COMMON
LITERARY TERMS
A
Absurd,
Theatre of the Absurd-A style of writing that mirrors the
confusion, illogicality, inharmony of the 21st Century world as reflected on the stage with
caricature-like characters and disjointed plot.E.g, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting
for Godot .
Accent-The
effect of the emphasis placed on a syllable in a word.
Auditory
imagery- Figurative way of appealing to one’s sense of hearing in a
poem.Eg. The voice like the rough flow of
huge waterfalls.
Aesthetics-The
philosophy of taste or appreciation of beauty.
Alienation
Effect-Is the effect in a play intended to remind the spectators
that what being watched on stage is not real.
Allegory-is a device in which
characters or events represent or symbolize ideas and concepts. A reason for this is that allegory has
an immense power of illustrating complex ideas and concepts in a practical and
concrete way. This device is common in Christian religious literature
where Satan symbolizes evil and God
symbolizes good.E.g Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
Alliteration-Repetition
of the same initial consonant sound.E.g. Around
the house the flakes fly faster.
Allusion-Referring
to characters and events in mythology (classical allusion), history (classical
allusion), bible (biblical allusion).Eg.Bowing ‘New Sabbath’ or ‘Mount Ephraim’. (Biblical allusion)
Alternate
rhyme-When the end of two lines are alternated, usually in abab,
rhyme scheme pattern.
Ambiguity-A style
of giving double interpretation to a word.
Anachronism-A
mistake in dating or timing or placing an event in wrong historical setting.Eg.Imagine
a reference to a computer in a Shakespearean play!
Analogy-A
comparison not necessarily using simile or metaphor.Eg.There is an analogy of
the morally loose lifestyle of the Romans and Americans of today.
Anti
climax-A false climax or weak repetition with the objective of
extending or stretching excitement.
Antagonist-character in conflict with hero: a major character in a book, play, or
movie whose values or behaviour are in conflict with those of the protagonist
or hero.
Aphorism-A
solemn, concise observation or statement.Eg
power is mightier than the sword.
Apostrophe
–An
address or appeal to a person or inanimate object that is incapable of
replying.E.g.Thou sun, why thou smite me?
Art for
Art’s sake-The belief that a work of art be judged solely
for its aesthetic value rather than for any economic interest.
Aside-A long
speech where a character expresses his thoughts aloud on stage with other
characters present, but could not hear him.
Autobiography-An
account of one’s life written by oneself as distinct from Biography (written by
another person).
Assonance-Repetition
of vowel sounds, especially when found between words and syllables.Eg. Wet is the pet of the rent.
Augustan-Having
to do with the period, early part of 19th century, when writers
attempt to copy and imitate the grandeur associated with the reign of Augustus
Ceasar.
B
Ballad-A
narrative poem, folk in origin, anonymous, simple and direct with historical,
romantic, tragic or supernatural setting.
Bathos-A
writing that descends from being serious to something, funny or anti-climatic.
Blank
verse-An unrhymed verse in English.
Biography-An
account of somebody’s life story written by another person.
Burlesque-A form
of mocking or satirizing of a serious matter or style by imitating in an
incongruous or odd way.
C
Caesura-A pause
usually marked by a comma, semi-colon, colon,hyphen or dash in the middle of a
line in of verse.
Cast-The
actors or other performers in a drama, dance or other artistic production.
Caricature-An
exaggerated or unrealistic portrayal of a character that is easily recognizable.
Catastrophe-The
change producing the final event in a play, usually the decisive misfortune in
a tragedy.
Catharsis-Based
on the principle that a play is an imitation of real life and as such the
audience should be purged of some feelings (usually defined as pity and fear)
that takes place at the end of a tragedy.
Characterization-The way
or manner of portraying characters.
Chorus-An innovation
of the Greek drama, where a body of
performers recite or chant verses commenting on events as they unfold. In
modern drama, the chorus is often represented as a narrator.
Chanson-a poem
of varied metrical forms or a French satirical cabaret song of the 20th
century or song
Comedy
of Manners-Another name for Comedy of Errors.A satiric play
which mirrors the lifestyle of some Victorian personalities.
Comic
Relief-An interlude in the midst of a serious play meant to make
the audience laugh or feel relaxed.
Cliché-An
over-used phrase mostly found in verbal communication.Eg.At the same time, last but
not the least.
Climax-The
peak or turning point in a story.
Comedy-A play
of entertaining kind representing persons or situations in real life presented
in a comical manner.
