ACT - A major division in a play. Often, individual acts are divided into smaller units ("scenes") that all take place in a specific location. Originally, Greek plays were not divided into acts. in the 1900s, most playwrights preferred a three-act model, though two-act plays are not uncommon.
Alliteration- Repeating a consonant sound in close proximity to others, or beginning several words with the same vowel sound. For instance, the phrase "buckets of big blue berries" alliterates with the consonant b.
ALLUSION - A casual reference in literature to a person, place, event, or another passage of literature, often without explicit identification. Allusions can originate in mythology, biblical references, historical events, legends, geography, or earlier literary works. in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock
AMBIGUITY - In common conversation, ambiguity is a negative term applied to a vague or equivocal expression when precision would be more useful. Sometimes, however, intentional ambiguity in literature can be a powerful device, leaving something undetermined in order to open up multiple possible meanings.
ANACHRONISM - Placing an event, person, item, or verbal expression in the wrong historical period. In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Shakespeare writes the following lines: Brutus: Peace! Count the clock. Cassius: The clock has stricken three
ANTICLIMAX - (also called bathos): a drop, often sudden and unexpected, from a dignified or important idea or situation to one that is trivial or humorous. Also a sudden descent from something sublime to something ridiculous.
ANTI-HERO - A protagonist who is a non-hero or the antithesis of a traditional hero. While the traditional hero may be dashing, strong, brave, resourceful, or handsome, the antihero may be incompetent, unlucky, clumsy, dumb, ugly, or clownish. the Sub-Mariner
Antithesis- Using opposite phrases in close conjunction. Examples might be, "I burn and I freeze,". The best antitheses express their contrary ideas in a balanced sentence. It can be a contrast of opposites and contrast of degree. Antithesis is an example of a rhetorical scheme. Contrast with oxymoron. Man proposes, God disposes
Archetype-An original model or type after which other similar things are patterned Frankenstein is the archetypal monster
Apostrophe - apostrophe is the act of addressing some abstraction or personification that is not physically present. An apostrophe is an example of a rhetorical trope. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Aside- In drama, a few words or a short passage spoken by one character to the audience while the other actors on stage pretend their characters cannot hear the speaker's words. It is a theatrical convention that the aside is not audible to other characters on stage.
Assonance - Identity or similarity in sound between internal vowels in neighboring words. "Do you like blue”
BEAST EPIC - popular genre in various literatures, consisting of a lengthy cycle of animal tales that provides a satiric commentary on human society. Although individual episodes may be drawn from fables, the beast epic differs from the fable not only in length but also in putting less emphasis on a moral. Roman de Reynart
BILDUNGSROMAN- A novel in which an adolescent protagonist comes to adulthood by a process of experience and disillusionment. This character loses his or her innocence, discovers that previous preconceptions are false, or has the security of childhood torn away, but usually matures and strengthens by this process. Examples include Wieland's Agathon, Herman Raucher's Summer of '42, Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.
BLACK COMEDY - is a sub-genre of comedy and satire in which topics and events that are usually regarded as taboo are treated in a satirical or humorous manner while retaining their seriousness. the Shakespearean play Titus Andronicus,
Blank verse- the technical name for unrhymed iambic pentameters eg.Verse of 5 feet per line, with stress the 2nd beat of each foot. Paradise lost
Burlesque- A work that ridicules a topic by treating something exalted as if it were trivial or vice-versa. See also parody and travesty. Dulcamara
CANON - a body of writings established as authentic. The term usually refers to biblical writings accepted as authorized - as opposed to the Apocrypha.
CARICATURE - in art or literature, portrayal of an individual or thing than exaggerates and distorts prominent characteristics as to make them appear ridiculous. Caricature is commonly a medium for satire. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Catharsis- An emotional discharge that brings about a moral or spiritual renewal or welcome relief from tension and anxiety. According to Aristotle, catharsis is the marking feature and ultimate end of any tragic artistic work.
Climax - the part of the story or play at which a crisis is reached and resolution achieved.
