English Vocab 121-150

Lyrical Poetry

Poetry which expresses an emotion

Meter

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry

Meter, Hexameter

Six feet per line of poetry

Meter, Pentameter

Five feet per line of poetry; the most common meter in English poetry

Meter, Scansion

The marking of meter in a poem

Metonymy

A figure of speech in which a term naming an object is substituted for another word with which it is closely associated

Mock Heroic

A type of satire using elevated style out of proportion to its trivial subject

Mood

The overall atmosphere of a work established through the description of setting and the choice of objects being described

Motif

Recurring image

Myth

Traditional tale of unknown authorship involving gods and goddesses or other supernatural beings, often explaining aspects of nature

Narrator

The person telling the story

Naturalism

19th Century literary movement in which characters are doomed by heredity and/or environment

Novel of Manners

Narrative which defines social customs of a specific group, usually the upper-middle class

Octave

An eight-line poem OR the first eight lines of an Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet

Ode

A long lyrical poem, formal in style and complex in form, often written in commemoration or celebration of a special person, quality, object, or occasion

Onomatopoeia

Use of words whose sounds imitate their meaning

Oxymoron

Figure of speech that combines contradictory terms

Pacing

Rate of movement (tempo) in a work; may be slower with exposition and description and faster with dramatic incidence

Parable

Story with an implied or stated moral

Paradigm

A model, ideal, or standard

Parallel Structures

The use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound, or meaning, or meter

Paradox

A statement or situation that appears contradictory, but isn't. But more specifically in literature, they are self-contradictory statements that usually defy logic.

Parody

A rewording of a popularly recognized work to make fun of something.

Pastoral Poem

Poem which often depicts an imaginary life in the country filled with happy characters such as shepherds and nymphs; Events and dialogues are idealized, not realistic.

Periodic Sentence

A sentence which does not complete its thought until the very end due to introductory modifiers, interrupting modifiers, etc.

Persona

The mask or voice of the author in a work

Personification

A specific type of metaphor in which inanimate objects are given human qualities

Picaresque

Novel which usually presents the life story of quick-witted rogues and their adventures, often in episodic style

Plot

Sequence of events

Plot, Climax

The decisive or turning point in a story or play when the action changes course and begins to move towards resolution