Eng 195 Literary Terms

Front 1

Absurdist Drama

Back 1

Play that depicts life as meaningless, senseless,
uncertain. For example, an absurdist playwright's story
generally ends up where it started; nothing has been
accomplished and nothing gained. The characters may be
uncertain of time and place, and they are virtually the
same at the end of the play as they were at the beginning.
Here is how the genre came about: A group of dramatists in
1940's Paris believed life is without apparent meaning or
purpose; it is, in short, absurd, as French playwright and
novelist Albert Camus (1913-1960) wrote in a 1942 essay,
"The Myth of Sisyphus." Parodoxically, the only certainty
in life is uncertainty, the absurdists believed. For more
about absurdist drama, see Waiting for Godot.

Front 2

Absurd, Theater of the

Back 2

Term coined in 1965 by critic Martin Eslin to describe the
plays of Samuel Beckett and other writers who believed that
life is meaningless. For more information about this genre,
see “Waiting for Godot.”

Front 3

Act

Back 3

One of the main divisions of a play. Shakespeare's plays
each have five. Each is subdivided into scenes. Generally focuses on one major aspect of the plot or
theme. Between these, stagehands may change scenery, and the
setting may shift to another locale.

Front 4

Adage

Back 4

Wise saying; proverb; short, memorable saying that
expresses a truth and is handed down from one generation to
the next; short saying that expresses an observation or
experience about life; maxim; aphorism; apothegm. Examples
of adages are the following:
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy,
wealthy, and wise.–Unknown author, 16th Century.
Birds of a feather flock together [probably based on an
observation of Robert Burton (1577-1640) in The Anatomy of
Melancholy: "Birds of a feather will gather together."]
A great dowry is a bed full of brambles.–George Herbert,
Outlandish Proverbs, 1640.Fish and visitors smell in three days.–Benjamin Franklin.
One tongue is enough for a woman.–J. Ray, English Proverbs
(1670).
A friend in need is a friend indeed.–Of Latin origin.
A barber learns to shave by shaving fools.–J. Ray, English
Proverbs (1670).

Front 5

Alarum

Back 5

Stage direction in a Shakespeare play (or a play by another
author in Shakespeare's time) indicating the coming of a
battle; a call to arms.

Front 6

Alexandrine

Back 6

Verse form popularized in France in which each line
contains twelve syllables (and sometimes thirteen). Major
accents occur on the sixth and twelfth syllables; two minor
accents occur, one before the sixth syllable and one before
the twelfth syllable. A pause (caesura) occurs immediately
after the sixth syllable. Generally, there is no enjambment
in the French Alexandrine line. However, enjambment does
occur in English translations of Alexandrine verse. The
name Alexandrine derives from a twelfth-century work about
Alexander the Great that was written in this verse format.
Jean Baptiste Racine was one of the masters of this format.
Some English writers later adapted the format in their
poetry.

Front 7

Allegory

Back 7

Literary work in which characters, events, objects, and
ideas have secondary or symbolic meanings. One of the most
popular [these] of the twentieth century was George
Orwell's Animal Farm, about farm animals vying for power.
On the surface, it is an entertaining story that even
children can enjoy. Beneath the surface, it is the story of
ruthless Soviet totalitarianism. Other famous examples of
allegories are John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and the
fifteenth-century morality play, Everyman.

Front 8

Alliteration

Back 8

Repetition of consonant sounds. Examples: (1) But now I am
cabined, cribbed, confined, bound into saucy doubts and
fears.–Shakespeare. (2) Duncan is in his grave; after
life's fitful fever he sleeps well–Shakespeare. (3) When I
was one-and- twenty–A.E. Housman. (Note that "one" has a
"w" sound. (4) I sent thee late a rosy wreath–Ben Jonson.
(Note that "wr" has an "r" sound.)

