Allusion A reference in one literary work to a character or theme found in another literary work. T. S. Eliot, in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" alludes (refers) to the biblical figure John the Baptist in the line Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter, . . . In the New Testament, John the Baptist's head was presented to King Herod on a platter
Apostrophe A figure of speech wherein the speaker speaks directly to something nonhuman. In these lines from John Donne's poem "The Sun Rising" the poet scolds the sun for interrupting his nighttime activities
Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds in a literary work, especially in a poem. Edgar Allen Poe's "The Bells" contains numerous examples
Ballad A story in poetic form, often about tragic love and usually sung. Ballads were passed down from generation to generation by singers. Two old Scottish ballads are "Sir Patrick Spens" and "Bonnie Barbara Allan." Coleridges, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a 19th century English ballad.
Cacophony is an unpleasant combination of sounds. These sound effects can be used intentionally to create an effect, or they may appear unintentionally. The cacaphony in Matthew Arnold's lines "And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,/Self-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honor'd, self-secure,/Didst tread on earth unguess'd at," is probably unintentional
Euphony the opposite of Cacophony, is a pleasant combination of sounds
Caesura A pause within a line of poetry which may or may not affect the metrical count (see #62. meter). In scansion, a caesura is usually indicated by the following symbol (//). Here's an example by Alexander Pope: Know then thyself,//presume not God to scan; The proper study of Mankind//is Man
Conceit A far-fetched simile or metaphor, a literary conceit occurs when the speaker compares two highly dissimilar things. In the following example from Act V of Shakespeare's "Richard II," the imprisoned King Richard compares his cell to the world in the following line:
I have been studying how I may compare
this prison where I live unto the world:
Connotation/Denotation Connotation is the why a word sounds, implied meaning. Denotation is the actual dictionary meaning of the word, exact meaning
Consonance The repetition of consonant sounds with differing vowel sounds in words near each other in a line or lines of poetry.
Couplet A stanza of two lines, usually rhyming
Diction The author�s choice of words
Elegy A lyric poem lamenting death
Didactic Literature Literature disigned explicitly to instruct as in these lines from Jacque Prevert's "To Paint the Portrait of a Bird."
Epithet A brief quotation which appears at the beginning of a literary work. The following is the epigraph from T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Quoted from Dante Allighieri's epic poem "The Inferno�
Euphemism A mild word of phrase which substitutes for another which would be undesirable because it is too direct, unpleasant, or offensive. The word "joint" is a euphemism for the word prison. "W. C." is a euphemism for bathroom.
Foot is a basic unit of measurement in a line of poetry. In scansion, a foot represents one instance of a metrical pattern and is shown either between or to the right or left of vertical lines
Free Verse Unrhymed Poetry with lines of varying lengths, and containing no specific metrical pattern. The poetry of Walt Whitman provides us with many examples. Consider the following lines from "Song of Myself."
Figurative language In literature, a way of saying one thing and meaning something else. Take, for example, this line by Robert Burns, My luv is a red, red rose. Clearly Mr. Burns does not really mean that he has fallen in love with a red, aromatic, many-petalled, long, thorny-stemmed plant. He means that his love is as sweet and as delicate as a rose. While, figurative language provides a writer with the opportunity to write imaginatively, it also tests the imagination of the reader, forcing the reader to go below the surface of a literary work into deep, hidden meanings
Figure of Speech An example of figurative language that states something that is not literally true in order to create an effect. Similes, metaphors and personification are figures of speech which are based on comparisons. Metonymy, synecdoche, synesthesia, apostrophe, oxymoron, and hyperbole are other figures of speech.
Hyperbole A figure of speech in which an overstatement or exaggeration occurs as in the following lines from Act 2, scene 2 of Shakespeare's "Macbeth." In this scene, Macbeth has murdered King Duncan. Horrified at the blood on his hands, he asks:
Iamb is a metrical pattern of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.
Imagery A word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell. The use of images serves to intensify the impact of the work
Irony takes many forms. In irony of situation, the result of an action is the reverse of what the actor expected. Macbeth murders his king hoping that in becoming king he will achieve great happiness. Actually, Macbeth never knows another moment of peace, and finally is beheaded for his murderous act. In dramatic irony, the audience knows something that the characters in the drama do not. For example, the identity of the murderer in a crime thriller may be known to the audience long before the mystery is solved. In verbal irony, the contrast is between the literal meaning of what is said and what is meant. A character may refer to a plan as brilliant, while actually meaning that (s)he thinks the plan is foolish. Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony
Local Color A detailed setting forth of the characteristics of a particular locality, enabling the reader to "see" the setting
Lyric Poem A short poem wherein the poet expresses an emotion or illuminates some life principle. Emily Dickinson's "I Heard a Fly Buzz-When I Died" is a lyric poem wherein the speaker, on a deathbed expecting death to appear in all its grandeur, encounters a common housefly instead
Metaphor A figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without the use of the words "like" or "as.
