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| the character does not change much or at all |
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| character whose values are at odds with the other characters' |
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| a multidimensional character who changes/develops in the course of the story |
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| fixed character with little individuality, often based on racial, social, sexist, or ethnic prejudices -- the ditzy blonde, dumb jock, rich Texan, rude New Yorker |
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| character type that occurs repeatedly i n a literary genre -- the clever servant of Elizabethan comedies, for example |
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| a shortened version of a literary work |
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| a brief statement or summary of the essential thoughts of a book, article, etc.; an adjective which denotes qualities that exist only as attributes of particular persons or things |
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| a symbolic narrative created to parallel and illuminate a separate set of moral, philosophical, political, religious, or social situations |
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| the repetition of consonant sounds in a sequence of nearby words (Ex. Mark My Melodious Midnight Moan) |
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| a reference, explicit or indirect, to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art |
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| the use of a single word or expression to signify two or more distinct references, or t o express two or more diverse attitudes or feelings (poetic term); ordinarily, the term is applied to a fault in style |
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| action, scene, object, or character placed where it does not belong in time |
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| a point by point comparison made between two things for the purpose of clarifying the less familiar of the two subjects |
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| in poetry, a foot with two weak stresses followed by one strong stress, as in the word "disembark" |
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| a very brief account of an incident, usually personal or biographical |
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| a character or force in conflict with the main character, or protagonist, in a literary work (Ex. Goliath is the antagonist battling David, the protagonist) |
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| the word a pronoun stands for, usually used before or in close proximity to that pronoun (Ex. JOAN walked up the stairs where SHE had seen the bloodstain. -- Joan is the antecedent of she) |
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| a protagonist who is pretty, ineffectual, passive, or dishonest; displaying few or none of the characteristics of the traditional hero |
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| a contrast expressed in grammatically parallel form (Ex. God made the country; man made the town) |
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| the pithy and pointed statement of a serious maxim, opinion, or general truth (Ex. Art is long; life is short.) |
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| a direct and explicit address to an absent person or non-human entity (Ex. O grave! where is thy Victory?) |
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| recurrent narrative designs, patterns of action, character types, or images identifiable in a wide variety o f works or literature; archetypes are often used to reflect a set of universal, primitive, and elemental mental forms or patterns in the human psyche; if used effectively, archetypes evoke a profound response from the reader |
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| a statement delivered by an actor to an audience in such a way that other characters on stage are presumed not to hear what is said |
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| the repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables containing dissimilar consonant sounds (Ex. I beqUEAth you that you clEAn shEEt and an empty throne.) |
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| a mental position or feeling with regard to a fact or statement; attitude is usually discussed in terms of author, character, objects, ideas, etc. |
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| the person or persons who are intended to read a piece of writing. The intended audience determines the form, tone, style, and details included in a piece. |
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| a narrative of one's own life |
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| a poem or song that tells a story, a narrative species of folk songs which originate, and are communicated orally, among illiterate or only partly literate people, a literary ballad is composed in imitation of an old folk ballad |
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| novel dealing with the development of the protagonist's mind and character, in the passage from childhood to adulthood, the character's identity formation |
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| a narrative of the life of a historical figure |
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poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter linies
(Ex. One equal temper of heroic hearts
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield. -Alfred Lord Tennyson, "Ulysses") |
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| (dissonance) language which seems harsh, rough, and unmusical; the discordance is the combined effect of meaning and difficulty of pronunciation, as well as sound |
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| a pause in the middle of a line of poetry dictated by sense or natural rhythm |
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| free from bias, very honest and frank in one's writing |
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| the academically "accepted" body of great literature and art; one's collected work |
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| in verbal description, the distortion or exaggeration, for comic effect of a person's physical features or other characteristics |
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| (purgation or purification) emotional purging of yourself after an emotional event (Ex. Crying after seeing a play or movie.) |
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| analysis of a subject by examining the reasons for specific actions or events or the consequences or the results of certain causes |
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| a person or animal who takes part in the action of a literary work |
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| the principles or styles of literature or art of ancient Greece and Rome |
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| a group of words containing a subject and complete verb and forming part of a compound or complex sentence |
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| an overused expression (Ex. All's well that ends well.) |
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| the high point of interest or suspense in a literary work; the point at which there is no turning back |
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| informal speech, characteristic of spoken language, or writing that seeks the effect of everyday speech |
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| a work in which the materials are selected and managed primarily in order to interest, involve, and amuse us |
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| a figure of speech which establishes a striking parallel, usually elaborate, sometimes far-fetched, between two very dissimilar things or situations |
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| able to be perceived by the five senses; a pattern poem in which the visual form or shape of the poem reflects the poem's theme or content |
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| a struggle between opposing forces |
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| an association that a word calls to mind in addition to its dictionary meaning; the emotional, psychological or social overtones or implications that words carry; such as, in the difference between the synonyms childish and childlike |
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| repetition of consonant sounds within a line of verse, similar to alliteration but not limited to the beginning letter of a word (Ex. but Such a tide aS moving SeemS aSleep); the repetition of a sequence of two or more consonants, but with a change in the intervening vowel: live - love, lean - lone, pitter - patter |
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| the part of discourse surrounding a passage which gives it more meaning; context can be social, historical, racial, etc. |
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| necessary, or at least convenient, devices accepted by tacit agreement between the author and audience, for solving the problems in the representation of reality that are posed by a particular artistic medium; conspicuous features of subject matter, form, or technique which occur repeatedly in works of literature; "codes" of genre, plot, etc. constituting all literary works |
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a pair of rhyming lines written in the same meter
(Ex. And if I give thee honor due,