Comedy of humours - a comedy in which each humor was associated with different physical and mental characteristic . There were 4 types of humor and they could be combined. The person's character was controlled by one of the humor. Popular in Renaissance literature. Every Man in His Humour
Comedy of manners - A comic drama consisting of five or three acts in which the attitudes and customs of a society are critiqued and satirized according to high standards of intellect and morality. The dialogue is usually clever and sophisticated. Characters are valued according to their linguistic and intellectual prowess. L'École des femmes
Comic relief- a humorous or facial interlude in a serious literary work or drama, esp a tragedy , intended to relieve the dramatic tension or heighten the emotional input by means of contrast. Hamlet
Conceit- fanciful or unusual image in which apparently dissimilar things are shown to have a relationship. An elaborate metaphor often strained or far-petched , in which the subject is compared with simpler analogue usually chosen from nature or a familiar context. "My true-love hath my heart and I have his
Consonance- is a stylistic device characterized by the repetition of 2 or more consonant using different vowels. Repeats the consonant sound but not vowel sounds.
Convention- is an agreement between the writer and his or her readers which allows various freedoms and restrictions . The term is especially relevant to drama. The stage itself establishes a convention by creating boundaries and limitations . The audience is prepared to suspend disbelief and to experience a representation of scenery and action.
Couplet - a unit of verse consisting of 2 successive lines , usually rhyming and having the same meter and often forming a complete thought or syntactic unit. True wit is nature to advantage dress'd;/// What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd.— Alexander Pope
Complication - rising in tension in drama. A c. in no more than a reversal in the action of the play, whether major or minor. In Hamlet each time someone appears and distracts Hamlet from his plan to kill the king in Shakespeare's play.
Crisis - the point in the story or play at which tension reaches maximum and resolution is imminent. There may be of course several crises, each preceding a climax. C. are the point of high dramatic action in a play.
Cycle- a group of works, usually narrative poems, that either share a common theme or subject (e.g. the Trojan war, Charlemagne, the Knights of the Round Table), or are linked together as a sequence
Decorum - principle of classical rhetoric poetry and theatrical theory. Term used to describe the mutual appropriateness of genre,style,action,matter and character . Ex: High style is fit and proper for royalty a grave style for old men.
Denouement- the final resolution or clarification of a dramatic or narrative plot . The events following the climax of a drama or novel in which such a resolution or clarification takes place.
DETECTIVE STORY - type of popular literature dealing with the step-by-step investigation and solution of the crime usually murder.
Deus ex machina - God out of machine . In Greek drama , God was lowered onto the stages by a machine so he could get into hero out of difficulties . Today this phrase is applied to any unanticipated intervenor who resolves a difficult situation in any literary genre. Euripides' "Medea"
DICTION - the way words are selected in a particular literary work, usually poetry. The appropriate selection of words in a poem is poetic diction. The choice of words, phrases, sentence structure and even figurative language which give regards to clarity and accuracy.
Didactic(ism) - instructive; designed to impart information, advice, or some doctrine of morality or philosophy. Much of the most ancient surviving literature is didactic, containing genealogies, proverbial wisdom, and religious instruction. Most European literary works of the Middle Ages have a strong didactic element, usually expounding doctrines of the Church. Didacticism is an artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional & informative qualities of literature & other types of art. Alexander Pope's An Essay on Critisicm.
Dirge- a mournful or elegiac poem or other literary work , a poem of grief or lamentation esp one intended to accompany funeral or memorial rites. Dies Iræ
Disintegrated soul- sense of hopelessness connected with a tragic flaw (hamartia). The protagonist has no choice and doesn't know what to do. Macbeth.
Doggerel - crudely or irregularly fashioned verse, often of humorous or burlesque nature, a verse considered of little literary value. Shakespeare uses doggerel in The Comedy of Errors
DRAMATIC IRONY - the dramatic effect achieved by leading an audience to understand incongruity between a situation and the accompanying speeches, while the characters in the play remain unaware of the incongruity. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
ELEGY - classical, formal structure, focuses on death// the subject of the poem are death, war, love and similar themes. A poem of mourning for an individual or a lament for some tragic event (sad, melancholic) John Milton's "Lycidas
ELLIPSIS - (1) In its oldest sense as a rhetorical device, ellipsis refers to the artful omission of a word implied by a previous clause. For instance, an author might write, "The American soldiers killed eight civilians, and the French eight."