Front 9

Allusion

Back 9

Reference to a historical event or to a mythical or
literary figure. Examples: (1) Sir Lancelot fought with
Herculean strength. (Reference to the mythological hero
Hercules). (2) "I have met my Waterloo," the mountain
climber said after returning from a failed attempt to
conquer Everest. (Reference to the Belgian town where
Napoleon lost a make-or-break battle). (3) Since my
elementary-school days, math has always been my Achilles
heel. (Reference to the weak spot of Achilles, the greatest
warrior to fight in the Trojan War. When his mother
submersed him in the River Styx after he was born, the
magical waters made him invulnerable. His flesh was
impervious to all harm–except for the heel of a foot. His
mother was grasping the heel when she dipped him into the
river. Because the river water did not touch his heel, it
was the only part of his body that could suffer harm. He
died when a poison-tipped arrow lodged in his heel. Hence,
writers over the ages have used the term Achilles heel to
refer to a person's most pronounced weakness.

Front 10

Anachronism

Back 10

A thing from a different period of history than that which
is under discussion; a thing that is out of place
historically. Suppose, for example, that a literary work
about World War I says that a wounded soldier is treated
with penicillin to prevent a bacterial infection, but penicillin and other antibiotics did
not come into use until 1941, twenty-three years after the
end of World War I.

Front 11

Anadiplosis (an uh dih PLOH sis)

Back 11

Figure of speech in which a word or phrase at the end of a
sentence, clause, or line of verse is repeated at or near
the beginning of the next sentence, clause, or line of
verse. Here are examples:
The peasant pledged the country his loyalty; loyalty was
his only possession.
.
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.–Shakespeare,
Richard III.

Front 12

Anagnorisis (an ag NOR ih sis)

Back 12

In Greek drama, a startling discovery; moment of epiphany;
time of revelation when a character discovers his true
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identity. In the Sophocles play Oedipus Rex, anagnorisis
occurs when Oedipus realizes who he is.

Front 13

Analogue

Back 13

Literary work, film, character, setting, etc. that
resembles another literary work, film, character, setting,
etc. The film West Side Story is a [this] of
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Stephen Spielberg's film
Jaws is an analogue of Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick.

Front 14

Anaphora (uh NAF uh ruh)

Back 14

Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of
word groups occurring one after the other. Examples: (1)
Give me wine, give me women and give me song. (2) For
everything there is a season . . . a time to be born, and a
time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what
is planted.–Bible, Ecclesiastes. (3) To die, to sleep; to
sleep: perchance to dream.–Shakespeare, Hamlet. One of the
most famous examples of anaphora in Shakespeare occurs in
Act II, Scene I, Lines 40-68.

Front 15

Anastrophe (uh NAS truh fe)

Back 15

Inversion of the normal word order, as in a man forgotten
(instead of a forgotten man) or as in the opening lines of
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kubla Kahn": In Xanada did Kubla
Kahn / A stately pleasure dome decree (instead of In
Xanadu, Kubla Kahn decreed a stately pleasure dome). Here
is another example, made up to demonstrate the inverted
word order of anastrophe:
In the garden green and dewy
A rose I plucked for Huey

Front 16

Anecdote

Back 16

A little story, often amusing, inserted in an essay or a
speech to help reinforce the thesis.

Front 17

Annotation

Back 17

Explanatory note that accompanies text; footnote; comment.

Front 18

Antagonist

Back 18

Character in a story or poem who opposes the main character
(protagonist). Sometimes is an animal, an
idea, or a thing. Examples of such might
include illness, oppression, or the serpent in the biblical
story of Adam and Eve.

Front 19

Antonomasia (an tihn uh MAY zha)

Back 19

Identification of a person by an appropriate substituted
phrase, such as her majesty for a queen or the Bard of Avon
for Shakespeare.

Front 20

Antiphrasis (an TIF ruh sis)

Back 20

Saying the opposite of what is meant, or verbal irony;

Front 21

Anapest

Back 21

tri meter in Shakespear, Unstressed + Unstressed + Stressed
.........Three Syllables

Front 22

Antithesis

Back 22

Placement of contrasting or opposing words, phrases,
clauses, or sentences side by side. Following are examples:
I am tall; you are short.
The world will little note nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here.–Abraham
Lincoln, "Gettysburg Address."
To err is human, to forgive divine.–Alexander Pope, "Essay
on Criticism."

Front 23

Aphorism

Back 23

Short, often witty statement presenting an observation or a
universal truth; an adage. Examples: (1) Fish and visitors
smell in three days–Benjamin Franklin. (2) Many hands make
light work.–John Heywood. (3) In charity there is no
excess–Francis Bacon. (4) Uneasy lies the head that wears
the crown–William Shakespeare. (See also Epigram.)

