British Literature - Chapter 5 Terms

deism

a belief in an impersonal god, who, after creating the world, left it to run by natural laws and left man to take care of himself by using his intellect

Age of Reason

the 18th century characterized by cynicism and an emphasis on formal rules

Age of Pope

the first half of the eighteenth century, characterized by a return to classical standards

Age of Johnson

second half of the eighteenth century, named this because Samuel Johnson dominated the literary circles

satire

the ridicule of human folly or vice with the purpose of correcting it

journalism

one of the greatest literary contributions of the age; became the origin of newspapers and magazines; many popular works written by Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and Samuel Johnson

novel

type of prose fiction; most enduring popular genre of modern time; inaugurated by Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, and Henry Fielding

lyrical poetry

characterized by a positive attitude toward life, an awakening to feeling, a love for nature, and an emphasis on personal expression

ode

one of the most formal and most complex types of lyrical poetry; it has a fixed purpose and deals with one dignified theme

onomatopoeia

using words which sound like what they mean

plot

the arrangement of incidents or events, or the sequence of related actions; divided into beginning, middle, and end; usually develops from a conflict in the beginning of the story and shows the working out of the conflict until its resolution at the end

conflict

a struggle between opposing forces; may be external clash of actions, ideas, wills, or forces between protagonist and antagonist, or between the protagonist and some inanimate force such as nature, or an internal struggle within the mind, will, or emotions of a character

setting

physical background against which the events of a novel take place

characters

the imaginary persons who carry out the action of the plot

direct exposition

telling the reader directly what the character is like

indirect revelation

allows the reader to draw his own conclusions from what the character himself does or thinks, or what other characters think about him

static character

remains essentially the same throughout the story

dynamic character

undergoes some change and is different at the end of the story

vicariously

from the experiences of others

theme

the central idea which gives a work of meaning; it is the interpretation of the events and persons in the story from which we learn some truth of human experience

biography

introduces the facts of another person’s life and orders them in such a way that the reader can develop real insight into the person’s character

blank verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter; it is used for the treatment of serious themes by many great poets

ballad stanza

a four line stanza with four accented iambic syllables in lines one and tree and tree accented syllables in lines two and four; the rhyme scheme is abcb

sonnet

a fourteen line poem written in iambic pentameter with a definite pattern of two basic varieties, English and Italian

poetic diction

language that is reserved for poetry only

didacticism

trying to instruct or teach with certain forms

elegy

a melancholy poem which reflects on nature and death

apostrophe

words addressed to an inanimate object as if it were alive or to an absent person as if he were present