EMBLEM - a visible symbol representing an abstract idea. It consists of a pictorial image, abstract that is a perfect example. /// an object or the figure of an object, symbolizing and suggesting another object, or an idea, by natural aptness or by association, a figurative representation, a typical designation, a symbol e.g. cross - suffering, death, crucifixion, sin, victory.
Epic- is a lengthy narrative poem ,ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Epics are often of national significance in the sense that they embody the history and aspirations of nation . 2 kinds of epic: primary also known as primitive(Beowulf)and secondary known as literary.
Epilogue- A conclusion added to a literary work such as a novel, play, or long poem. It is the opposite of a prologue. Often, the epilogue refers to the moral of a fable. Sometimes, it is a speech made by one of the actors at the end of a play asking for the indulgence of the critics and the audience.
EPIPHANY - a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight. A sadden appearance, manifestation.
EPISTOLARY NOVEL - novel in the form of a series of letters of letters written by one or more characters. It allows the author to present the character's thoughts without interference, presents events from several point of view. Pride and Prejudice,
EXEMPLUM - kind of religious convention, type of story with a moral message. Type of sermon.
EXPOSITION - at the beginning of the play the dramatist is often committed to giving a certain amount of essential information about the plot and the events which are to come.
EYE-RHYME - a rhyme which gives to the eye the impression of an exact rhyme but does not in fact possess identical sounds e.g. move/love, come/home
FEMINE RHYME - when words of two or more syllables rhyme it is known as femine or double rhyme. It's particularly common in humorous verse. pleasure, treasure
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE - language which was figure of speech, e.g. metaphor, simile, alliteration. It must be distinguished from literal language.
FLASHBACK - when the current action is broken by referent to sth which occurred earlier in the work or prior to its beginning.
FLAT & ROUND CHARECTERS - term used to describe two basically different types of character and characterisation. A FLAT CHARECTER does not change in the course of a story or play, a ROUND one develops and alters. Mr. Collins in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice/ Raskolnikov
FOOT - a way of measuring meter in poetry using a series of stressed and unstressed syllables that is prepared establishes a poetic foot.
FORESHADOWING - when the writer drops hints or clues in the plot that give to the rider an idea of what is going to happen later in story.
4 levels of meaning : 1)literal/historical 2)moral 3) allegory 4)anagogical
FREE VERSE - does not have a strict pattern of rhyming. Marriage Marianne Moore
GENRE - a French term for a kind, literary type or classic. The major classical genres were epic, tragedy, lyric, comedy and satire to which would now be added novel and short story.
GHOTIC NOVEL - a novel in which supernatural heroes and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades the action. The setting is often a dark, mysterious castle, where ghosts and insider humans roam menacingly. E.g. Frankenstein, Dracula.
GREEK TRAGEDY - had a difficult structure, there are 4 main parts to a play: 1) Prologue (an introductory scene of monologue or dialogue) 2)Paradox (foreshadowing) 3) Episodes (constitute the main action) 4) Exodus (the conclusion)
HAIKU - short poem of 3 lines, they have a specific number of syllable:5/7/5 Bashō's
HAMARTIA - is a terms developed by Aristotle in his work `Poetics'. The term can simply be seen as a character's flaw or error. In “Nicomachean Ethics”, hamartia is described by Aristotle as one of the three kinds of injuries that a person can commit against another person. Hamartia is an injury committed in ignorance.
HISTORICAL NOVEL - a novel that that has as its setting a period of history and that attempts to convey the spirit, manners, and social conditions, of a past age with realistic detail and fidelity to historical fact. Ivanhoe
HUBRIS - appears the shortcoming or defect in the Greek tragic hero leads him to ignore the warnings of the god (Antigone, Sophocles)
4 HUMOURS - the term derives from Latin, it was used in middle Ages and during Renaissance to devote the 4 humours in the body. These depended on the 4 fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow and black bill. The mixture determinates a person's disposition, character, mind, morality and temperament.
HYPERBOLE - extreme exaggeration (I've been waiting for ages/ you're mad)
IAMB - a metrical unit of verse, contains an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in the word 'beyond'
Iambic pentameter- 10-syllable , either rhymed or unrhymed, eg. Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. (Tennyson),
IMAGERY: A common term of variable meaning, imagery includes the "mental pictures" that readers experience with a passage of literature. It signifies all the sensory perceptions referred to in a poem, whether by literal description, allusion, simile, or metaphor. Imagery is not limited to visual imagery; it also includes auditory (sound), tactile (touch), thermal (heat and cold), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), and kinesthetic sensation (movement).
