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English Language Literature - LETRAS - Prof. Daniel Derrel Santee - UFMS 2004 |
THEORY |
Glossary of Literary Terms
Some literary
terms commonly used in the discussion of literary works.
[A] [B]
[C]
[E]
[F]
[G]
[I]
[M]
[N]
[O]
[P]
[R]
[S]
[T]
ALLITERATION - Repetition of consonants (generally initial consonants)
in words close together.
'So heavy no hand but his
own could hold it!’
(Beowulf - British
Literature Course)
ALLEGORY - A story in verse or prose which may be read merely for its interest as a narrative, but in which characters, action, and sometimes setting represent abstract concepts or moral qualities.
ALLUSION - Reference to a person or place with which the reader or
listener is presumably familiar. Everyday speech is filled with allusions:
"He has the patience of Job." The Biblical Patriarch, Job was
characterized by his patience and faith.
ARTICLE - A short piece of non-fiction intended primarily to inform the
reader.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY - see
BIOGRAPHY
BALLAD - A brief poem that tells a story. Originally ballads were passed
on from generation to generation by word of mouth, without being written down.
Consequently, authors of most early ballads are not known; and many, when they
were finally written down, appeared in several versions. Since uneducated
people generally composed them, sang them and passed them on, most ballads use
simple language and loose rhyme. Frequent repetition of words and lines makes
them easy to learn and remember. ('The Ballad of Bonnie George Campbell' -
British Literature Course)
BIOGRAPHY - Nonfiction that records the life of an individual. When the
work is written by the individual himself, it is called AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
CARICATURE - A character development which ludicrously exaggerates
prominent features or appearance.
CHARACTERIZATION - The techniques used to make individuals more
life-like, or to give them certain types of personality. It can create the
reader's sympathy or antipathy. It can also be the motivating factor in the
plot or incident within the plot. Character can be conveyed in several ways;
direct information (explicitly), by implication, by speech, by the setting and
environment, by the actions of the character, his thoughts, or through the
reactions of others to him.
CLICHE - see
STEREOTYPE
CONNOTATION - Associated meanings around the literal meaning of a word.
Every word has a literal dictionary meaning - or DENOTATION. (Scientific prose
aims at precision by using only denotations of words.) But most words have
connotations as well. "Raw" denotes "not cooked". But
"raw" connotes, among other things, redness, bleeding, cruelty and
lack of refinement.
EPIC - Long narrative poem (Beowulf British Literature Course)
originally handed down in oral tradition, later a traditional literary form
dealing with national heroes, having a world-wide or cosmic setting, and
written in a deliberately ceremonial style. By extension epic may refer to any writing
with similar qualities.
EPIGRAM - A short witty saying. 'The road to hell is paved with good
intentions'.
EPISODE - An event in a narrative.
ESSAY - A brief piece of non-fiction which presents a personal point of
view.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE - The opposite of literal language. Frequent in
literature, figurative language takes many forms, but it always calls on the
reader to use his own imagination to complete the author's meaning. To
understand the figure "He's a ball of fire," we do not concentrate on
the literal meaning of "ball of fire." Instead, we think of the
figurative meanings - what the sentence connotes or suggests: fast motion, a
consuming energy, etc.
FIGURES OF SPEECH - Specific devices such as METAPHORS and SIMILES, for
achieving the effects of FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE.
GOTHIC - A term referring to a type of fiction which aims at evoking
terror through a gloomy, medieval setting, and sensational supernatural action.
IMAGERY - The use of words that appeal to the reader's senses. Images
can help the reader's sense of reality and his involvement in the writing.
Images are often carefully selected (particularly in poetry) and arranged in
such a way so as to increase the effectiveness in conveying certain attitudes
and feelings.
IMPRESSIONISM - A style of writing in which the author describes an
experience, not directly as he knows it, but in terms of his immediate,
momentary sensory reaction to it.
IMPLICATION - Communication by other means than by direct statement.
IRONY - The effect of implying a meaning quite different from the
apparent or surface meaning. When the tallest person in a group is dubbed
"Shorty," the nickname is ironical. Benjamin Franklin ends his letter
to a Member of Parliament in England, during the American Revolution, in this
way:
You are now my enemy, - and
I am,
Yours,
B. Franklin
"Yours"
is ironical; customarily a friendly way to end a letter, in this case it designates
"your enemy". The actual meaning is the opposite of the expected
meaning. PARADOX, a statement that seems contradictory, but which upon
reflection is shown to be true.
"He has not lost the
fine art of doing nothing."
(Time and the machine - A. Huxley)
IRONY OF SITUATION - A happening contrary to that which is appropriate.
METAPHOR - A figure of speech involving an implied comparison.
"He's an old buzzard." The meaning intended is not the literal one;
"he" is not, for instance, a buzzard in the literal sense of a
slow-flying bird with a hooked beak and claws.
