Essential Lit Terms Pa

by Hamilton,Sharon

• ISBN13: 9780393928372
• ISBN10: 0393928373
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-11-09
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

This brief, friendly guide provides beginning readers of literature with a source for clear, concise definitions of 125 key literary terms--from allusion, epigram, and irony to paradox and personification to simile, tetrameter, and tone. Designed for ease of reference, the entries in Essential Literary Terms carefully define each term, provide examples from classic and contemporary literature, and reinforce understanding with critical-analysis exercises. For readers who want to take conversations about literature to a deeper level, Essential Literary Terms gives them the tools and vocabulary to grow beyond a superficial "I like it/ I don't" response and to begin to divine the art behind the work.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	XIII
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	XVII
Literary Forms	1	(31)
DRAMA	1	(7)
Comedy	3	(2)
High and low comedy	3	(1)
Farce	3	(1)
Romantic comedy	4	(1)
Comedy of manners	4	(1)
Stock characters	4	(1)
Tragedy	4	(1)
Classical tragedy	4	(1)
Senecan tragedy	4	(1)
Revenge tragedy	4	(1)
Domestic tragedy	5	(1)
Tragicomedy	5	(1)
Theater of the Absurd	6	(1)
Periods of Drama	7	(1)
Ancient Greek	7	(1)
Roman	7	(1)
English medieval	7	(1)
Morality plays	7	(1)
Mystery plays	7	(1)
Elizabethan and Jacobean	7	(1)
Restoration and Eighteenth Century	7	(1)
Modern	7	(1)
FICTION	8	(5)
Novel	8	(5)
Novel of incident	9	(1)
Novel of character	9	(1)
Realistic novel	9	(1)
Romance	9	(1)
Bildungsroman	10	(1)
Historical novel	10	(1)
Epistolary novel	10	(1)
Antinovel	10	(1)
Metafiction	10	(1)
Short Story	11	(1)
Novella	12	(1)
POETRY	13	(2)
Verse	13	(1)
Epic Poetry	13	(1)
Dramatic Poetry	14	(1)
Lyric Poetry	14	(1)
SPECIALIZED FORMS	15	(17)
Dramatic Monologue	15	(4)
EXERCISE: DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE	16	(3)
Epigram	19	(2)
Aphorism	20	(1)
EXERCISE: EPIGRAM	20	(1)
Satire	21	(11)
Direct (formal) satire	21	(1)
Indirect satire	22	(1)
Horatian satire	22	(1)
Juvenalian satire	22	(11)
EXERCISE: SATIRE	24	(8)
Figurative Language	32	(36)
FIGURES OF THOUGHT (TROPES)	32	(22)
Simile	32	(1)
Metaphor	33	(6)
Tenor	33	(1)
Vehicle	33	(1)
Mixed metaphor	34	(1)
Extended metaphor	35	(1)
Subtext	36	(3)
EXERCISES: SIMILES AND METAPHORS	36	(3)
Personification	39	(1)
Allegory	39	(1)
Pathetic fallacy	40	(1)
Synecdoche	41	(1)
Metonymy	41	(3)
EXERCISE: PERSONIFICATION, PATHETIC FALLACY, SYNECDOCHE, AND METONYMY	42	(2)
Irony	44	(10)
Verbal irony	44	(1)
Sarcasm	44	(1)
Structural irony	45	(1)
Unreliable narrator	45	(1)
Dramatic irony	46	(1)
Tragic irony	46	(1)
Cosmic irony	46	(13)
EXERCISES: IRONY	47	(7)
TROPES DEPENDENT ON CONTRASTING LEVELS OF MEANING	54	(8)
Hyperbole	54	(1)
Understatement	55	(1)
Paradox	56	(1)
Oxymoron	57	(1)
Litotes	57	(1)
Periphrasis	58	(1)
Pun	59	(3)
Equivoque	60	(2)
EXERCISE: TROPES DEPENDENT ON CONTRASTING LEVELS OF MEANING	60	(2)
FIGURES OF SPEECH (SCHEMES)	62	(6)
Apostrophe	62	(1)
Invocation	63	(1)
Rhetorical Question	63	(1)
Anaphora	64	(1)
Antithesis	64	(1)
Chiasmus	65	(3)
EXERCISE: FIGURES OF SPEECH (SCHEMES)	66	(2)
Rhetorical Strategies	68	(44)
Diction	68	(6)
Formal vs. colloquial language	68	(2)
Abstract vs. concrete language	70	(2)
Poetic diction	72	(2)
Allusion	74	(2)
Analogy	76	(7)
EXERCISES: ALLUSION, ANALOGY, AND DICTION	78	(5)
Imagery	83	(3)
Symbolism	86	(3)
Atmosphere	89	(9)
EXERCISES: IMAGERY, SYMBOLISM, AND ATMOSPHERE	92	(6)
Repetition	98	(1)
Selection and Order of Details	99	(3)
Epiphany	102	(10)
EXERCISES: REPETITION, SELECTION AND ORDER OF DETAILS, AND EPIPHANY	104	(8)
Narration	112	(55)
VOICE	112	(1)
Narrator	112	(1)
POINT OF VIEW	113	(12)
First-Person	113	(1)