In medias raes- in the middles of things- story begins not at the beginning so flashbacks is used to go back to the previous (MEDIAS RES - (“into the middle of affairs”) is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, not at the beginning establishing setting, character, and conflict via flashback and expository conversations relating the pertinent past).
INTERIOR MONOLOGUE - in dramatic and nondramatic fiction, narrative technique that exhibits the thoughts passing through the minds of the protagonists. These ideas may be either loosely related impressions approaching free association or more rationally structured sequences of thought and emotion. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
INTERLUDE - the time between, a kind of break, pause.
INTERNAL RHYME - it occurs when two or more words rhyme within a single verse line of verse. I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
IRONY - use of words which are clearly opposite to one's meaning usually either in order to be amusing or to show annoyance. as clear as mud
Jeremiad- q long literary work, in which author laments the state of society. Often contains a prophecy of its coming downfall. The verb is eponym named after the Biblical prophet Jeremiah (book of Lamentation). Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathan Edwards
Kunstlerroman- novel about an artist, about someone becoming an artist, development of the artist as a young man - J. Joyce” the portrait of An Artist”
Lament- a strong expression of deep sorrow, esp in the form of a song or piece of music. Dido's lament, "When I am laid"
Leitmotif- motif that is recovered, repeated motif oyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
Limerick- 5line poem with a strict form, are writty and humorous and sometimes obscene with humorous intent (nonsense poetry, complex straction, specific stress patterns)
Litotes- minimalisation, a figure of speech which contains as understatement for emphasis and is therefore the opposition of hyperbole (not averse to a drink ((liking a drink) not bad(very good)
LYRIC - A short poem written in a repeating stanzaic form, often designed to be set to music. The lyric usually does not have a plot, but it rather expresses the feelings, perceptions, and thoughts of a single poetic speaker (not necessarily the poet) in an intensely personal, emotional, or subjective manner. Edward Lear in his first Book of Nonsense
MUSCULINE RHYME - is a rhyme that matches two or more syllables, usually at the end of respective lines. Often the final syllable is unstressed. Spent went
Melodrama- the theatrical genre of M. uses theme -music to manipulate the spectators' emotional response and to denote character types. The term combines “melody” and “drama”. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Pygmalion
Metaphor- it is a figure of speech that connects two or more things. More generally, a metaphor describes a first subject as being or equal to a second object in some way. This device is known for usage in literature, especially in poetry, where with few words, emotions and associations from one content are associated objects and entities in a different context. It compares two subjects without using “like” or “as” Ex. you are a tulip.
Meter- a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry. The number of feet in a line forms a way of describing a meter. Monometer, dimetr, trimetr, tetramet, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, octametr.
Metonomy- a figure of speech substituting a word for another word closely associated with it, when sth. Is referred to by a word, which describes a quality or feature of that thing word a unit of language a promise (to give/keep/break one's word); a conversation (to have a word with)
Mimesis- term for imitation, the idea, that art imitates nature. Hamlet's conversation with Polonius
Mise en scene- to put on stage. It's everything what we can see in a stage.
MORAL - is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. Prologue to Romeo and Juliet
Motif- central general issue, it can be structure, symbol, a phrase. Ex. Carpe diem.
Myth- the story used to described the origins of basic elements of assumption of cultures. These myths were written to show a proper way of knowing reality. All myths are different in the subject that they deal with, but they all have the presence of gods and goddesses. Prometheus
Narrator (types)- the speaker or poet who uses his own voice, one who uses a mixture of his own voice and that of others.
Novel- a fictional prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals especially with human experience through a usually connected sequence of events. The characters are invented by the author and are placed in imaginary settings.
Novel of manners- containing customs, it is about proper behavior.
Objective correlative- kind of relation, washing hands when feel guilty, parody to reveal feeling. T. S. Eliot in his essay "Hamlet and His Problems
Onomatopoeia- a greek word meaning “name- making”, a type of word that sounds like thing it is describing (buzz, crash, purr)
Oxymoron- figure of speech which combines 2 normally contradictory terms (living dead, visible darkness)
PALIMPSEST - is a manuscript page from a scroll or book that has been scraped off and used again.