Conceit-Elaborate,
extended comparison between apparently unrelated objects particularly in
Metaphysical Poetry.
Context-The
background or setting from which a story is told.
Couplet-The
matching of same sound at the end of the last two lines of a poem.
D
Dactyll-A foot
containing one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed.
Diction-The
study of the choice and arrangement of words in a work of art.
Denouement-The
unraveling or resolution of the plot of play or novel at the end.
Deus Ex
Machina-A practice in some classical plays, where a god is let down
on to the stage to bring about resolution at the end of a play.
Dialect-The
form of a major language, could be a substandard one spoken in a particular
region.
Didactic-Having
to do with the moral lesson found in a work of art.
Dialogue-The
words spoken by characters in a book, movie,or play or a section of a work that
contains spoken words.
Dirge-A song
of mourning or lamentation, especially one about death or intended for a
funeral.
Dramatic
Irony-A situation where the audience know more than the characters
on stage.
E
Elegy-A
mournful song sung during burial or composed in memory of somebody.
Elements-The
four elements which are adjudged to affect the affairs of men namely earth,
air, fire and water.
End-Stop-An
abrupt stop or pause at the end of a line of a verse.
Enjambement-Continuation
of the sense or meaning from one line of verse to the next without pause.
Epic-A long,
narrative poem, rendered in elevated language chronicling the heroic exploits
of heroes.
Epigram-A brief,
pointed and often witty statement, found in all forms of literature.Eg. "No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best
friend."(Groucho Marx)
Epitaph-
A writing on a tombstone.
Epistle-A long letter didactic in purpose.
Epilogue-Short
section at the end of a book or a literary work, sometimes detailing the fate
of its characters or a concluding speech in a theatre that an actor addresses
to the audience.
Eulogy-A
composition written in praise of a person or thing.
Euphemism-Saying
something harsh in a pleasant manner.E.g He
was given the order to erase the
criminal (Erase means to kill).
Evocative-Calling
out or invoking certain feelings and memories.
Exposition-The
unraveling of the plot .
F
Fable-A short
story devised to convey a useful moral lesson, often using animals that act
symbolically like human beings.
Farce-A play
that sets out to provoke laughter by employing funny characters in absurd
situations.
Feminist
criticism-The literary and critical theory that explores the bias in
favour of the male gender in literature and which approaches all literature
from a feminist viewpoint.
Figures
of speech-Expressions which have deeper meaning than their literal
sense.
Foot-A unit
usually marked as a syllable in a poem.
Folktale-A
story or legend passed down orally from one generation to the next, thus
becoming part of a community’s tradition or oral history.
Free
verse-A poem with no regular rhyme or rhythm.
Flashback-A
scene or event from the past that appears in a narrative out of chronological
order ,to fill information or explain something in the present.
Foreshadowing-An
event, situation or information which gives a hint about a later event.
G
Genre-The
three main divisions of English literature, namely prose, prose and drama.
Gothic-A
style
of writing that explores horrific, ghostly setting and situations. Wuthering
Heights by Emily Bronte employs gothic literature for example.
Grotesque-A form
of art that mixes the realistic and the one that appeals to fantasy.
H
Hero/heroine-The
principal person in a literary work
Heroic
couplet-A kind of poem, usually mock-heroic with two ends of verses
rhyming sound-wise.
Humour- An
element of something or content meant to cause amusement and excitement in a
work of art.
Hyperbole-Exaggeration
in art to create an effect.
Hubris-A flaw
in character that would eventually lead to the downfall of a character.
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Hendiadys- literary device expressing an idea by
means of two words linked by "and," instead of a grammatically
more complex form such as an adverb qualifying an adjective. Everyday
examples of hendiadys are the expressions "nice and soft," rather than "nicely soft," and "good and tight."
Harangue- A long story narrating a series of
complicated events .
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I
Imagery-Literary
comparison of using something concrete to explain an abstract idea.
Intrigue-Sometimes
used in reference to the plot of a play or novel.
Irony-A
form
of satire or ridicule where the opposite meaning is implied.
Interlude-A
short play, piece of music or other entertainment during a break in the
performance of a long work.
L
Litotes-Saying
something unpleasant in a mild manner.Eg.She
is on the big side (When you mean ,she
is a fat person.)
Legend-A
story passed one from time immemorial, which is supposed to be a history of a people,
but with whose historical validity could not be proven.
Lyric-A verse
meant to be sung as a song especially with a lyre. A short poem with personal,
passionate feelings, and song-like.
