the construction of two or more thoughts in the same pattern.
Parallelism
A retelling of a work in one’s own words.
Paraphrase
A classical love song dealing with shepherds and rustic life, often presenting an idealized concept of rural life.
Pastoral
A comparison in which human qualities are given to an inanimate object or animal.
Personification
The arrangement of events in a story or play; the sequence of related actions.
Plot
Language that is reserved for poetry only.
Poetic Diction
A court poet or official state poet.
Poet Laureate
The method of presenting the reader with the material of the story; the perspective from which the story is told.
Point of View
The author tells the story from the viewpoint of one character, using either first or third person.
Limited Point of View
The author presents the characters in action with no comment, allowing the reader to come to his own conclusions about them.
Objective Point of View
An all-knowing author is the narrator who comments freely on the actions and characters as he is able to delve into the minds of all characters and tell what they think or feel.
Omniscient Point of View
A group of poets in the second half of the eighteenth century who turned away from the formality of Alexander Pope and began writing poetry characterized by warmth of expression, a sense of mystery, a delight in wonder, a love for nature, an interest in the past, and a concern for simple country folk.
Pre-Romantics
A hero who is usually in conflict with an opponent called the antagonist.
Protagonist
A group of four lines or a four-line stanza pattern used in poetry.
Quatrain
A phrase or sentence which is repeated at intervals, usually at the end of a stanza.
Refrain
The restoration of the Stuart monarchy to the throne with the return of Charles Il from France in 1660; the literary period of the later part of the century of which the leading figure was John Dryden.
Restoration
The similarity of sound between two words.
Rhyme
Sound similarities that occur between words but which are not true rhymes. (Example: roving/loving)
Approximate Rhyme
The repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds in words which come at the end of lines of poetry.
End Rhyme
Rhyme involving two or more syllables. (Example: hitting/fitting)
Feminine Rhyme
Rhyme that occurs within the line.
Internal Rhyme
Rhyme involving only one
syllable. (Example: row/go)
Masculine Rhyme
The regular recurrence of sounds.
Rhythm
The period from 1798 to 1832 marked by a turning away from Classicism toward nature, country people, and simplicity of expression; the great poets of the age were Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats.
Romantic Age
An epic of extended fiction which uses dramatic characters and events to represent nonliteral meanings.
The characters are often personified to obtain the strong symbolism essential in any allegory.
Romantic Allegory
An elaborate French verse form which was popular with many English poets who used it for light and fanciful poems. It contains fifteen lines of which the ninth and fifteenth are short and form a refrain.
Rondeau
Originally, Greek poetry that combined criticism with wit or ironic humor to ridicule something. It is now the ridicule of human folly or vice with the purpose of correcting it.
Satire
An Anglo-Saxon poet who composed and recited his own poetry.
Scop
A six-line poem which follows an eight-line division to clarify the preceding octave.
Sestet
The physical background against which the events of a story take place.
Setting
An imaginative, relatively short prose narrative written to give the reader entertainment and insight.
Short Story
An expressed comparison of unlike things using the words like, as, resemble, or similar.
Simile
A speech by a lone character on the stage.
Soliloquy
A fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter with a definite pattern of two basic varieties, English and Italian.
Sonnet
Made up of three quatrains and a couplet and rhymes abab, cdcd, efef, gg.
English or Shakespearean Sonnet
Made up of two parts, an octave and a sestet, which represent a division in thought. The octave has a rhyme scheme of abbaabba and represents a situation or idea or raises a question; the sestet may have one of several rhyme schemes such as cdcded or cdecde or ccddee, and responds to the octave by making a comment, giving an example, or answering a question.
Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet
A nine-line stanza having a rhyme scheme of abab-bobcc, the first eight lines in iambic pentameter, the ninth in iambic hexameter. It is named for Edmund Spenser, who used it in The Faerie Queene.
Spenserian Stanza
Aids in producing the play which help the audience or reader visualize the setting or scenes by giving details of time, place, and entrances and exits of characters.
Stage Directions
A secondary plot woven into the main plot.
Subplot
An attempt to portray or interpret the workings of the unconscious mind as manifested in dreams.
Surrealism
In poetry, a word or group of words having meaning in itself but also representing something beyond itself.
Symbol
Words with the same or similar meaning.
Synonyms
An Italian stanza form made popular by Dante. It consists of four tercets (groups of three lines) and a couplet and rhymes aba, cdc, ded, ee.
Terza Rima
The view which holds that there is a personal God who is Creator and Ruler of the world.
Theism
The central idea which gives a work meaning; in a story it is the interpretation of the events (plot) and persons (characters) from which some truth of human experience is learned.
Theme
The writer’s or speaker’s attitude toward his subject and in turn the response which the writer intends from his readers.
Tone
A play that ends unhappily. The events have great significance; the characters are important figures; the themes deal with the universal questions of life.
Tragedy
The Greek word that means “no place,” implying that no ideal society exists; the literary work written by Sir Thomas More, describing an imaginary ideal world
Utopia
The literary period which began with the death of Sir Walter Scott in 1832 and ended in 1901 with the death of Queen Victoria. The great poets of the age were Tennyson, Browning, and Arnold. The great nonfiction prose writers were Macaulay, Carlyle, Arnold, Newman, and Ruskin. The great novelists were Dickens, Thackeray, Eliot, and Hardy.
Victorian Era
