Lit.terms Answers

7/25/2019 Lit.terms Answers

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Literary and Stylistic Terms Lax

Allegory A story in verse or prose witha double meaning: a primary or surface meaning; and a secondary or under-thesurface meaning. Closely related to the fable and parable. Can be read on two or more levels.

Alliteration A figure of speech in which the consonants, especially at the beginning of words, or stressed syllables, arerepeated. Tends to be used for the achievement of the special effect.

Allusion - sually an implicit reference, perhaps to another wor! of literature or art, to a person or an event. "t is often a!ind of appeal to a reader to share some e#perience with the writer. An allusion may enrich the wor! by association and giit depth. $hen using an allusion the writer tends to assume an established literary tradition, a body of common !nowledge

with an audience sharing that tradition and an ability on the part of the audience to %pic! up& the reference. 'oughly, we c

distinguish: (a) a reference to events and people, (b) reference to facts about the author himself, (c) a metaphoric allusion,

and (d) an imitative allusion.

Ambiguity ($illiam *mpson things are not what they seem) $ords connote at lest as much as they denote and veroften more. $e recogni+e that there could be another meaning verbal nuance alternative reaction to the word.

Anecdote A brief account of or a story about an individual or an incident.

Antagonist in drama or fiction the antagonist opposes the hero or protagonist.

Anti-climax The same as bathos. The last part of the sentence e#presses something lower than the first. (ften comica

Anti-hero A type of character who is incompetent, unluc!y, tactless, stupid, buffoonish the opposite of the old-fashioned hero who is considered capable of heroic deeds, who was dashing and strong, brave and resourceful.

Antonym A word of opposite meaning to another.

Apostrophe A figure of speech in which a thing, a place, an abstract uality, an idea, a dead or absent person, isaddressed as if present and capable of understanding.

Aside "n drama a few words or a short passage spo!en in an undertone or to the audience. "t is a thetrical convention bywhich the words are presumed inaudible to other characters on stage.

Assonance /ometimes called %vocalic rhyme&, it consists of the repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually closetogether, to achieve a particular effect of euphony.

Asyntactic (from the 0ree! %not arranged&) Applied to prose or verse which is loose, ungrammatical in structure andtherefore which brea!s the normal conventions governing word order.

Blank verse nrhymed five-stress lines; properly, iambic pentameters. 1ost widely used *nglish verse form, closest inrhythm to everyday *nglish speech.

Cacophony The opposite of euphony. 2arsh sounds are used deliberately by the writer, especially the poet, to achieve particular effect.

Cadence 'efers to the melodic pattern preceding the end of a sentence; for instance, in an interrogation or an e#hortatiand also the rhythm of accented units. (Also refers to the natural rhythm of language; its %inner tune&, rising and falling.)

Caesura A brea! or pause in a line of poetry, dictated, usually, by the natural rhythm of the language.

Caricature "n literature (as in art) a portrait, which ridicules a person by e#aggerating or distorting his most prominentfeatures and characteristics. 3uite often, the caricature evo!es genial and not derisive laughter.

Catachresis The misapplication of a word, especially in a mi#ed metaphor.


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Catastrophe (4rom 0ree! %overturning&) The tragic denouement of a play or story.

Catharsis (0ree! purgation) Aristotle uses the word in his definition of tragedy. Through pity and fear there is apurging of the emotions at the end of a tragedy. /o, the tragedy, having aroused powerful feelings in the spectator, has also

therapeutic effect; after the storm and clima# there comes a sense of release from tension, of calm.

Chiasmus (0ree! %placing crosswise&) A reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or clauses.

Clich A trite, over-used e#pression which is lifeless. 1any idioms have become cliches through e#cessive use.

Climax - That part of a story or play at which a crisis is reached and a resolution achieved.

Colon A metrical term which denotes a number of feet or metra. ("n punctuation, a : denotes a list or series of terms.)

Comic relie Comic episodes or interludes, usually in a tragedy, aimed to relieve tension and heighten the tragic elemeby contrast. The humor involved tends to by wry or sardonic.