Meter A regular pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables in a line or lines of poetry. Five types Iambic, Trochee, Anapest, Dactyl, and Spondee
Metonymy A figure of speech in which a word represents something else which it suggests. For example in a herd of fifty cows, the herd might be referred to as fifty head of cattle. The word "head" is the word representing the herd.
Narrative Poem A poem which tells a story. Usually a long poem, sometimes even book length, the narrative may take the form of a plotless dialogue as in Robert Frost's "The Death of the Hired Man." In other instances the narrative may consist of a series of incidents, as in Homer's "The Ilaid" and "The Odyssey," John Milton's "Paradise Lost."
Ode A poem in praise of something divine or expressing some noble idea. In' "Ode on a Grecian Urn," English poet John Keats expresses his appreciation of the beauty and agelessness of a work by a Grecian artisan:
Paradox A situation or a statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, does not
Personification A figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human characteristics
Parallel Structure A repetition of sentences using the same structure. This line from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides an example:
The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
Rhyme In poetry, a pattern of repeated sounds. In end rhyme, the rhyme is at the end of the line. When one of the rhyming words occurs in a place in the line other than at the end, it is called Internal rhyme. Eye rhyme is a form of rhyme wherein the look rather than the sound is important. "Cough" and "tough" do not sound enough alike to constitute a rhyme. However, if these two words appeared at the ends of successive lines of poetry, they would be considered eye rhyme. Half rhymeoccurs when the final consonants rhyme, but the vowel sounds do not (chill-Tulle; Day-Eternity).
Rhyme Scheme The pattern in which the rhyme is given
Rhythm Recurrences of stressed and unstressed syllables at equal intervals, similar to meter. However, though two lines may be of the same meter, the rhythms of the lines may be different. For example, if one were to read the last two lines of Robert Frost's, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" with equal speed, the lines would be the same in meter and rhythm. However, if one were to read the last line more slowly (as it should be read), the meter would be the same but the rhythm different. This is because while the meter of a line is identified by the pattern within each foot, the rhythm is accounted for by larger units than individual feet.
Scansion
Simile A figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlike quantities with the use of the words "like" or "as.
Sonnet A lyric poem of fourteen lines whose ryhme scheme is fixed. The rhyme scheme in the Italian form as typified in the sonnets of Petrarch is abbaabba cdecde. The Petrarchian sonnet has two divisions: the first is of eight lines (the octave), and the second is of six lines (the sestet). The rhyme scheme of the English, or Shakespearean sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg. (See Rhyme Scheme) The change of rhyme in the English sonnet is coincidental with a change of theme in the poem. SeeTheme.The meter is iambic pentameter.
See Meter for more information.
Symbolism A device in literature where an object represents an idea
Synecdoche A figure of speech wherein a part of something represents the whole thing. In this figure, the head of a cow might substitute for the whole cow. Therefore, a herd of fifty cows might be referred to as "fifty head of cattle."
Synesthesia One sensory experience described in terms of another sensory experience
Theme An ingredient of a literary work which gives the work unity. The theme provides an answer to the question What is the work about?There are too many possible themes to recite them all in this document. Each literary work carries its own theme(
Tone Tone expressesthe author's attitude toward his or her subject. Since there are as many tones in literature as there are tones of voice in real relationships, the tone of a literary work may be one of anger or approval, pride or piety-the entire gamut of attitudes toward life's phenomena. Here is one literary example: The tone of John Steinbeck's short novel "Cannery Row" is nonjudgemental. Mr. Steinbeck never expresses disapproval of the antics of Mack and his band of bums. Rather, he treats them with unflagging kindness.
Understatement (litode) A statement which lessens or minimizes the importance of what is meant. For example, if one were in a desert where the temperature was 125 degrees, and if one wee to describe thermal conditions saying "It's a little warm today." that would be an understamement. In Shakespeare's "Macbeth," Macbeth, having murdered his friend Banquo, understates the number of people who have been murdered since the beginning of time by saying "Blood hath been shed ere now."
The opposite is hyperbole.
Quatrain A poem, unit, or stanza of four lines of verse, usually with a rhyme scheme of abab or its variant, xbyb. It is the most common stanzaic form
Enjambment The continuation of the sense and therefore the grammatical construction beyond the end of a line of verse or the end of a couplet
Slant Rhyme Also called approximate rhyme, slant rhyme, off rhyme, imperfect rhyme, or half rhyme, a rhyme in which the sounds are similar, but not exact, as in home and come or close and lose. Most near rhymes are types of consonance.
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