Front 24

Apostrophe

Back 24

Addressing an abstraction or a thing, present or absent;
addressing an absent entity or person; addressing a
deceased person. Examples: (1) Frailty, thy name is woman.–
William Shakespeare. (2) Hail, Holy Light, offspring of
heaven firstborn!–John Milton. (3) God in heaven, please
help me.

Front 25

Apprenticeship Novel (Bildungsroman)

Back 25

Novel that centers on the period in which a young person
grows up. This type of novel was pioneered by Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) in his novel Wilhelm
Meisters Lehrjahre. Can also be identified by its German
name, bildungsroman, meaning novel (roman) of educational
development (bildungs).

Front 26

Archetype

Back 26

(1) Original model or models for persons appearing later in
history or characters appearing later in literature; (2)
the original model or models for places, things, or ideas
appearing later in history or literature; (3) a primordial
6
object, substance, or cycle of nature that always
symbolizes or represents the same positive or negative
qualities.
Explanation of Definition 1: The mythical Hercules is an
original model of a strong man. Exceptionally strong men who appear later in
history or literature are said to be this of Hercules
figures because they resemble the original Hercules.
Similarly, the biblical Eve is an original model of a woman
who tempts a man to commit sin.
Temptresses who appear later in history or literature are
said to be this of Eve figures because they resemble
the original Eve. Examples include the housewife who goads her husband to steal from
his employer and the prostitute who tempts a married man to
have illicit sex. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Lady
Macbeth is an Eve figure because she, like
Eve, urges her husband to commit sin–in the case of
Macbeth, to commit murder. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar,
Brutus is a [this] of Judas (the apostle who betrayed
Christ) because Brutus betrays Caesar.
Explanation of Definition 2: The biblical Sodom and
Gomorrah, as well as Babylon, are original examples of
cities corrupted by sin.
Decadent cities–or cities perceived to be decadent–that
appear later in history or literature are said to be
this type of sin cities. Hollywood and Las Vegas are
examples.
Explanation of Definition 3: Rivers, sunlight, serpents,
the color red and green, and winter are examples of
primordial things (existing since the beginning of time)
that are this because they always symbolize the same
positive or negative qualities, according to Swiss
psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961). Rivers represent
the passage of time or life; sunlight represents happiness,
a new beginning, glory, truth, goodness, or God; the color
red represents passion, anger, blood, or war; the color
green represents new life, a new beginning, or hope; winter
represents death, dormancy, or atrophy.

Front 27

Arras

Back 27

Tapestry hung on the stage to conceal scenery until the
right moment. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, an arras played a
crucial role. Polonius hid behind one to eavesdrop on a
conversation between Hamlet and his mother, Queen Gertrude.
When Hamlet saw the tapestry move, he stabbed at it,
thinking King Claudius was behind it, and killed Polonius.

Front 28

Arthurian Romance

Back 28

Literary work in which a knight in the age of the legendary
King Arthur goes on a quest.

Front 29

Aside

Back 29

Words an actor speaks to the audience which other actors on
the stage cannot hear. Sometimes the actor cups his mouth
toward the audience or turns away from the other actors. Serves to reveal a character's thoughts or concerns
to the audience without revealing them to other characters
in a play. Near the end of Hamlet, Queen Gertrude raises a
cup of wine to her lips during the fencing match between
Hamlet and Laertes. King Claudius had poisoned the wine and
intended it for Hamlet. Claudius–unwilling to
warn Gertrude in an effort to preserve his innocence–says,
"It is the poison'd cup: it is too late."

Front 30

Assonance

Back 30

Repetition of vowel sounds preceded and followed by
different consonant sounds. Use of "bite" and "like" in a
line of poetry. Examples: (1)
There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.–Shakespeare.
(2) But I am pigeon-livered, and lack gall to make
oppression bitter. (3) John met his fate by the lake.
Asyndeton Use of words or phrases in a series without
connectives such as and or so. Examples (1) One cause, one
country, one heart.–Daniel Webster. (2) Veni, vidi, vici
(Latin: I came, I saw, I conquered).–Julius Caesar.

