LIT-2300 Intro to Literature - Exam 3 - Terms

Dr Hodgin

Verse

It refers to any single line of poetry or any composition written in separate lines of more or less regular rhythm, in contrast to prose

Paraphrase

The restatement in one’s own words of what one understands a poem to say or suggest.

Summary

A brief condensation of the main idea or plot of a work.

Subject

The main topic of a work, whatever the work is “about”.

Theme

A generally recurring subject or idea noticeably evident in a literary work. Not all subjects in a work can be considered this.

Lyric Poem

A short poem expressing the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker. Often written in first person, it traditionally has a song-like immediacy and emotional force.

Narrative Poem

A poem that tells a story. Ballads and epics are two common forms of this poetry.

Dramatic Poem

A poem written as a speech made by a character at some decisive moment. The speaker is usually addressing a silent listener.

Didactic Poem

A poem intended to teach a moral lesson or impart a body of knowledge.

Tone

The mood or manner of expression in a literary work, which conveys an attitude toward the work’s subject, which may be playful, sarcastic, ironic, sad, solemn, or any other possible attitude.

Satiric Poetry

Poetry that blends criticism with humor to convey a message, usually through the use of irony and a tone of detached amusement, withering contempt, and implied superiority.

Persona

Latin for “mask”, a fictitious character created by an author to be the speaker of a literary work.

Irony

In language, a discrepancy between what is said and what is meant. In life, a discrepancy between what is expected and what occurs.

Sarcasm

A style of bitter irony intended to hurt or mock its target.

Diction

Word choice or vocabulary.

Concrete Diction

Words that specifically name or describe things or persons.

Abstract Diction

Words that express general ideas or concepts.

Poetic Diction

Strictly speaking, poetic diction means any language deemed suitable for verse, but the term generally refers to elevated language intended for poetry rather than common use.

Allusion

A brief, sometimes indirect, reference in a text to a person, place, or thing. They imply a common body of knowledge between the reader and writer and act as a literary shorthand to enrich the meaning of a text.

Denotation

The literal, dictionary meaning of a word.

Connotation

An association or additional meaning that a word, image, or phrase may carry, apart from its literal denotation or dictionary definition. A word may pick up these from the uses to which it has been put in the past.

Image

A word or series of words that refers to any sensory experience (usually sight, although also sound, smell, touch, or taste. An image is a direct or literal recreation of a physical experience and adds immediacy to literary language.

Imagery

The collective set of images in a poem or other literary work.

Simile

A comparison of two things, indicated by some connective, usually like, as, or than, or a verb such as resembles. A simile usually compares two things that initially seem unlike but are shown to have a significant resemblance.

Metaphor

A statement that one thing is something else, which, in a literal sense, it is not.

Personification

The endowing of a thing, an animal, or an abstract term with human characteristics.

Apostrophe

A direct address to someone or something. A speaker may address an inanimate object, a dead or absent person, an abstract thing, or a spirit.

Overstatement

Also called hyperbole. Exaggeration used to emphasize a point.

Understatement

An ironic figure of speech that deliberately describes something in a way that is less than the case.

Paradox

A statement that at first strikes one as self-contradictory, but that on reflection reveals some deeper sense.

Pun

A play on words often used for comedic effect

Stanza

From the Italian, meaning “stopping-place” or “room”. A recurring pattern of two or more lines of verse, poetry’s equivalent to the paragraph.

Rhyme Scheme

Any recurrent pattern of rhyme within an individual poem.

Refrain

A word, phrase, line, or stanza repeated at intervals in a song or poem.

Ballad

Traditionally, a song that tells a story.

Alliteration

The repetition of a consonant sound in a line of verse or prose. It can be used at the beginning of words, or internally on stressed syllables.

Assonance

The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in successive words, which creates a kind of rhyme.

Cacophony

A harsh, discordant sound often mirroring the meaning of the context in which it is used.

Euphony

The harmonious effect when the sounds of the words connect with the meaning in a way pleasing to the ear and mind.

Onomatopoeia

An attempt to represent a thing or action by a word that imitates the sound associated with it.