English Sem-2 literary terms

Dramatic Tragedy

A play in which a central figure, known as the tragic hero, starts off powerful and positive, but comes to ruin as the result of an error in judgement or a weakness in character (known as a tragic flaw). By the end of a dramatic tragedy usually many of the characters are dead.

Tragic Hero

The central character in a dramatic tragedy. He is a person of high status who begins as a good person but who experiences a downfall, often death, due to fate or a tragic flaw.

Tragic Flaw

An error in judgement or weakness in the character of a tragic hero which causes the downfall of that person.

Shakespearean Comedy

A play by Shakespeare which is generally full of fun, irony, and wordplay, and which ends happily (as in the main characters are still alive).

Blank Verse

Poetry written in blank verse is composed of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.

Iamb

Composed of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable.

Iambic Pentameter

A line of iambic pentameter contains five iambs.

Antagonist

A character that works against the main character.

Catastrophe

A disastrous end that involves death.

Foreshadow

To provide hints about how something will end.

Soliloquy

A lengthy speech given by a character who is either alone on the stage or who is not "heard" by the other characters.

Aside

A brief comment which is either made to only one other character or which is "heard" by no other character on the stage.

Monologue

A lengthy speech given to other characters.

Dramatic Irony

The contrast between what the audience knows about a situation and what the character involved in the situation knows.

Atmosphere

The mood created in the reader by the details of the story.

Paradox

An apparent contradiction that really reveals a truth.

Metaphysical Conceit

An elaborate, extended metaphor between two extremely different things.

Epitaph

A poem which commemorates someone who has died.

Rhyme

Occurs when the sounds of the accented vowels in words and all the succeeding sounds in the words are identical.

End Rhyme

Occurs when the words at the ends of lines of verse rhyme.

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of a poem's end rhymes.

Exact Rhyme

When the sounds of the accented vowels in words and all the succeeding sounds in the words are exactly alike.

Slant Rhyme

Occurs when the rhyme, particularly the vowel sounds, of two words is approximate.

Speaker

The voice or character made up by the writer and who presents the information to the reader.

Theme

The central message conveyed in a literary work.

Hyperbole

Any expression that greatly exaggerates facts or ideas for humorous effect or emphasis.

Diary

A person's day-by-day account of events in his life and reactions to those events.

Primary Source

Material created by people who were present at an event either as a participant or an observer.

Verisimilitude

The appearance of reality.

First-Person Narrative

Written from the point of view of a character in the story, either the main character or an observer.

Neoclassicism

A literary style found in England from the late 1600s to the end of the 1700s. Writers modeled their works on classical Greek or Latin texts because they felt these texts were valuable because they revealed universal and timeless truths about the human condition. The authors preferred order, reason, and rules in their writing and felt humans were essentially limited and imperfect. Their writing focused on society, reason, and observable facts more than on individuality, emotions, and opinions.

Mock Epic

A long, humorous, narrative poem that describes a trivial subject in the grand, elevated style of an epic.

Heroic Couplet

A pair of rhymed lines written in iambic pentameter.

Iambic Pentameter

A metrical pattern made of five feet - each foot having one unstressed syllable and then one stressed syllable.

Verbal Irony

When what is said is the opposite of what is meant.

Sarcasm

The use of a mocking, ironic tone.

Satire

Writing that uses wit and humor to bring attention to problems. It often attempts to correct those problems.

Fantasy

Literature in which the limits of reality are purposely disregarded.

Historical Context

The conditions and events that inspired or influenced the work's creation.

Voice

The unique way in which a writer expresses his personality through his writing. It is created through a combination of his diction, tone, and choice of ideas.

Diction

Refers to the type of words used in the work - formal or informal, concrete or abstract - and the way these words are put together in the work which is known as the syntax of the work.

Biography

An account of a person's life written by another person.

Lyric Poem

A generally short poem which does not tell a story but in which the speaker shares his personal thoughts and feelings on a subject.

Argument

Speech or writing that makes a major claim or takes a position about an issue and supports it with reasons and evidence.