English 467

English 467 Literary and Cultural Terms The following list contains basic terms with which you should already be familiar, and more specialized terms that we have used during the first part of this quarter. Further definitions can be found in the appendix “Literary and Cultural Terms” beginning on page 1013 of the Longman Anthology (or any glossary of literary terms). Rhythm and Meter foot—the unit repeated that gives a steady rhythm to poetry; generally an accented syllable with accompanying light syllable or syllables iamb (iambic foot)—unstressed followed by stressed: unite, repeat, insist trochee (trochaic foot)—stressed followed by unstressed: unit, reaper, instant anapest (anapestic foot)—two unstressed followed by stressed: intercede, disarranged dactyl (dactylic foot)—stressed followed by two unstressed: Washington, applejack spondee (spondaic foot)—two stressed: heartbreak, headline trimeter—a verse line of three feet

feminine rhyme—two syllable rhyme with second syllable unstressed heroic couplets—poetry written in a series of closed couplets masculine rhyme—last syllable rhyme quatrain—any four line stanza sonnet—a poem consisting of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter; Petrarchan or Italian sonnets emphasize octave (8 lines) and sestet (6 lines) divisions while the Shakespearian form divides into three quatrains (4 line stanzas) and a closing couplet. Spenserian stanza—a nine-line stanza form rhyming ababbcbcc devised by Spenser for The Faerie Queene and used by Byron in Childe Harold stanza—a recurring unit of a poem

pentameter— a verse line of five feet

verse paragraphs—divisions in long blank verse or irregularly rhymed verse, usually marked like prose paragraphs (indented first lines)

hexameter— a verse line of six feet

Figurative Language

caesura—strong pause (usually grammatically marked) in a verse line

allegory—a narrative where concepts are represented as persons who act out a plot; also when a progression of events or images suggests a translation or them into a conceptual language

tetrameter— a verse line of four feet

end-stopped lines—verse lines that end with a strong mark of punctuation enjambment—lines where the sense flows over the ends into the next Sense and Sound alliteration—beginning with same consonant or consonant sound assonance—repetition of same or similar vowel sounds consonance—repetition of pattern of consonant sounds with varied vowels: languor/linger, reader/raider

allusion—a meaningful reference, such as when Yeats writes “Another Troy must rise and set,” calling to mind the tragic history of Troy analogy—comparison between things similar in a number of ways; often used to explain the familiar by reference to the familiar anthropomorphism—giving human attributes to animals, plants, rivers, winds, and so on, or to such entities as Grecian urns and abstract ideas

Rhyme and Stanza

antithesis—the placement of opposing ideas in parallel grammar

ballad stanza—alternate tetrameter and trimeter lines usually rhyming abcb (or abab)

apostrophe—an address to an absent or imaginary person, a thing, or a personified abstraction

blank verse—unrhymed iambic pentameter canto—a major division in a long poem

archaism—deliberate use of an archaic or old-fashioned word; for example, o’er, ere, childe

closed couplet—couplet expressing a complete thought (ending with semicolon or period)

classical allusion—reference to classical literature or mythology

couplet—rhymed successive lines

epic simile—an extended simile in which the thing compared is described as an object in its own right

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hyperbole—willful exaggeration image—a concrete picture, either literally descriptive such as “Red roses covered the white wall,” or metaphoric as in “She is a rose,” each carrying sensual and emotive connotation metaphor—comparison that likens one thing to another without a word of likening oxymoron—the combination of seemingly incompatible ideas, such as “darkness visible,” or “fearful joy” paradox—a statement that on the surface seems improbable but which turns out to be rational, usually in some unexpected sense persona—a mask; the speaker or narrator of a work when not designated as a character in the work is assumed to be a persona of the author personification—the technique of treating abstractions, things or animals as persons simile—comparison marked with specific word of likening, such as “like” or “as” symbol—something standing for its natural qualities in another context, with human meaning added—the eagle, standing for the soaring dominance of Rome; symbols, though, do not always point to a public and agreed upon referent and thus are broader and more interpretable than allegories Literary and Cultural Terms

fancy, imagination—after Coleridge distinct terms; fancy is the power of combining several known properties into new combinations; imagination is the faculty of using such properties to create something entirely new frame narrative—a narrative enclosing one or more separate narratives genre—genre is an established literary form or type, such as the epic, the sonnet, the Pindaric Ode, a stage comedy, and so on; Gothic, Classic, Neoclassic—Gothic originally referred to German works, later adapted to refer to any work considered primitive or irregular; Classic implies lucid, rational, orderly works, such as are usually attributed to Greek and Roman writers of the classic era; Neoclassic implies an ideal of life, art, and thought deliberately modeled on Greek and Roman examples imagination—see fancy irony, sarcasm—ways of saying one thing but meaning another; irony implies an attitude on the part of the speaker quite different from the thoughts being expressed; sarcasm is a more broad and taunting form using apparent praise to denigrate lyric—a short poem emphasizing sound and pictorial imagery rather than narrative or dramatic movement ode—a long lyric poem serious in subject and treatment, written in an elevated style and using (often) an elaborate stanza.

burlesque, mock heroic—forms of satire; the burlesque ridicules its subject by cutting it down; the mock heroic does so by inflating it

pathos, bathos—pathos refers to scenes or passages designed to evoke the feelings of pity or sympathetic sorrow from an audience; bathos is the unintentional descent from high to low which occurs when an author attempts to be lofty and ends up ridiculous

closet drama—a play written for reading in the “closet,” or private study and not for performance

poetic diction—the distinctive language used by a poet which is not current in the discourse of an age

decorum—in literary criticism, refers to the principle that there should be fitness between characters, actions and language

romance, novel—romances were verse narratives of adventure, usually involving quests, and both natural and supernatural trials; the novel often attempts to be a more realistic representation of common life and social relationships

ballad—a narrative poem in short stanzas

didactic—Greek for “teaching”; often applied to literature intended for instruction or containing a strong moralistic element elegy—an elegy is a formal, usually long, poetic lament for someone who has died emphasis—stress placed on words, phrases, ideas to show their importance; in literature emphasis is often shown through increased use of figurative language or poetic devices Enlightenment—philosophical movement of the 17th and 18th centuries which held that reason could achieve all knowledge, supplant organized religion and ensure progress toward happiness and perfection

satire—literary forms which diminish or derogate a subject by making it ridiculous and by evoking toward it amusement, scorn, or indignation sensibility—sensitive feeling, emotion; used to denote the tender undercurrent of feeling during the Neoclassical period sublime—the effect of terror and pleasure produced by contemplation of the vast, obscure and powerful

eulogy—eulogy is a work of praise for either a very distinguished or recently dead person

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