List of Term Definitions/Examples (1
of 2) – for quiz 1
http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_A.html
Paradox:
Definition: Using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense on a deeper
level. Common paradoxes seem to reveal a deeper truth through their
contradictions
Examples: "without laws, we can have no freedom." Shakespeare's Julius Caesar
also makes use of a famous paradox: "Cowards die many times before their deaths"
Scansion:
Definition: The act of "scanning" a poem to determine its meter. To perform
scansion, the student breaks down each line into individual metrical feet and
determines which syllables have heavy stress and which have lighter stress
Example: According to the early conventions of English poetry, each foot should
have at least one stressed syllable, though feet with all unstressed syllables are found
occasionally in Greek and other poetic traditions.
Diction:
Definition: The choice of a particular word as opposed to others.
Example: A writer could call a rock formation by many words--a stone, a boulder,
an outcropping, a pile of rocks, a cairn, a mound, or even an "anomalous geological
feature." The analytical reader then faces tough questions. Why that particular
choice of words? What is the effect of that diction? The word choice a writer makes
determines the reader's reaction to the object of description, and contributes to the
author's style and tone.
Monologue:
Definition: An interior monologue does not necessarily represent spoken words, but
rather the internal or emotional thoughts or feelings of an individual
Example:
Dramatic Monologue:
Definition: A poem in which a poetic speaker addresses either the reader or an
internal listener at length. It is similar to the soliloquy in theater, in that both a
dramatic monologue and a soliloquy often involve the revelation of the innermost
thoughts and feelings of the speaker.
Example: Two famous examples are Browning's "My Last Duchess" and "Soliloquy
of the Spanish Cloister."
Interior Monologue:
Definition: A type of stream of consciousness in which the author depicts the
interior thoughts of a single individual in the same order these thoughts occur inside
that character’s head. The author does not provide any commentary, description, or
guiding discussion to help the reader untangle this complex web.
Example: Read aloud
Persona:
Definition: An external representation of oneself which might or might not
accurately reflect one's inner self, or an external representation of oneself that
might be largely accurate, but involves exaggerating certain characteristics and
minimizing others.
Example: One of the most famous personae is that of the speaker in Jonathan
Swift's "A Modest Proposal." Here, the Irish author Swift, outraged over Britain's
economic exploitation of Ireland, creates a speaker who is a well-to-do English
intellectual, getting on in years, who advocates raising and eating Irish children as a
means of economic advancement
Mood:
Definition: In literature, a feeling, emotional state, or disposition of mind--especially
the predominating atmosphere or tone of a literary work. Most pieces of literature
have a prevailing mood, but shifts in this prevailing mood may function as a
counterpoint, provide comic relief, or echo the changing events in the plot. The term
mood is often used synonymously with atmosphere and ambiance.
Example: discussed in class
Consonance: A special type of alliteration in which the repeated pattern of
consonants is marked by changes in the intervening vowels--i.e., the final consonants
of the stressed syllables match each other but the vowels differ.
Example: As M. H. Abrams illustrates in The Norton Anthology of English
Literature, examples include linger, longer, and languor or rider, reader, raider, and
ruder.
Assonance: Repeating identical or similar vowels (especially in stressed syllables) in
nearby words. Assonance in final vowels of lines can often lead to half-rhyme.
Example: Bind up, bind up your yellow hair,
And tie it on your neck;
And see you look as maiden-like
As the day that first we met. (qtd in Deutsche 140).
From “Fair Annie”
Sibilance:
Definition: (sibilant) a consonant characterized by a hissing sound (like s or sh)
Examples: see above
Narrative Poetry:
Definition: a form of poetry which tells a story, often making use of the voices of a
narrator and characters as well; the entire story is usually written in metered verse.
The poems that make up this genre may be short or long, and the story it relates to
may be complex. It is usually dramatic, with objectives, diverse characters, and
metre.[
Example: The Canterbury tales
Caesura:
Definition: A pause separating phrases within lines of poetry--an important part of
poetic rhythm
Example: Some editors will indicate a caesura by inserting a slash (/) in the middle
of a poetic line. Others insert extra space in this location. Others do not indicate the
caesura typographically at all.
Enjambent:
Definition: (French, "straddling," in English also called "run-on line," pronounced
on-zhahm-mah): A line having no pause or end punctuation but having
uninterrupted grammatical meaning continuing into the next line.
Example: Here is an example from George S. Viereck's "The Haunted House":
I lay beside you; on your lips the while
Hovered most strange the mirage of a smile
Such as a minstrel lover might have seen
Upon the visage of some antique queen. . . .
End-Stop:
Definition: In poetry, a line ending in a full pause, often indicated by appropriate
punctuation such as a period or semicolon. This contrasts with enjambement or
run-on lines, in which the grammatical sense of the sentence continues
uninterrupted into the next line.
Example: Here is an example of end-stopped rhyme from Robert Browning's
"Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister":
G-r-r-r--there go, my heart's abhorrence!
Water your damned flowerpots, do.
If hate killed men, Brother Lawrence,
God's blood, would not mine kill you!
What? your myrtle bush wants trimming?
Oh, that rose has prior claims-Needs it leaden vase filled brimming?
Hell dry you up with its flames!
Antithesis:
Definition: Using opposite phrases in close conjunction. Examples might be, "I burn
and I freeze," or "Her character is white as sunlight, black as midnight." The best
antitheses express their contrary ideas in a balanced sentence. It can be a contrast of
opposites:
Example: "Evil men fear authority; good men cherish it." Alternatively, it can be a
contrast of degree: "One small step for a man, one giant leap for all mankind."