Lit crit terms

accismus

a form of irony in which a person feigns indifference to or pretends to refusesomething he or she desires

acronym

a word formed from the initial letters of words and pronounced as a separate word

acrostic

verse in which certain letters such as the first in each line form a word or message

Agrarians

person who favors an agricultural way of life and government policies that support agricultural interests

agroikos

Rustic, straight-talking, unsophisticated, not anxious about his image, unfazed by others' joking.

alliteration

Repetition of initial consonant sounds

allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event

alterity

the state of being other or different; otherness

ambiguity

An event or situation that may be interpreted in more than one way.

anaphora

A rhetorical figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (and usually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences.

Anglo-Norman Period

the period in English literature between 1100 and 1350, which is also often called the Early Middle English Period and is frequently dated from the Conquest in 1066

anthology

A collection of various writings, such as songs, stories, or poems

apostrophe

A figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it were alive and present and could reply

auditory

Having to do with the sense of hearing

Augustan Age

is a style of English literature produced during the reigns of Queen Anne, King George I, and George II in the first half of the 18th century, ending in the 1740s with the deaths of Pope and Swift (1744 and 1745, respectively)

ballad

A narrative poem written in four-line stanzas, characterized by swift action and narrated in a direct style.

baroque

An artistic style of the seventeenth century characterized by complex forms, bold ornamentation, and contrasting elements

bathos

Insincere or overly sentimental quality of writing/speech intended to evoke pity

Beat Generation

Group highlighted by writers and artist who stressed spontaneity and spirituality instead of apathy and conformity.

Dead Sea Scrolls

A collection of written scrolls (containing nearly all of the Old Testament) found in a cave near the Dead Sea in the late 1940s.

dactylic

A 3 syllable foot; 1st syllable is stressed. next 2 are unstressed. ex. "merrily,": MER - ri - ly

couplet

A pair of rhymed lines that may or may not constitute a separate stanza in a poem.

controlling image

an image or metaphor that runs throughout and determines the form or nature of a literary work

consonance

Repetition of a consonant sound within two or more words in close proximity.

connotation

All the meanings, associations, or emotions that a word suggests

concrete poetry

poetry that is visually arranged to represent a topic

concordance

An alphabetical list of the most pertinent works in a given text and a notation of where the words might be found within that text

conceit

A fanciful expression, usually in the form of an extended metaphor or surprising analogy between seemingly dissimilar objects.

chiasmus

A statement consisting of two parallel parts in which the second part is structurally reversed ("Susan walked in, and out rushed Mary.")

chiaroscuro

An Italian word designating the contrast of dark and light in a painting, drawing, or print.

carpe diem

"Seize the day"; a Latin phrase implying that one must live for the present moment, for tomorrow may be too late.

caesura

A natural pause or break in a line of poetry, usually near the middle of the line.

bowdlerize

(v.) to remove material considered offensive (from a book, play, film, etc.)

blood and thunder

A class of work specializing in bloodshed and violence. Many of these have to do with crime and high emotion. Sometimes abbr. to "blood," "blood books," or "penny bloods."

Bildungsroman

A German word referring to a novel structured as a series of events that take place as the hero travels in quest of a goal

biblical allusion

reference from the Bible, ex: eyes like heaven, the crowd parted like the red sea.

denotation

Literal meaning of a word

dénouement

In a plot, the tying up of loose ends. In a tragedy, sometimes called the catastrophe. (Pronounced day new MAH)

Early Tudor Period

War of the Roses ends in English with Henry VII claiming the throne - Martin Luther's split with roman Catholic church marks emergence of Protestantism - first Protestant church in England - Edmund Spenser (poet)

Edwardian Age

The period between Queen Victoria's death and WWI and named in honor of King Edward VII. The attitude of the people was critical and questioning. There was a growing distrust and there was a deep-felt need to examine institutions.

elision

Elision refers to the leaving out of an unstressed syllable or vowel, usually in order to keep a regular meter in a line of poetry for example "o'er" for "over"

English sonnet

3 Quatrains and an ending couplet. Rhyme scheme of abab, cdcd, efef, gg.

enjambment

A line having no pause or end punctuation but having uninterrupted grammatical meaning continuing into the next line.

Enlightenment

18th century movement led by French intellectuals who advocated reason as the universal source of knowledge and truth

euphemism

An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant

existentialism

A philosophy based on the idea that people give meaning to their lives through their choices and actions

eye rhyme

Depends on spelling rather than sound; words that look like they should rhyme, but do not

fabliau

A short comic tale with a bawdy element, akin to the "dirty story." Chaucer's The Miller's Tale contains elements of the fabliau.

fairy tale

A narrative that is made up of fantastic characters and creatures, such as witches, goblins, and fairies, and usually begins with the phrase "Once upon a time…"

Federalist Age

Period between formation of National government and the 2nd revolution. "Of Jacksonian Democracy (because of dominance in Red Party") "Era of Good Feeling"

Naturalistic

Observing and recording behavior in naturally occurring situations without trying to manipulate and control the situation

feminine rhyme

Lines rhymed by their final two syllables.

figurative language

A form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words.

flashback

A method of narration in which present action is temporarily interrupted so that the reader can witness past events

Fleshly School

name given by Robert Buchanan to a realistic, sensual school of poets, to which Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and Algernon Charles Swinburne belong. He accused them of immorality in an article entitled "The Fleshly School of Poetry" in The Contemporary Review in October 1871.

foot

A unit of rhythm or meter; the division in verse of a group of syllables, one of which is long or accented.

