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Decorum
a character's speech that must be styled according to their social station, and in accordance with the occasion. (A princess speaking like a posh rich person in a delicate way)
Diction, syntax
The author's choice of words is diction. Syntax is the way those words are ordered.
dirge
a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. Typically slow, heavy, and melancholic
dissonance
The grating of incompatible sounds
doggerel
A crude, simplistic verse, often in sing-song rhyme
Dramatic Irony
When the audience knows something that the characters in the drama don't
Dramatic Monologue
When a single speaker in literature says something to a silent audience
elegy
a mournful poem; a lament for the dead
elements
The basic techniques of each genre of literature (Short story: characters, plot, setting, theme, etc.)
enjambment
the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of verse into the next line without a pause
Epic
A very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style. Typically deals with glorious or profound subject matter. (War, heroic journey, fall of man)
epitaph
Lines that commemorate the dead at their burial place. Usually a line or handful of lines. Can be serious and religious or comedic and irrelevant.
euphemism
A word or phrase that takes the place of a harsh, unpleasant, or impolite reality
Euphony
When sounds blend harmoniously
explicit
To say or write something directly and clearly
Farce
In modern terms: Extremely broad humor In past terms: A funny play, a comedy
Feminine Rhyme
Lines rhymed by their final two syllables (running and gunning). The penultimate syllables are stressed and the final ones are unstressed.
First person narrator
Narrator who is a character in the story and tells the tale from their perspective.
Foil
A secondary character whose purpose is to highlight the main character qualities, usually via contrast
Foot
The basic rhythmic unit of a line of poetry. Formed by a combination of two or three syllables, either stressed or destressed.
Foreshadowing
An event or statement that suggests a larger, more important event comes later.
Free Verse
Poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern
Genre
A sub-category of literature. Science-Fiction and detective stories are fiction _____s.
Gothic, gothic novel
The sensibility derived from gothic novels
Hubris
the excessive pride or ambition that leads to a character's downfall
hyperbole
exaggeration or deliberate overstatement
Implicit
To say or write something that suggests and implies but never says it directly or clearly
In media res
Latin for "in the midst of things". One of the conventions of epic poetry.
interior monologue
Term used for novels and poetry, not dramatic literature. Refers to writing that records the mental talking that goes on inside a character's head. Related but not identical to stream of consciousness
Inversion
Switching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase.
Irony
A statement that means the opposite of what it seems to mean
Lament
A poem of sadness or grief over the death of a loved one or over some other intense loss
Lampoon
A satire
Loose and periodic sentences
Loose: Complete before its end Periodic: Not grammatically complete until its end
Lyric
A type of poetry that explores the poet's personal interpretation of and feelings about the world.
Masculine Rhyme
A rhyme ending on the final stressed syllable
Means, Meaning
Discovering what makes sense, what is important. There is literal and emotional meaning
Melodrama
A form of cheesy theater in which the hero is very, very good, the villain is evil and rotten, and the heroine is true an pure.
Metaphor and simile
Metaphor: Comparison or analogy that says one thing is another. Simile: A metaphor but simplifies thing by usually uses like or as