Conceit 2as been used as a synonym for %thought&, %idea&, or %concept&. "t also denotes a fanciful supposition, aningenious act of deception or a witty or clever remar! or idea. As a literary term, it denotes a fairly elaborate figurative

device of a fanciful !ind which often incorporates metaphor, simile, hyperbole or o#ymoron and which is intended to

surprise and delight by its wit and ingenuity. (The pleasure is an intellectual one.) 5articularly associated with themetaphysical poets.

Conlict The tension in a situation between characters, or the actual opposition of characters. *#ternal conflict 6character vs. character, or character vs. environment. "nternal conflict 6 character7s moral dilemma or predicament.

Connotation The suggestion or implication evo!ed by a word or phrase, over and above what it means or actuallydenotes. 1ay be personal and individual, or general and universal.

Consonance The close repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after different vowels.

Contrast The 8u#taposition of disparate or opposed images, ideas, or both, to heighten or clarify a scene, theme orepisode. Also as a techniue (verb) refers to the differences between two pieces of literature.

Couplet Two successive rhyming lines. ne of the main verse units in $estern literature.

!enotation The most literal and limited meaning of a word, regardless of what one may feel about it or the suggestionand ideas it connotes.

!enouement (4rench %un!notting&) "t may be the event or events following the ma8or clima# of a plot, or theunraveling of a plot7s complications at the end of a story or play.

!iction 9iction denotes the vocabulary used by a writer. 5oetic diction usually refers to that rather particular !ind oflanguage and artificial arrangement employed by many poets. (*specially eoclassic poets.)

!issonance The arrangement of cacophonous sounds in words, or rhythmical patterns, for a particular effect.

!ithyramb riginally a 0ree! choric hymn, with mime describing the adventures of 9ionysus.

!ogma A dogma is a tenet, doctrine, law or principle. /omething laid down as being so.

!ramatic irony $hen the audience understands the implication and meaning of a situation on stage, or what is beingsaid, but the characters do not. Common in tragedy and comedy. (r when a character7s words %recoil& upon him.)

!umb-sho" a mimed dramatic performance whose purpose was to prepare the audience for the main action of the playto follow.


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#llipsis (0ree! %leaving out&) A figurative device where a word (or several words) is left out in order to achieve morecompact e#pression. (1odern poets li!e *+ra 5ound, T./. *liot and $.2. Auden use the device freuently.)

#motive language anguage intended to e#press or arouse emotional reactions towards the sub8ect.

#mpathy $hen we e#perience empathy we identify ourselves, up to a point, with an animate or inanimate ob8ect. Thee#perience might even be an involuntary pro8ection of ourselves into an ob8ect.

#nd-rhyme This occurs at the end of a line or verse. 9istinguished from head-rhyme or alliteration < internal rhyme.

#n$ambement 'unning on of the sense beyond the second line of one couplet into the first line of the ne#t.

#pic A long narrative poem, on a grand scale, about the deeds of warriors and heroes. "t is a %herioc& story thatincorporates myth, legend, fol! tale and history.

#pic simile An e#tended simile, in some cases running to fifteen or twenty lines, in which the comparisons made areelaborated in considerable detail.

#piphany (0ree! %manifestation&) 9enotes the festival which commemorates the manifestation of Christ to the0entiles in the persons of the 1agi. 1ore generally, the term denotes a manifestation of 0od7s presence in the world. (/ee

=ames =oyce A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.) sed a symbol of a spiritual state. (".e. An %awa!ening&.)

#pitasis(0ree! %near intensification&) The part of a play when the denouement or clima# approaches, when the plotthic!ens. "t precedes the catastrophe.

#pithet - sually an ad8ective or phrase e#pressing some uality or attribute which is characteristic of a person or thing.

#uphony The terms denotes pleasing, mellifluous sounds, usually produced by long vowels rather than consonants.

#xistentialism A vision of the condition and e#istence of man, his place and function in the world, and his relationshipor lac! of one, with 0od. *#istence precedes essence. 1an fashions his own e#istence and only e#ists by so doing, and in

that process, and by the choice of what he does or does not do, gives essence to that e#istence.