Frontier Literature

Writing about the American frontier and frontier life. Up to 1890, when all the free lands had generally been claimed, one aspect of American history was the steady westward movement of the frontier.

Geneva School

Critics who began to see literary work as a series of existential expressions of the author's conscience. Major writers: Georges Poulet, Marcel Raymond, and J. Hillis Miller.

Graveyard School

Eighteenth century poets who wrote poems about death and immorality. Wrote with a tone of gloom. Major writers: Thomas Parnell, Edward Young, Philip Freneaus, and William Cullen Bryant.

Great Awakening

(1730s and 1740s) Religious movement characterized by emotional preaching (Jonathan Edwards & George Whitefield). The first cultural movement to unite the Thirteen Colonies. Associated with the democratization of religion.

Great Chain of Being

European idea that every species was a link on a chain extending from lowest forms to humans and on to spiritual beings. All links and been designed at the same time during creation and would never change. Once all the links were discovered and described, the meaning of life would be revealed.

Grimm's Law

The law was a systematic and coherent formulation, well supported by examples, of patterns recognized as early as 1814; separates Latin from Old English and Germanic, so we can tell which words were introduced before and after

Grub Street

An area in London during the restoration that was associated with "hack writers" and low end publishing houses. Produced low quality literature for the masses

Harlem Renaissance

A period in the 1920s when African-American achievements in art and music and literature flourished

heroic quatrain

Four lines of iambic pentameter; abab

heteromerous rhyme

Also called mosaic, multiple rhyme in which one word is forced into a rhyme with two or more words. These are usually outlandish and comic, as in "But - Oh! Ye lords of ladies intellectual, / Inform us truly, have they not hen-pecked you all?"

hoax

An act intended to fool or deceive others

hyperbole

exaggeration for effect

iambic pentameter

A metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line. (an iamb, or iambic foot, consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)

imagery

Description that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)

implied action

phrases that require the listener to make assumptions about what probably happened

in medias res

Action on the stage begins "in the middle"

Industrial Revolution

A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

Inkhornists

A group of Renaissance period writers who introduced heavy Latin and Greek words into the English vocabulary.

inversion

the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase.

invocation

An address to deity for aid. Epics particularly, were likely to begin this way.

Irish Literary Revival

The literary movement immediately associated with the Abbey Theater and William Butler Yeats.

Italian sonnet

A sonnet consisting of an octave with the rhyme pattern abbaabba, followed by a sestet with the rhyme pattern cdecde or cdcdcd

Jacobean

The period 1603-25 when King James I ruled England. A high point of English drama, including the later plays of Shakespeare, the major plays of Ben Jonson, and Webster's Duchess of Malfi. King James Bible also published during this period.

jeremiad

A literary work or speech expressing a bitter lament or a righteous prophecy of doom

Knickerbocker

the group of 19th century writers from New York who finally gained international acclaim for their literary works.

koine

A common dialect of the Greek language that influenced the speech of all Greeks.

leonine rhyme

The rhyming of two or more words in the same line of poetry, usually in the middle and at the end of the line

liminality

a period during which participant has left one place but not yet entered the next

litotes

A form of understatement that involves making an affirmative point by denying its opposite

Lost Generation

A group of American writers that rebelled against America's lack of cosmopolitan culture in the early 20th century. Many moved to cultural centers such as London in Paris in search for literary freedom. Prominent writers included T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Ernest Hemingway among others.

malaphorism

the mistaken substitution of one word for another word that sounds similar (The doctor wrote a subscription)

metalepsis

The compounding of multiple figures of speech.

metaphor

figure of speech comparing two different things

metonymy

A figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated (such as "crown" for "royalty").

minimalism

A genre where events are depicted with little detail so a story is boiled down to its essentials.

mock epic

A work of literature that applies the characteristics and conventions of epic poetry to trivial subject matter for the sake of humor, irony, parody, or satire.

Muses

Nine sisters who give song and inspiration to humanity; daughters of Zeus

naturalism

(philosophy) the doctrine that the world can be understood in scientific terms without recourse to spiritual or supernatural explanations

Nemesis

(Greek mythology) the goddess of divine retribution and vengeance

nonsense verse

a type of light verse that emphasizes rhythmic and sound effects over meaning

ode

A lyric poem usually marked by serious, respectful, and exalted feelings toward the subject.

onomatopoeia

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

open couplet

A couplet in which the second line is not complete but depends on succeeding material for completion.

Oxford Movement

the movement within the Church of England to reintroduce many Roman Catholic practices