Front 31

Attica

Back 31

Peninsula in southeastern Greece that included Athens.
According to legend, the King of Athens, Theseus, unified
12 states of this place into a single state dominated by
Athenian leadership and the Athenian dialect of the Greek
language. The adjective form of this word has long been associated with
the culture, language and art of Athens. The great period
of Greek drama, between the Sixth and Fourth Centuries,
B.C., is known as the [This] Period. Drama itself was
invented by an actor from this place, Thespis, who introduced
speaking parts to accompany choral odes.

Front 32

Aubade [oh BAHD]

Back 32

Joyful song about dawn and its beauty; morning serenade.
One of the finest of these in literature occurs in Act II,
Scene III, of Shakespeare's play Cymbeline. It begins with
the the famous words "Hark, hark! the lark at heaven's gate
sings" (Line 22).

Front 33

Ballad, Folk

Back 33

Folk Poem that tells a story that centers on a theme
popular with the common people of a particular culture or
place. Generally of unknown authorship, a folk [this]
passes by word of mouth from one generation to the next.
One of its key characteristics is a candence that makes the
poem easy to set to mustic and sing.

Front 34

Ballad, Literary

Back 34

Imitates a folk ballad. But
unlike the folk ballad, this ballad has a known
author who composes the poem with careful deliberation
according to sophisticated conventions. Like the folk
ballad, it tells a story with a popular theme

Front 35

Ballade

Back 35

Lyric poem of French origin usually made up of three eightline
stanzas and a concluding four-line stanza called an
envoi that offers parting advice or a summation. At the end
of each stanza is a refrain. Each line of the poem contains
about eight syllables. The rhyme scheme of the eight-line
stanza is ababbcbc. The rhyme scheme of the envoi is bcbc.
"Ballade des dames du temps jadis" is an excellent example
of the genre.

Front 36

Bard

Back 36

Originally, a Celtic poet who sang epic poems while playing
a harp. In time, this was used to refer to any poet. Today,
it is often used to refer to William Shakespeare (the [This]
of Avon).

Front 37

beast fable

Back 37

Story that teaches a lesson or rule of living. The
characters are usually animals that speak and act like
humans. The most famous fables are those attributed to
Aesop, a Greek, Thracian, Phrygian, Babylonian, or Lydian
25
storyteller or a group of storytellers who assigned the
name Aesop to a collection of fables popularized in Greece.
Aesop's fables are sometimes referred to as beast fables.

Front 38

Bildungsroman
Coming of Age Novel or
Apprenticeship Novel

Back 38

Novel that centers on the period in which a young person
grows up. This type of novel was pioneered by Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) in his novel Wilhelm
Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship). An
apprenticeship novel can also be identified by its German
name, bildungsroman, meaning novel (roman) of educational
development (bildungs).

Front 39

Bombast

Back 39

Inflated, pretentious speech or writing that sounds
important but is generally balderdash.

Front 40

Breton

Back 40

[This] Lay Fourteenth Century English narrative poem in rhyme
about courtly love. The poem contains elements of the
supernatural. The English borrowed the Breton-lay format
from storytellers in Brittany, France. A lay is a medieval
narrative poem originally intended to be sung. Breton is an
adjective describing anyone or anything from Brittany. "The
Franklin's Tale," a story in Geoffrey Chaucer's The
Canterbury Tales, is an example of a Breton lay.

Front 41

Burlesque

Back 41

Literary work, film, or stage production that mocks a
person, a place, a thing, or an idea by using wit, irony,
hyperbole, sarcasm, and/or understatement. For example, may turn a supposedly distinguished person into a
buffoon or a supposedly lofty subject into a trivial one. A
hallmark of [this] is its thoroughgoing exaggeration,
often to the point of the absurd. Cervantes used [these]
in Don Quixote to poke fun at chivalry and other outdated
romantic ideals. Among English writers who used this
were Samuel Butler (Hudibras) and John Gay (The Beggar’s
Opera). This is a close kin of parody. The latter
usually ridicules a specific literary work or artistic
production.

Front 42

Caesura

Back 42

Pause in a line of verse shown in scansion by two vertical
lines ( || ).

Front 43

Canon

Back 43

Complete works of an author. When reasonable doubt exists
that an author wrote a work attributed to him, scholars
generally exclude it from the author’s [this]. Such doubt
sometimes arises when a centuries-old work–for example, a
play, poem, or novel–has survived intact to the present day
without an author’s byline or other documentation proving
that a particular author wrote it.