%alling action That part of a play which follows the denouement or clima#.

%iction - A vague and general term for an imaginative wor!, usually in prose.

%igurative language anguage which uses figures of speech; for e#ample, metaphor, simile, alliteration, etc.

%ixed orm 9enotes a form in poetry for which there are prescribed and established rules with regard to the number oflines, the meter, line length, rhyme, etc.

%lashback A term which describes any scene or episode in a play, novel, story or poem which is inserted to show eventthat happened at an earlier time. (4reuently used in modern fiction.)

%lat character (*.1. 4orster Aspects of the Novel)

%oot A group of syllables forming a metrical unit; a unit of rhythm. $e measure feet in terms of syllable variation: longand short syllables, stressed and unstressed. (Common feet 6 iamb, trochee, dactyl, anapest and spondee.)

%oreshado"ing The techniue of arranging events and information in a narrative in such a way that later events areprepared for or shadowed forth beforehand.

%ree verse 2as no regular meter or line length and depends on natural speech rhythms and the counterpoint of stressedand unstressed syllables.


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&enre A 4rench term for a !ind, a literary type or class. The ma8or genres were: epic, tragedy, lyric, comedy and satire, which would now be added novel and short story.

&reat Chain o Being This phrase summari+es an idea that all that e#ists in the created order is part of naturalhierarchy, from the lowest possible grade up to 0od. (insect, fish, bird, beast, man, angel, 0od)

&reek Tragedy 2ad a definite structure a prologue, chorus, episodes, conclusion, and constituted > Acts.

'omonym (0ree!: %/ame name&) A word having the same sound and spelling as another, but a different meaning.

'omophone (0ree!: %/ame sound&) A word which is pronounced the same as another, but has a different spelling andmeaning.

'ubris (*#cessive pride) This shortcoming or defect in the 0ree! tragic hero leads him to ignore the warnings of thegods and to transgress their laws and commands. *ventually hubris brings about downfall and nemesis.

'yperbole A figure of speech which contains an e#aggeration for emphasis.

'ypotaxis (0ree!: %nder arrangement&) /ubordination; syntactic relationship between dependent and independentconstructions.

(ambic pentameter 9enotes a line of five feet, arranged as unstressed, followed by stressed syllables. (/ha!es. /onne

(dyll (0ree!: %ittle form&) "t can refer to either a poem or an episode which describes some episode or scene in rural lior a description of any scene of tranuil happiness.

(llusion The semblance of reality and verisimilitude in art which most writers create in order to enable the reader to thinthat he is seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting and smelling, or having some e#tra-sensory or !inesthetic e#perience.

(magery As a general term covers the use of language to represent ob8ects, actions, feelings, thoughts, ideas, states ofmind and any sensory or e#tra-sensory e#perience. 1any images are conveyed by figurative language.

(rony 1ost forms of irony involve the perception or awareness of a discrepancy or incongruity between words and theimeanings, or between actions and their results, or between appearance and reality. "n all cases there may be elements of thabsurd or the parado#ical. The two basic !inds are verbal (saying what one does not mean) and situational irony.

)akaes*ue Characteristic of the nightmarish atmosphere which 4ran+ ?af!a was capable of creating through thepervasive menace of sinister, impersonal forces, the feeling of loss of identity, the evocation of guilt and fear, and the sens

of evil that permeates the twisted and %absurd& logic of ruling powers.

Lyric 4rom 0ree!s a song to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre, but also the term used to describe a particular!ind of poem in order to distinguish it from narrative or dramatic verse of any !ind. sually fairly short and personal.

+alapropism 4rom 1rs. 1alaprop in /heridan7s The Rivals, who had the habit of using polysyllabic words incorrectl

+etanoia (0ree!: %Afterthought&) A figurative device in which a statement is made, and then withdrawn or lessened inits impact.

+etaphor A figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another. A comparison is usually implict.

+etaphysical A term applied to @ thcentury poets (9onne, 1arvell, et al) who used arresting original images andconceits , wit, ingenuity, and intellectual stretching to e#press their passions and beliefs in their poetry.