Mirth, admit me of the crew
To live with her, and live with thee,
In unreproved pleasures free --Miltone's "L'Allegro") |
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| the point of uncertainty and tension, the turning point, that results from the conflicts and difficulties brought about through the complications of the plot |
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| a three-syllable metrical foot consisting of a heavy stress followed by two lights, as in might-i-est |
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| a word's exact, specific meaning, independent of other associations the word calls to mind |
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| "untying" or resolution - the final stage of plot development in which mysteries are explained, characters find their destinies and the work is completed |
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| regional speech, vocabulary and pronunciation particular to a certain geographic area |
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| a conversation between characters |
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| word choice -- the kinds of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language that constitute any work of literature; also see syntax |
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| work of literature which has a moral or teaches a lesson |
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| the turning aside from the main subject in writing or speaking; i.e. a tangent in a discussion |
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| situation where a person must choose between two equal alternatives |
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| a line of verse consisting of two metrical feet |
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| a type of lyric poem or dramatic speech where a single person, who is patently not the poet, utters the entire poem in a specific situation at a critical moment |
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| the way in which the author uses dramatic elements or drama |
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| the cast of characters in a play |
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| a formal and sustained poet lament (and usually consolation) for the death of a particular person |
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| omission from an expression of a word or phrase clearly implied; marks (... or ***) used to indicate omission |
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| poetic line in which the pause in the reading, naturally occurring, coincides with the end of the line |
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| run-on lines - the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one verse line to the next without end-stopped punctuation |
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| long narrative poem on a great or serious subject told in an elevated style and centered on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends the fate of a tribe or nation |
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any short poem which is polished, terse, and pointed, which often ends with a surprising or witty turn of thought
(Ex. Swans sing before they die-- 'twer no bad thing
Should certain people die before they sing!
--Coleridge) |
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| an inscription on a statue, stone, or building; a quotation on the title page of a book |
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| a short addition or concluding section at the end of a literary work, often dealing with the future of its characters |
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| a sudden manifestation of the ssence or meaning of something; a comprehension or perception by means of a sudden intuitive realization (an "AHA!" moment) |
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| a novel which is conveyed entirely by an exchange of letters |
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| a phrase attributing a quality to a person (a tombstone phrase): Richard the lionhearted |
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| a struggle between the character and some outside force (man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. society) |
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Definition
(1) genre or literary type
(2) patterns of meters, lines, and rhymes
(3) central critical concept
(4) the principle that determines a work's organization
(5) structure |
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| mood, an arrangement of structural (literal) parts that gives form to the work |
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poetry not written in a regular, rhythmical pattern, or meter
(Ex. Brother, we are men
conscious of more
than material needs
How can this happen to us
my friend, my foe?) |
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Definition
| "literary form" -- a recurring type of literature |
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| a story of horror or suspense set in the medieval period or in a gloomy old castle or monastery - hence the name "gothic" which is an architectural term - gothic has been extended to a type of fiction developing a brooding atmosphere, representing events which are uncanny or macabre or melodramatically violent, and often dealing with aberrant psychological states |
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| fanciful, bizarre, eccentric, or absurdly incongruous |
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| tragic flaw - "error of judgment" of a tragic hero which leads him to a mistaken act (Aristotle) |
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| verse composed in lines of seven metrical feet |
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| a character whose actions are inspiring or noble; the protagonist |
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lines of iambic pentameter which ryhme in pairs (aa, bb, cc, etc.)
(Ex. You knock your pate, and fancy wit will come.
Knock as you please, --there's nobody at home.
--Alexander Pope) |
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| pride or overwhelming self-confidence which leads a protagonist to disregard a divine warning or to violate an important moral law; hubris is a common form of hamartia in Greek tragedies |
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| a comic utterance; a comic appearance or mode of behavior |
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| a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement as a means of emphasis (Ex. I'd give my arm for a slice of pizza.) |
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| a struggle within a character (man vs. himself) |
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| repetition (literally "bringing back" of a word or word group to begin successive phrases.) |
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| understood only by a select few, intended for an inner circle of disciples or scholars |
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| an inoffensive expression used in place of a blunt one felt to be disagreeable or harsh "to pass away" vs "to die" |
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| language which is smooth, pleasant, and musical to the ear |
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| a type of sentence that makes a statement or exclaims something |
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| in plot structure, background or explanatory information that furthers the reader's understanding of the characters and conflicts; often occurs before the main plot begins, but can occur elsewhere in the novel |
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| writing that explains or shows and tells by giving information about a specific topic; term papers, textbooks, and reports are typical examples of expository writing |
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| a brief story, usually with animal characters, that teaches a lesson or moral |
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| a simple children's story about fairies; a magical tale /Grimm Brothers/ |
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| an element of the plot which follows the climax or crisis and leads into resolution |
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| highly imaginative writing that contains elements not found in real life |
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| a play full of ridiculous happenings, absurd actions, and unreal situations; meant to be very funny |
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| writing or speech not meant to be interpreted literally |
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| literary devices that communicate ideas beyond the literal meaning of the words; common types include hyperbole, metaphor, personification, and simile. |
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| interruption of the sequence of events to relate an event of an earlier time |
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| a character in a work, who, by sharp contrast, serves to stress and highlight the distinctive temperament of the protagonist |
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| a story composed orally and then passed from person to person by word of mouth |
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| a measured combination of heavy and light stresses |
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| the use, in a literary work, of clues that suggest events that have yet to occur |
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