Parable-a story in prose or verse that is told to illustrate a religious, moral or philosophical idea; term is applied to the parables of Jesus; short, simple story with a message, have 2nd deeper meaning. "the Good Samaritan
Paradox- reveals a kind of truth at first seems contradictory (stone walls do not a prison make. Nor iron bars a cage) it is a situation in which a statement at first glance seems to contradict itself but really does not. I like him but when i see him I want to kill him
Parody- a piece of work that imitates the style of another work. It can be amusing, mocking or an exaggeration of the work. A parody is very similar to a satire in that both mock an issue. Parody is written merely to amuse the reader.
Pastiche- a patchwork of words, sentences or complete passages from various authors or- one author. It is therefore a kind of imitation and when intentional may be a parody. Wyrd Sisters, which was inspired by the plays of William Shakespeare, particularly Macbeth and Hamlet.
Pathos- the emotionally moving quality or power of a literary work or of particular passages within it, appealing especially to our feelings of sorrow, pity, and compassionate sympathy. A style that has the power to evoke feelings.
Perfect rhyme- it occurs when there is an exact correspondence between vowel sounds and the following consonants vowel. It may be single, double or triple Haunch- launch/ dollar-collar
PERSONIFICATION - A trope in which abstractions, animals, ideas, and inanimate objects are given human character, traits, abilities, or reactions. Personification is particularly common in poetry, but it appears in nearly all types of artful writing. The window winked at me
Picaresque novel - A humorous novel in which the plot consists of a young knave's misadventures and escapades narrated in comic or satiric scenes. This roguish protagonist--called a picaro--makes his (or sometimes her) way through cunning and trickery rather than through virtue or industry. The picaro frequently travels from place to place engaging in a variety of jobs for several masters and getting into mischief. The picaresque novel is usually episodic in nature and realistic in its presentation of the seamier aspects of society. The Good Companions
PLOT (EPISODIC/UNIFIED) - The structure and relationship of actions and events in a work of fiction. In order for a plot to begin, some sort of catalyst is necessary. Some narratives involve several short episodic plots occurring one after the other or they may involve multiple subplots taking place simultaneously with the main plot. A unified plot leads us through the characters problem.
Poetic license- the freedom to change facts, not to obey the usual rules the right to break up with...
Potboiler- is a term used to describe a poor quality novel, play, opera, or film, or other creative work that was created quickly to make money to pay for the creator's daily expenses. Authors who create potboiler novels or screenplays are sometimes called hack writers. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Prologue- In later literature, a prologue is a section of any introductory material before the first chapter or the main material of a prose work, or any such material before the first stanza of a poetic work.
Protagonist/ antagonist- the main/ villain character in a literary work e.g. a poem, play or novel
PUN - A play on two words similar in sound but different in meaning. Shakespeare's Richard III:"Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of York" (Son/sun)
QUATRAIN - Also sometimes used interchangeably with "stave," a quatrain is a stanza of four lines, often rhyming in an ABAB pattern. Three quatrains form the main body of a Shakespearean or English sonnet along with a final couplet.
REALISM - it refers generally to any artistic or literary portrayal of life in a faithful, accurate manner, unclouded by false ideals, literary conventions, or misplaced aesthetic glorification and beautification of the world. It is a theory or tendency in writing to depict events in human life in a matter-of-fact, straightforward manner.
REFRAIN - A line or set of lines at the end of a stanza or section of a longer poem or song--these lines repeat at regular intervals in other stanzas or sections of the same work. Sometimes the repetition involves minor changes in wording. A refrain might consist of a nonsense word (such as Shakespeare's "With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino" in the song from As You Like It),
Resolution- refers to the outcome or result of a complex situation or sequence of events, an aftermath or resolution that usually occurs near the final stages of the plot. It is the unraveling of the main dramatic complications in a play, novel or other work of literature. In drama, the term is usually applied to tragedies or to comedies with catastrophes in their plot. This resolution usually takes place in the final chapter or scene, after the climax is over.