+eter (0ree!: %1easure&) 'efers to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse.

+etonymy (%ame change&) 4igure of speech in which name of an attribute or a thing is substituted for the thing itse


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+onologue A single person spea!ing alone with or without an audience.

+oral The lesson to be learnt from a story, poem, play or fable any wor! which purports to teach anything.

+oti ne of the dominant ideas in a wor! of literature; a part of the main theme. "t may consist of a character, a reurreimage or a verbal pattern.

+yth "n general a myth is a story which is not %true& and which involves (as a rule) supernatural beings or supra-humbeings. 1yth e#plains how something came to e#ist and embodies feeling and concept.

,b$ective detail b8ectivity suggests that the writer is %outside of& and detached from what he is writing about, andobserves a distance from the sub8ect. b8ective details can be described in pretty much the same way by two people.

,ctave Also !nown as an octet. A group of B lines either in stan+a form or as the first B lines of a sonnet. (abbaabba)

,de (0ree!: %song&) A lyric poem, usually of some length. Contains an elaborate stan+a structure, a mar!ed formality astateliness in tone and style, and lofty sentiments and thoughts. 5ublic ode is ceremonious, while private ode is personal.

,nomatopoeia (0ree!: %ame-ma!ing&) The formation and use of words to imitate sounds. sed for a special effect.

,xymoron A figure of speech which combines incongruous and apparently contradictory words and meanings for aspecial effect. Closely related to antithesis and parado#.

aradox An apparently self-contradictory (even absurd) statement which, on closer inspection is found to contain a trureconciling the conflicting opposites.

arallelism Common device in poetry, consisting of phrases or sentences of similar construction and meaning placedside by side, balancing each other. (/ee T./. *liot, 9.2. awrence, $alt $hitman,Beowulf, etc.)

arataxis Co-ordination of clauses without con8unctions. The effect is terseness and compression. (/ee 5ope, 9ic!inso

athos (0ree!: %suffering; feeling&) That uality of art which evo!es feelings of tenderness, pity or sorrow.

entameter The five-foot line and the basic line in *nglish verse; especially in blan! verse and the heroic couplet.

ersona (atin: %1as!&) 4rom it derives the term dramatis personae. 9enotes the %person& who spea!s in aa poem ornovel or other form of literature.

ersoniication The impersonation or embodiment of some uality of abstraction; the attribution of human ualities toinanimate ob8ects. Appears freuently, especially in poetry.

lot The plan, design, scheme or pattern of events in a play, poem or wor! of fiction; and further, the organi+ation ofincident and character in such a way as to induce curiosity and suspense in the spectator or reader.

rolepsis (0ree!: %Anticipation&) A figurative device by which a future event is presumed to have happened.

rologue The opening section of a wor!; a !ind of introduction which is part of the wor! and not prefatory.

rose (atin: %straightforward discourse&) Thus, a direct, unadorned form of language, written or spo!en, in ordinaryusage. 9iffers from poetry or verse in that it is not restricted in rhythm, measure or rhyme.

rotagonist The principal actor or character. 2as come to be the euivalent of the hero.

un A figure of speech, which involves a play upon words. 0ives rise to a fairly universal form of humor.


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.uatrain A stan+a of four lines, rhymed or unrhymed. "t lends itself to a wide variation in meter and rhyme.

/erain A phrase, line or lines repeated at intervals during a poem and especially at the end of a stan+a.

/enaissance (4rench: %'ebirth&) A term commonly applied to the historical period which follows the 1iddle Ages. (@ @thcenturies) (/ee 9ante, Cervantes, /ir Thomas 1ore, *dmund /penser, /ha!espeare, /ir 4rancis Dacon)

/esolution Those events which form the outcome of the clima# of a play or story. The euivalent of falling action.

/hetorical *uestion Dascially a uestion not e#pecting an answer, or one to which the answer is more or less self-evident. "t is used primarily for stylistic effect. And is a common device in public spea!ing. Also used for emphasis.

/hyme - 'hyme has two main functions: it echoes sounds and is thus a source of aesthetic satisfaction, and rhyme assistsin the actual structure of verse.