The term metaphor often designates what is technically a SIMILE, a figure of speech using "like" or "as" to state a comparison: "He slept like a log." Both metaphor (an implied comparison) and simile (a stated comparison) help one to picture scenes vividly and to express feeling accurately.
MOTIVATION - The causes that account for a character's behavior. One man
is motivated to steal because he is in debt. Because he acts rashly, another is
motivated to accept a foolish dare and risk his life.
NARRATIVE - Any writing that concerns a series of happenings.
NARRATIVE POINT OF VIEW - The relative position that the author adopts
to his narrative, and often determines the extent of character penetration.
- The Personal view; when the story is told in the first person by one of the characters.
- The Objective view; when the author tells what the characters do and say but not think.
- The Omniscient view; when the author writes in the third person and tells the reader what the characters think as well as what they say and do.
- The Partially Omniscient view; when the author enters the mind of only one character.
ONOMATOPOEIA - A figure of speech identifying words the sound of which
suggests their meanings; for example, zoom, splash, crack.
PARADOX - A statement that is self-contradictory on the surface, but
which reveals a subtler meaning on reflection. See
IRONY.
PERSONIFICATION - A figure of speech in which human characteristics are
given to inanimate things.
PLOT - Arrangement of the action in fiction or drama. Plot refers to
what takes place, in bare outline, from the beginning to the end of the story.
REALISM - In literature, the tendency to emphasize the limitations that
real life imposes on humanity, and to show how those limitations affect life.
REVIEW - An article in a periodical which gives a summary of a book and
usually a general evaluation, but which does not make an analysis as deep and
thorough as that of a critical ESSAY.
ROMANTICISM - A style of writing that can either be about certain
non-realistic subjects, or a style that expresses the writer's own subjective
emotions and attitudes.
SARCASM - The use of exaggerated praise to imply dispraise. Similar to
irony but more specific in form and heavier; less subtle in tone.
SATIRE - An extended work, or portion of a work, that by witty
techniques of various types makes its subject ridiculous. Irony and sarcasm are
common methods of satire. Usually satire makes fun of popular institutions,
customs, or beliefs. Generally satire is humorous; its tone is scornful and
amused.
SENTIMENTALISM - The attempt of an author to arouse more emotion in a work
than the situation calls for.
SETTING - The time and place of a story or play.
SCENE - The specific setting for a given event in a narrative. (Or the
shortest major division of a play).
SIMILE -see
METAPHOR
STEREOTYPE - In fiction or drama, a character who lacks individuality,
having no traits except the most obvious and expected of the group to which he
belongs. Literally, a stereotype is a block used in printing. Identical images
can be made from the same block. In literature, the henpecked husband is a
stereotype; so are the shrewd detective and the perfect butler. Because of
their dullness, stereotyped characters almost invariably represent a fault in a
story.
A stereotyped phrase is called a CLICHÉ (French for "stereotype"). They are phrases that have been used so often that they no longer stir us when we hear them. Their freshness has rubbed away through use; thus, they are often called TRITE, from the Latin for "rubbed."
'as hard as nails'
'the inner man'
STRUCTURE - The arrangement of details and scenes in a literary work.
The structure of a play generally starts with an EXPOSITION, in which the
background before the curtain rose is presented. Then follow one or more
COMPLICATIONS, in which something unexpected changes the direction in which the
play has been moving, a CLIMAX, at which point the various complications have
led the action to its most intense moment of conflict, and a DENOUEMENT (French
for unknotting), in which the tensions in the action are resolved. All before
the climax is part of the RISING ACTION; all after is part of the FALLING
ACTION.
STYLE - An author's characteristic handling of the language. A style may
be colloquial, formal, wordy, rhetorical (like an orator's), colorful, poetic,
etc . . . DICTION refers to the choice of individual words. Style, on the other
hand, pertains to the arrangement of those words in groups and sentences. The
arrangement of details and scenes makes up the STRUCTURE of a literary work.
All combine to influence the TONE of the work; all-diction, style, and
structure-make up its form.
SYMBOL - Use of an unusual image in place of an object in order to show
that object in a new light.
"Father
Time never sleeps."
SYMBOLISM - The use of symbols. Symbolism also refers to a specific
literary movement which attempted to penetrate to a deeper reality through
suggestive symbols.
THEME - The generalized meaning of a literary work. Often themes are difficult to state briefly and
precisely. Sometimes years after we have read a story, a poem, or a play, it
again flashes into mind. With most of the details erased by time, a strong
general impression still remains. What we are recalling is the theme, the basic
idea of a literary work.
TONE - In a literary work, the attitude the author takes toward the
subject. That attitude is revealed through details that he chooses, through his
diction and style, and through his emphasis and comments.