Front 44

Canto

Back 44

Major division division of an epic poem, such as Dante's
Divine Comedy. The word is derived from the Latin word for "song."

Front 45

Caricature

Back 45

Literary work or cartoon that exaggerates the physical
features, dress, or mannerisms of an individual or derides
the ideas and actions of an organization, institution,
movement, etc. The word is derived from the Italian
caricare, meaning load, exaggerate, surcharge, fill to
excess. In literature, is a form of burlesque.

Front 46

Carpe Diem

Back 46

Latin expression meaning seize the day. Literary works with
this theme tell readers to enjoy life while they
can. In other words, they should eat, drink and be merry
and not worry about dying. Sir John Falstaff, the fun10
loving and hard-drinking knight in Shakespeare's Henry IV
Part I, Henry IV Part II, and The Merry Wives of Windsor
believed in this. An example of a poem with this theme is Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress."

Front 47

Catalexis

Back 47

The
absence of the unstressed syllable. Ex: bright and night

Front 48

Catastasis

Back 48

Climax of a stage play.

Front 49

Catastrophe

Back 49

(1) Denouement, or conclusion, of a stage tragedy; (2)
denouement of any literary work.

Front 50

Catchword

Back 50

In published Shakespeare plays in earlier times, a single
word on the bottom of the right side of every page. This
word was the first word appearing on the next page.

Front 51

Catharsis

Back 51

In literature and art, a purification of emotions. The
Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) used the term to
describe the effect on the audience of a tragedy acted out
on a theater stage. This effect consists in cleansing the
audience of disturbing emotions, such as fear and pity,
thereby releasing tension. This purgation occurs as a
result of either of the following reactions: (1) Audience
members resolve to avoid conflicts of the main character–
for example, Oedipus in Oedipus Rex and Creon in Antigone–
that arouse fear or pity or (2) audience members transfer
their own pity and fear to the main character, thereby
emptying themselves of these disquieting emotions. In
either case, the audience members leave the theater as
better persons intellectually, morally, or socially. They
have either been cleansed of fear of pity or have vowed to
avoid situations that arouse fear and pity. In modern
usage may refer to any experience, real or
imagined, that purges a person of negative emotions.

Front 52

Chalmys

Back 52

In the drama of ancient Greece, sleeveless outer garment,
or cloak, worn by some actors.

Front 53

Chantey (SSHAN te;)

Back 53

In earlier times, a song sung by sailors that kept time
with the work they were doing, such as tugging on a rope to
hoist a sail. The length varied in relation to
the length of the tasks being performed.

Front 54

Character, Flat

Back 54

Character in story who has only one prominent trait, such
as greed or cruelty and who does not learn or change.

Front 55

Character, Round

Back 55

Character in a story who has many aspects to his or her
personality. The character may have a good side and a bad
side; he or she may be unpredictable.
learns and changes behavior based upon what is learned.

Front 56

Character, Static

Back 56

Character in a literary work who does not change his or her
outlook in response to events taking place. Also a Flat Character.

Front 57

Chivalric Romance

Back 57

Tale of courtly love. In such tales, knights exhibit
nobility, courage, and respect for their ladies fair, and
the ladies exhibit elegance, modesty, and fidelity.
Although knights and ladies may fall passionately in love,
they eschew immoral behavior. In conflicts between good and
evil, justice prevails. Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Knight's
Tale," the first story in The Canterbury Tales, is an
example of this.

Front 58

Chiasmus (pronounced ki AZ mis)

Back 58

Words in a second clause or phrase that invert or transpose
the order of the first clause or phrase. Here are examples:
I come from the rural north, from the urban south comes
she.
John is a good worker, and a bright student is Mary.
A fop their passion, but their prize a sot.–Alexander Pope.
Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike–Samuel Taylor
Coleridge.