/hythm "n verse or prose, the movement or sense of movement communicated by the arrangement of stressed andunstressed syllables and by the duration of the syllables. "n verse the rhythm depends on the metrical pattern.

/ising action The part of a play, which precedes the clima#.

/omanticism A shift in the @Bthcentury (in *ngland, mainly) in sensibility and feeling, particularly in relation to thenatural order and ature. Aspects of 'omanticism include: an increasing interest in ature, and in the natural, primitive an

uncivili+ed way of life, a growing interest in scenery, an association of human moods with the %moods& of nature and th

a sub8ective feeling for it and interpretation of it, a considerable emphasis on natural religion, an emphasis on the need for

spontaneity in thought and action and in the e#pression of thought, an increasing importance attached to natural genius anthe power of the imagination, a tendency to e#alt the individual and his needs and emphasis on the need for a freer and mo

personal e#pression, and the cult of the oble /avage. (/ee Dla!e, Coleridge, ?eats, /helley, $orsdworth, Dyron)

Satire The true end of satire is to amend vices. /wift defined satire as %a sort of glass wherein beholders do generallydiscover everybody7s face but their own, which is the chief reason for that !ind of reception it meets in the world, and so

very few are offended with it.& Thus satire is a !ind of pretest, a sublimation and refinement of anger and indignation. The

satirist7s aim is to ridicule and bring scorn to upon those who threaten to impair a sense of their values and beliefs. /atire

ridicules the follies, vices and shortcomings of society, and of individuals who represent society. (/ee Chaucer and /wift.)

Seer ne who sees visions of divine things; and, in a broader sense, a person endowed with prophetic powers.

Sestet The sub-division or last si# lines of the "talian sonnet following the octave.

Setting The where and when of a story or play; the locale. "nvolves atmosphere, conte#t, weather, time, etc.

Simile A figure of speech in which one thing is li!ened to another, ins such a way as to clarify and enhance an image. "tan e#plicit comparison recogni+ed by the use of the words %li!e& or %as&.

Solilo*uy A solilouy is a speech, often of some length, in which a character, alone on stage, e#presses his thought andfeelings. "t is an accepted dramatic convention of great importance. /hows a character7s intentions, motives, feelings, etc.

Sonnet A poem of @E lines, usually in iambic pentameter with considerable variation in rhyme scheme.

Stan0a A group of lines of verse. The stan+a is the unit of structure in a poem.

Stasimon (0ree!: %stationary song&) An ode sung by the Chorus in a 0ree! play after ta!ing its position in the orchstra

Stock character A recurrent %type&. (/uch as: the oaf, the clown, the coward, the nagging wife, the buffoon, etc.)

Stream o consciousness A tem coined by $illiam =ames to denote the flow of inner e#periences. "t is a techniue inliterature that see!s to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind. (/ee =ames =oyce.)


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Stress As a metrical term, stress is interchangeable with accent. A metrical foot usually comprises one stressed syllableand one or more unstressed syllables.

Strophe (0ree!: %turning&) riginally the first part of a choral ode in 0ree! drama which the Chorus chanted whilemoving from one side of the stage to the other. 1ore recently it has been applied to a unit or verse paragraph in free verse

Style The characteristic manner of e#pression in prose or verse; how a particular writer says things. To analy+e a writerstyle, loo! at the writer7s choice of words, his figures of speech, the rhetorical and other devices, the shape of his sentence

the shape of his paragraphs, etc.

Sub$ective detail /ub8ectivity, when applied to writing, suggests that the writer is primarily concerned with conveyingpersonal e#perience and feeling. /ub8ective details are those details that are seen from the writer7s personal point of view.

Sub-plot A subsidiary action in a play or story which coincides with the main action.

Surrealism A movement that originated in 4rance in the @FGH7s. /urrealists attempted to e#press in art and literature thwor!ings of the unconscious mind and to synthesi+e these wor!ings with the conscious mind. $or! develops non-logicall

Suspense A state of uncertainty, anticipation and curiosity as to the outcome of the story, play, or prose.