Lullaby-A kind
of soothing song meant to make a baby sleep.
Lineation-arrangement
of lines in verse form.
Literati-A body
of imaginative men and women of letters.
Limerick-A five
–line humorous poem, with a peculiar rhythm and lewd subject.
M
Malapropism-A
derivation from Mrs.Malaprop,a character from Sheridan’s The Rivals.
There
is muddled use of long or complex words in the wrong place or context.
Medieval-Another
name for the period, the Middle Ages or a period between Dark Ages and the
Renaissance,10th-15th century.
Meiosis-Understatement-A
kind of irony in which a negative understatement is employed for emphasis.
Melodrama-A play
written to appeal to popular taste, marked by exciting incidents, with
definable characters and a happy ending.
Metaphor-A kind
of imagery where direct comparison is made.Eg.
She is the pillar of the class.
Metaphysics-The study
of the world beyond the physical or terrestrial.
Metaplesis-a
figurative expression in which a statement is made and then withdrawn.
Metre-The
poetic rhythm division into regular feet.
Metonymy-A
figure of speech, which is a form of symbolism where an attribute of something
is used to represent for the thing itself.
Mimetic-Imitation
of sort.
Mime-Use of
gestures to communicate in drama.
Muses-The
goddesses often ascribed as the inspiration for writers.
Myth-A traditional
story expressing the religious beliefs
of a people especially its origin. The Greek mythology of stories of Hercules,
Zeus is very common.
Mythology-A group
of myths that belong to a particular people or culture and deals with ancestors
,heroes, gods ,history and other supernatural beings and happenings.
Motivation-Explanation
of the behaviour of characters especially the motive for their actions.
Monologue-The
words spoken by an a actor, usually spoken to oneself.
Motif-A
theme in a story, especially one that can be represented by a visible object.
N
Narrative
Poem-A poem that is long and usually tells a story.
Narrative
Technique-The approach a narrator decides to tell his story
Nemesis-Is the
Greek goddess of revenge or retribution .In literature generally, the word
refers to the principle of poetic justice where evil is justly rewarded.
Neologism-A word
uniquely coined by a writer to create an effect. The word may negate the
principle of grammar etc.
Novel-A prose
fiction with substantial length, which elaborately explores various themes.
Novella-A
fictional prose work that is longer than a short story, but shorter than a
novel.
O
Opera-A
dramatic work, where music is a dominant part of performance, with actors
singing rather than reciting their lines.
Olfactory
imagery-An appeal to readers’ sense of smell in a literary work.
Omniscient
narrator-A narrator in a novel who knows and sees all that is
happening in the plot of the novel.
Ode-A
lyric poem, long poem, expressing exalted emotion usually celebrating a thing.
Onomatopoeia-Poetic
imitation of the actual sound of an object in a poem.Eg.bang,bang,bang.
Oxymoron-Words
of opposite meanings are yoked or joined together to create an effect.Eg. agony favour.
P
Panegyric-Usually
a kind of poetry composed to eulogize or
praise a personality.
Pantheism-The
belief that God is everything and that God and the universe are one. A belief
popularized by Romantic poets which often associates the attribute of God with
that of nature.
Pantheon-The
whole body of gods considered as a unit.
Parable-Usually
an allegory in form of a short narrative through which a moral lesson is
conveyed.Eg the parable of the Prodigal Son in the Bible.
Paradox-A
statement contrary to general opinion which on a first look appears foolish,
but which when given a second look contains some truth.E.g Child is the father of man.
Parody-A
humorous imitation of a serious work.
Paralellism-Juxtapostions
of words or phrases in a poem to create an effect of contrast.
Pastoral-Literature
that deals with country life, usually describing the idyllic life of shepherds
who fall in love and pass time singing and playing songs. As You Like it
by Shakespeare is based on this kind of life.
Pathos-Moments
in literature when a strong feeling of pity and sorrow is invoked.
Periphrasis-An
elegant way of calling a word by another name. This is often found in the Mock
Heroic poems.
Persona-A
character in a poem especially his voice as distinct from that of the poet.
Personification-Giving
human attributes to inanimate objects.E.g .Be
happy when fortune smiles on you.
Picaresque-A type
of prose fiction with a simple plot divided into separate episodes that
features the adventures of a roguish hero.
Plot-The
manner in which events are arranged in a story.
Poetic
licence-The right of poets to manipulate language and established
truths for the sake of art. For example, there is an instance where Shakespeare
ascribes coastline to a country that is landlocked.
