lit terms 101-110

101. scan - to mark off lines of poetry into rhythmic units, or feet, so as to show their metrical structure

102. scansion - a system for describing more of less conventional poetic rhythms by dividing the lines into feet; the process of

measuring verse, that is, of marking accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the metrical

pattern, and noting significant variations from that pattern

103. scene - short division within an act in a play; a particular setting in any work of literature

104. simile - a figure of speech which compares two unlike quantities and which uses the words "like" or "as" in the

comparison, as in the following: "clear as frost on the grass-blade.”

105. shift - a change in a passage created by syntax (often by punctuation or a conjunction) or by diction

106. soliloquy - a long speech made by a character who is alone on the stage in which he reveals his innermost thoughts and

feelings

107. sonnet - The English, or Shakespearean sonnet is divided into three quatrains (four-line groupings) and a final couplet

(14 lines). The meter is iambic pentameter, with a set rhyme scheme - abab cdcd efef gg. The change of rhyme in the English

sonnet is coincidental with a change of theme in the poem. The structure of the English sonnet explores variations on a theme

in the first three quatrains and concludes with an epigrammatic couplet.

108. stream of consciousness - narrative technique which presents thoughts as if they were coming directly from a

character’s mind; often a chaotic “stream” of unrelated ideas thrown together for effect

109. structure - the planned framework for a piece of literature

110. style - a writer’s typical way of expressing himself or herself