Third-Person	114	(6)
Third-person omniscient	114	(4)
Intrusive narrator	115	(1)
Objective narrator	116	(1)
Narrator in drama	117	(1)
Third-person limited	118	(11)
Stream of consciousness	118	(2)
Second-person	120	(5)
EXERCISE: POINT OF VIEW	122	(3)
CHARACTERIZATION	125	(4)
Flat Characters vs. Round Characters	126	(1)
Showing vs. Telling	127	(2)
EXERCISES: CHARACTERIZATION	127	(2)
ROLES IN THE PLOT	129	(3)
Protagonist	129	(1)
Hero, heroine	129	(1)
Antagonist	130	(1)
Villain	130	(1)
Foil	131	(1)
EXERCISES: ROLES	132	(1)
DIALOGUE	132	(18)
Verisimilitude	137	(1)
Speech headings	137	(1)
Stage directions	137	(2)
Direct and indirect discourse	139	(1)
Repartee	140	(1)
Soliloquy	141	(2)
Aside	143	(13)
EXERCISE: DIALOGUE	144	(6)
SETTING	150	(4)
EXERCISES: SETTING	152	(2)
THEME	154	(2)
TONE	156	(11)
Pathos	161	(6)
EXERCISES: THEME AND TONE	162	(5)
Structure	167	(17)
In Medias Res	167	(3)
Exposition	168	(8)
Flashback	168	(2)
Narrative Pace	170	(2)
Parenthetical Observation	172	(2)
Subplot	174	(2)
Shift in Style	176	(8)
EXERCISES: STRUCTURE	178	(6)
Syntax	184	(14)
Independent clause	184	(1)
Dependent clause	184	(1)
Subject	184	(1)
Simple subject	184	(1)
Complete subject	184	(1)
Predicate	184	(1)
Simple predicate	184	(1)
Complete predicate	184	(1)
Direct object	184	(1)
Indirect object	185	(1)
Appositive	185	(1)
Sentence Fragments	185	(1)
Kinds of Sentences	186	(1)
Simple sentence	186	(1)
Compound sentence	186	(1)
Coordinating conjunction	186	(1)
Complex sentence	186	(1)
Subordinate clause	186	(1)
Means of Linkage	186	(3)
Coordination	186	(1)
Subordination	187	(1)
Parallelism	188	(1)
Syntactical Order	189	(2)
Loose sentence (cumulative sentence)	189	(1)
Periodic sentence	190	(1)
Inversion	190	(1)
Sentence Variety	191	(7)
EXERCISES: SYNTAX	194	(4)
Prosody	198	(28)
METER	198	(12)
Quantitative meter	198	(1)
Syllabic meter	198	(1)
Stress	198	(1)
Accentual meter	198	(1)
Accentual-syllabic meter	198	(1)
Foot	199	(1)
Metrical Feet	199	(1)
Iamb	199	(1)
Anapest	200	(1)
Trochee	200	(1)
Dactyl	200	(1)
Number of Feet in a Line	200	(1)
Monometer	200	(1)
Dimeter	200	(1)
Trimeter	201	(1)
Tetrameter	201	(1)
Pentameter	201	(1)
Hexameter	201	(1)
Heptameter	201	(1)
Naming the Meter	201	(1)
Iambic pentameter	201	(1)
Trochaic trimeter	202	(1)
Dactylic tetrameter	202	(1)
Common Substitutions	202	(2)
Spondee	202	(1)
Catalexis	203	(1)
Masculine and feminine endings	203	(1)
Pauses within and between Lines of Verse	204	(1)
End-stopped lines	204	(1)
Enjambed lines	204	(1)
Caesura	205	(1)
Scansion	205	(5)
EXERCISES: METER	207	(3)
RHYME	210	(7)
End Rhyme	211	(1)
Double rhyme	211	(1)
Triple rhyme	211	(1)
Masculine rhyme	211	(1)
Feminine rhyme	211	(1)
Internal Rhyme	211	(1)
Rhyme Scheme	212	(1)
Perfect and Imperfect Rhyme	213	(4)
Eye rhyme	213	(1)
Half-rhyme (off-rhyme, slant rhyme, imperfect rhyme)	213	(4)
EXERCISE: RHYME	215	(2)
SOUND AND SOUND PATTERNS	217	(9)
Alliteration	217	(2)
Internal alliteration	218	(1)
Consonance	219	(1)
Assonance	220	(1)
Onomatopoeia	221	(5)
EXERCISES: SOUND AND SOUND PATTERNS	223	(3)
Poetic Forms	226	(21)
STANZAS	226	(21)
Couplet	226	(2)
Heroic couplet	226	(1)
Closed couplet	226	(1)
Open couplet	227	(1)
Tercet (Triplet)	228	(1)
Terza rima	228	(1)
Quatrain	229	(1)
In Memoriam stanza	229	(1)
Ballad meter (common meter)	229	(1)
Refrain	230	(1)
Sonnet	231	(3)
Italian (Petrarchan)	231	(1)
English (Shakespearean)	231	(2)
Volta (turn)	231	(2)
Sonnet sequence	233	(1)
Curtal sonnet	234	(1)
Blank Verse	234	(5)
In poetry	234	(2)
In drama	236	(3)
Free Verse (Open Form Verse)	239	(8)
EXERCISES: POETIC FORMS	242	(5)
Appendix: MLA Style	247	(28)
MLA In-Text Documentation	249	(5)
Notes	254	(1)
MLA List of Works Cited	254	(14)
Sample Research Paper, MLA Style	268	(7)
PERMISSIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	275	(2)
INDEX OF TERMS	277