Polysyndeton-Repetition
of conjunctions in the use of multiple conjunctions or coordinate clauses in
close succession.E.g. The bad news caused
her to weep and cry and wail.
Prose-A work
distinct from having poetic content, being easy to understand, language wise.
Protagonist-The
main hero/character round which the story is built.
Prologue-An
opening speech rendered at the beginning of a play to give some direction.
Pun-An act
of playing with words.E.g Your sole is as
good as your soul.
Premiere-The
first public perform or showing of a work usually to sample a selected people’s
critical opinion.
Q
Quatrain-A
stanza of four lines.
R
Realism-A
philosophy opposed to Idealism. The acceptance or representation of things as
they are.
Refrain-Recurring
phrase or line, usually at the end of a stanza often found in poems and hymns.
Renaissance-Literally
means. ‘rebirth’. The period reckoned as the greatest in history of European
art and culture.
Rhetoric-The
formal art of speech making.
Rhetorical
Question-A question asked for effect that neither expects nor
requires an answer.
Romance-A
Medieval verse tale of the kind written in a Romance language, recounting the adventures
of a knightly hero and expressing the ideals of the Chivalry.
Rounded
Character-A character that undergoes changes in the course of the story.
Contrast to a flat character.
Romanticism-A kind
of poetry that the celebrates nature, passionate feelings, emotion and
imagination over reason.
S
Satire-A work
of art that exposes human vice and folly to laughter and ridicule in a
light,amusing,savage,bitter tone.E.g. Gulliver Travels by Jonathan Swift
and The Beautiful Ones Are not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah.
Sarcasm-A
biting statement meant to mock, usually applied in a satiric work.
Simile-Direct
comparison of a concrete and abstract object using as or like.E.g my love
like the sweetness of dash rose.
Slapstick-broad,
coarse, physical comedy.
Setting-The
background, whether physical or abstract through which a work is presented.
Soliloquy-A long
speech in which a character expresses his thoughts out loud on stage, usually
when alone.
Sonnet-A
14-line poem with a complex rhyme scheme and structure.
Simile-Direct
comparison using as or like.
Stanza-A group
of lines in a poem divided off from the others. A stanza is the correct term
for what is often referred to as a verse of poetry.
Stoicism-A Roman
philosophy which preaches calmness, self control in the face of provocation or pain
(opposite of Epicureanism).
Symbolism-Use of symbol,
similar to an image in that it stands for something else, but unlike an image
is not merely descriptive.Universally,colour white could symbolize peace, while
black could stand for evil.
Synecdoche-A
figure of speech in which part is used to represent the whole.
Sub-plot-A
secondary plot or storyline in a book or play, which often provides either
comic relief from main plot or a different way of looking at the themes and
interests of the main plot.
Stress-An
emphasis placed on a particular syllable at the expense of another.
Subject
matter-The total sum of what a literary work is about.
Suspense-A
feeling of tense excitement, expectation about how the next part of a novel or
play would turn out to be.
Stylistics-An
approach of poetry employing basic language tools such as grammar etc.
Stream
of Consciousness: The attempt in writing to recreate the actual
flow ,pattern and sense of thoughts as they pass through a person’s head in
real life or to describe experience as it is actually felt by a person as it is
taking place. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941),James Joyce(1882-1941)are two
well-known exponents of this style.
School-A term
that refers to a group of authors who share certain characteristics in their
works usually as classified by critics.E.g Romantic writers, Theatre of the
Absurd etc.
Spondee-A unit
of poetic rhythm measured as a metrical foot of two long or stressed syllables.
T
Tone-The
feeling and attitude of the writer derived from his work.
Theme-The
central idea or ideas examined or explored by the writer in the course of a
book.
Tragicomedy-A
mixture of tragedy and comedy.
Tragedy-A play
with the following features: A tragic hero with a flaw who dies at the end of
the story, multiple deaths, a play that exhibits pity and agony.
Tragic
hero-The
protagonist of a story who has a flaw that would eventually lead to his
downfall.
Tactile
imagery-Figurative expression that relates to touch.
Tragic
Flaw-A
character fault in the protagonist of a story.
Trilogy-A set
or group /series of three related story or poem.
Travelogue-A
record of a writer’s experiences during his journeys.
V
Visuals
imagery-
W
Wit-A
clever use of language.
X
Z
Zeugma-A verb
that refers to two part of an expression.