Symbol - "s an ob8ect, animate or inanimate, which represents or %stands for& something else. Actions and gestures can bsymbolic, too. A literary symbol combines an image with a concept, and it may be universal or local.

Synaesthesia (0ree!: %5erceiving together&) The mi#ing of sensations; the concurrent appeal to more than one sense; response through several senses to the stimulation of one.

Synechdoche (0ree!: %Ta!ing up together&) A figure of speech in which the part stands for the whole, and thussomething else is understood within the thing mentioned.

Synonym A word similar in meaning to another.

Syntax (0ree!: %Together arrangement&) /entence construction.

Synthesis After analy+ing (a detailed splitting up and e#amination of a wor! of literature, whereby you study the variouelements and the relationship between them) a wor!, the reader (or critic) can understand the author7s meaning and ma!e h

own meaning of the wor!.

Tercet A stan+a of three lines lin!ed by rhyme. Also as one of a pair of triplets which ma!es up the sestet of a sonnet.

Theme The theme of a wor! is not its sub8ect but rather its central idea, which may be stated directly or indirectly.

Thesis A long essay or treatise, or a proposition to be proved. ($e use the second meaning.)

Tone The reflection of a writer7s attitude, manner, mood and moral outloo! in his wor!.

Tragedy (0ree!: %0oat song&) riginally denoted a form of ritual sacrifice accompanied by choral song in honor of9ionysus, the god of drama, the fields and the vineyards. (/ee Aristotle7s %5oetics&.) Tragedy is the disaster which comes those who represent and who symboli+e, in a peculiarly intense form, those flaws and shortcomings which are universal in

lesser form. (/ee 0ree! Tragic 2ero, Tragic 4law, and Tragic utcome.)

Tragic la" Traditionally that defect in a tragic hero or heroine which leads to their downfall.

Triad (0ree!: %Three&) "n Classical 0ree! poetry a group of I lyric stan+as: strophe, antistrophe and epode.

Trilogy (0ree!: %/et of three&) A group of three tragedies presented by individual authors at the drama festivals in Athein the >thcentury DC. The term may also be applied to a group of I novels lin!ed by a common theme or characters.


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Turning point The observable moment when, in a story, play or other narrative, there is a definite change in directionand one becomes aware that it is now about to move towards its end; a change of fortune. "n tragedy, the crucial point.

1niversality That uality in a wor! of art which enables it to transcend the limits of the particular situation, place, timperson and incident in such a way that it may be of interest to all men at any time in any place.

2erisimilitude i!eness to the truth, and therefore the appearance of being true or real even when fantastic. $hen thewriter does this well, the reader finds the result an acceptable presentation of reality. (As in fantasy.)

2ernacular 9omestic or native language. ow applied to the language used in one7s native country. "t may also be useto distinguish between a Jliterary& language and a dialect.

2erse Three meanings: (a) a line of metrical writing; (b) a stan+a; (c) poetry in general.

2ie"point The position of the narrator in relation to his story; thus the outloo! from which the events are related. Theomniscient: the author moves from character to character, place to place, and episode to episode with complete freedom,

giving himself access to his characters7 thoughts and feelings whenever he chooses and providing information whenever h

wishes. Third person limited: The author chooses a character and the story is related in terms of that character in such a wthat the field of vision confined to him or her alone. 4irst person narrative: here he story is told in the first person by one o

the characters.

3illing suspension o disbelie The reader must %grant& that he or she is about to read a story; a person in theaudience is %as!ed& to accept the dramatic conventions of the theatre and the stage.

3it $it formerly meant %sense& or %the five senses&; thus common sense. 9uring the 'enaissance it meant %intelligencor %wisdom&; thus intellectual capacity. ater, wit came to mean %fancy&, as in the imagination. 4or the most part wit now

suggests intellectual brilliance and ingenuity; verbal deftness. $it is commonly verbal, while humor need not be.

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(Compiled b !ill "a#$ Ta%en from The Penguin &ictionar of "iterar Terms and "iterar Theor' Cuddon !$A$ ) rdeditio

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Lit.terms Answers