ROMAN A CLEF - A narrative that represents actual historical characters and events in the form of fiction. Usually in this fictional setting, the author presents descriptions of real contemporary figures but uses fictitious names for them. However, the character's common traits and mannerisms would be so well-known that readers "in the know" would recognize them. Typically the "keys" would be published later if readers had trouble figuring out who was who. The Sun Also Rises (1926) by Ernest Hemingway
Satire- An attack on or criticism of any stupidity or vice in the form of scathing humor, or a critique of what the author sees as dangerous religious, political, moral, or social standards. Satire became an especially popular technique used during the Enlightenment, in which it was believed that an artist could correct folly by using art as a mirror to reflect society. Gulliver's Travels
Science fiction- a literary or cinematic genre in which fantasy, typically based on speculative scientific discoveries or developments, environmental changes, space travel, or life on other planets, forms part of the plot or background. E.g.: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Jules Verne's Voyage au centre de la terre, H. G. Wells's The Time Machine
Sentimental novel- or the novel of sensibility is an 18th century literary genre which celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, sentimentalism, and sensibility. The prototype of the English sentimental novel is Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela. The term and the literary style originate in medieval French (and later English) romances, in which the hero is usually preoccupied with his or her love and love sufferings. Sentimental novels are related to the domestic fiction of the early eighteenth century. Among the most famous sentimental novels are Laurence Sterne's Sentimental Journey (1768) and Henry Mackenzie's The Man of Feeling (1771).
SIMILE - An analogy or comparison implied by using an adverb such as like or as, in contrast with a metaphor which figuratively makes the comparison by stating outright that one thing is another thing. This figure of speech is of great antiquity. It is common in both prose and verse works. ( ex John Milton's Paradise Lost)
SLANT RHYME -(also called inexact rhyme): Rhymes created out of words with similar but not identical sounds. In most of these instances, either the vowel segments are different while the consonants are identical, or vice versa. are, bar, car
SLAPSTICK - Low comedy in which humor depends almost entirely on physical actions and sight gags. The antics of the three stooges and the modern fourth stooge, Adam Sandler, often fall into this category.
Solecism- mistake of grammar or idiom He ain't going nowhere
Soliloquy- A monologue spoken by an actor at a point in the play when the character believes himself to be alone. The technique frequently reveals a character's innermost thoughts, including his feelings, state of mind, motives or intentions. The soliloquy often provides necessary but otherwise inaccessible information to the audience. The dramatic convention is that whatever a character says in a soliloquy to the audience must be true, or at least true in the eyes of the character speaking. Well-known examples include speeches by the title characters of Macbeth, Richard III, and Hamlet and also Iago in Othello.
Sonnet- s one of several forms of lyric poetry originating in Europe it had come to signify a poem of fourteen lines that follows a strict rhyme scheme and specific structure Sonnet 116
STOCK CHARACTER - A character type that appears repeatedly in a particular literary genre, one which has certain conventional attributes or attitudes. The Bad Boy , the Outsider, the Whiz Kid,
Stream of consciousness- narrative technique in nondramatic fiction intended to render the flow of myriad impressions—visual, auditory, physical, associative, and subliminal—that impinge on the consciousness of an individual and form part of his awareness along with the trend of his rational thoughts James Joyce's Ulysses
SUBLIME - he Greek rhetorician Longinus wrote a treatise On the Sublime, which argued that sublimity ("loftiness") is the most important quality of fine literature. The sublime caused the reader to experience elestasis ("transport"). Edmund Burke developed this line of thought further in his influential essay, "The Sublime and the Beautiful" (1757). Here, he distinguished the sublime from the beautiful by suggesting that the sublime was not a stylistic quality but the powerful depiction of subjects that were vast, obscure, and powerful.
Synaesthesia- is a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway
Synecdoche- Part of something is used to refer to the whole thing and vive versa in the Petrarchan sonnet
TALL STORY- A tall story is one that is untrue and unbelievable. he playground of Europe, Sir Leslie Stephen
TERCET - A three-line unit or stanza of poetry. It typically rhymes in an AAA or ABA pattern. If the tercet forms a stanza by itself, it is often called a triplet. The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
THEATRE OF THE ABSURD - a form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of human existence by employing disjoined, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue , purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development.
TRAGEDY- A serious play in which the chief character, by some peculiarity of psychology, passes through a series of misfortunes leading to a final, devastating catastrophe. Traditionally, a tragedy is divided into five acts. The first act introduces the characters in a state of happiness, or at the height of their power, influence, or fame. The second act typically introduces a problem or dilemma, which reaches a point of crisis in the third act, but which can still be successfully averted. In the fourth act, the main characters fail to avert or avoid the impending crisis or catastrophe, and this disaster occurs. The fifth act traditionally reveals the grim consequences of that failure. Hamlet
TRAGIC HERO- is the main character in a tragedy. The modern use of the term usually involves the notion that such a hero makes an error in his or her actions that leads to his or her downfall or flaw.The idea that this be a balance of crime and punishment is incorrectly ascribed to Aristotle, who is quite clear in his pronouncement that the hero's misfortune is not brought about "by vice and depravity but by some error of judgment." In fact, in Aristotle's Poetics it is imperative that the tragic hero be noble. Later tragedians deviated from this tradition: the more prone the tragic hero was to vice, the less noble and the less tragic, in the Aristotelian sense of the word, the tragic hero happened to be. Macbeth
TRAGI-COMEDY- A experimental literary work--either a play or prose piece of fiction--containing elements common to both comedies and tragedies. The genre is marked by characters of both high and low degree, even though classical drama required upper-class characters for tragedy and lower-class characters for comedy. Tragicomedies were of some interest in the Renaissance, but some modern dramas might be considered examples as well. Typically, the early stages of the play resembled those of a tragedy, but an abrupt reversal of circumstance prevent the tragedy. Tango Mrożka
Trope- a common pattern, theme, motif in literature, or a term often used to denote figures of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning. (The major figures that are agreed upon as being tropes are *METAPHOR, *SIMILE, *METONYMY, *SYNECDOCHE, *IRONY, *PERSONIFICATION, and *HYPERBOLE; *LITOTES and *PERIPHRASIS are also sometimes called tropes.)
THREE UNITES OF DRAMA- unity of action (a play should have one main action that it follows, with one or few subplots) , unity of time(no more than 24 hours), unity of place(a play should cover a single physical space and should attempt to compress geography , nor should the stage represent more than one place).
Versimilitude- The sense that what one reads is "real," or at least realistic and believable. For instance, the reader possesses a sense of verisimilitude when reading a story in which a character cuts his finger, and the finger bleeds. If the character's cut finger had produced sparks of fire rather than blood, the story would not possess verisimilitude. Note that even fantasy novels and science fiction stories that discuss impossible events can have verisimilitude if the reader is able to read them with suspended disbelief.
Verism- is the artistic preference of contemporary everyday subject matter instead of the heroic or legendary in art and literature; a form of realism. The word comes from Latin verus (true).
VERSE PARAGRAPH - A division of poetry indicated normally by adding an extra line-space above and below the section to set it off from other parts of the poem. Unlike a stanza, in which the division of poetry corresponds to repeated elements of rhyme or other poetic structure, and in which each stanza must be identical in length and form to that of other stanzas, verse paragraphs end and begin according to divisions of sense and subject-matter. Milton's Paradise Lost is an example of a poem written in verse paragraphs.
VERSIFICATION - Literally, the making of verse, the term is often used as another name for prosody. This refers to the technical and practical aspect of making poems as opposed to purely theoretical and aesthetic poetic concerns.
Vicarious Participation- ???????
NARRATIVE VIEWPOINT (1ST PERSON makes it necessary that the narrator is also a character within his or her own story, so that the narrator reveals the plot by referring to this viewpoint character as "I" (or, when plural, "we"). Oftentimes, the first-person narrative is used as a way to directly convey the deeply internal, otherwise unspoken thoughts of the narrator.,
3RD PERSON, Third-person narration provides the greatest flexibility to the author and thus is the most commonly used narrative mode in literature. In the third-person narrative mode, each and every character is referred to by the narrator as "he", "she", "it", or "they", but never as "I" or "we" (first-person), or "you" (second-person). In third-person narrative, it is necessary that the narrator is merely an unspecified entity or uninvolved person that conveys the story, but not a character of any kind within the story being told
OMNISCENT is a narrative mode in which both the reader and author observe the situation either through the senses and thoughts of more than one character, or through an overarching godlike perspective that sees and knows everything that happens and everything the characters are thinking. Third-person omniscient is virtually always the narrative mode chosen for sprawling, epic stories such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings,)
VILLAIN is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters. Satan from Paradise Lost, by John Milton