Front 59

Chorus (Greek Play)

Back 59

Bystanders in a Greek play who present odes on the action.
A parode (or parados) is a song sung when it
enters. A stasimon is a song sung during the play, between
episodes of action. Generally had the following
roles in the plays of Sophocles and other Greek
playwrights: (1) to explain the action, (2) to interpret
the action in relation to the law of the state and the law
of the Olympian gods, (3) to foreshadow the future, (4) to
serve as an actor in the play, (5) too sing and/or dance,and (6) to give the author's views. In some ways like the narrator of a modern film or like the
background music accompanying the action of the film. In
addition, it is like text on the film screen that provides
background information or identifies the time and place of
the action.

Front 60

Chronicler [KRON ih kler]

Back 60

Recorder of medieval events; historian

Front 61

Chronique Scandaleuse [kron EEK skan duH LOOZ]

Back 61

Literary work centering on gossip and intrigue at the court
of a king.

Front 62

Classicism

Back 62

In literature, a tradition espousing the ideals of ancient
Greece and Rome: objectivity, emotional restraint,
systematic thinking, simplicity, clarity, universality,
dignity, acceptance of established social standards,
promotion of the general welfare, and strict adherence to
formal rules of composition. A writer typically
restrained his emotions and his ego while writing in clear,
dignified language; he also presented stories in carefully
structured plots. Remained a guiding force in
literature down through the ages. Writers in the 15th,
16th and 17th centuries, as well as the first half of the
18th Century, highly esteemed classical ideals. In the mid-
18th Century, writers began to rebel against [these types of]
ideals in what came to be known as the Romantic Movement,
or romanticism, which advocated emotional freedom,
imaginative thinking, and individuality in writing.
However, neither [this] nor romantic writing was always
entirely faithfully to its ideals. For example, [this type of]
writer may have exhibited emotional effusion from time to
time or expressed himself with language less than
dignified; conversely, a romantic writer may have exhibited
emotional restraint and cool objectivity on occasion.
Writers today continue to use many of the principles of
both [this type] and romantic schools of writing.

Front 63

Cliché

Back 63

Overused expression. Examples: raining cats and dogs, snug
as a bug in a rug, chills running up and down my spine,
warm as toast, short and sweet. Writers should avoid using
clichés whenever possible.

Front 64

Climax

Back 64

The point in the plot at which the outcome is inevitable,
i.e., the turning point which must lead to the Denouement.
Often removes all free-will choices for the
major character or characters.

Front 65

Closet Drama

Back 65

A drama written to be read rather than acted on a stage. An
example is Samson Agonistes, by John Milton, a 1671 tragedy
about the final days of the biblical hero Samson.

Front 66

Comedy (Stage)

Back 66

Play that ends with a “marriage,” sometimes actual,
sometimes symbolic (meaning that oppositions are
satisfactorily and happily resolved). The stage comedies in
ancient and Renaissance times did not always contain humor,
the staple of the modern stage and film comedy, but they
did end with a happy reconciliation. By contrast, a stage
tragedy ends with a “funeral,” either actual or symbolic
(meaning a separation without the happy solution of
opposition).

Front 67

Comedy of Manners

Back 67

Comedy that ridicules the manners (way of life, social
customs, etc.) of the privileged and fashionable segment of
society. An example is Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to
Conquer, in which Goldsmith pokes fun at the English upper
class. The play uses farce (including many mix-ups) to
ridicule the class-consciousness of 18th Century
Englishmen.

Front 68

Concrete Poetry

Back 68

Poetry with lines arranged to resemble a familiar object,
such as a Christmas tree. Also called
shaped verse.

Front 69

Conflict

Back 69

The struggle in a work of literature. This struggle may be
between one person and another person or between a person
and an animal, an idea or a thing or between a person and
himself or herself (internal conflict). In Shakespeare's
Hamlet, the conflict is manifold. Hamlet struggles against
the villain Claudius, against the unbecoming conduct of his
mother, and against his conscience and indecision.

Front 70

Conte Philosophique

Back 70

Philosophical novel or philosophical story, a genre
Voltaire is credited with inventing. His contes
philosophiques (which include Micromégas and Zadig) are
characterized by a “swift-moving adventure story in which
characterization [counts] for little and the moral (or
sometimes immoral) lesson for much” (Brumfitt, J.H.
Voltaire: Candide. Oxford, England: Oxford University
Press, 1968, Page 9.)

Front 71

Coronach

Back 71

Funeral song (dirge) in Scotland and Ireland. In addition
to being sung, it was sometimes played on bagpipes.

Front 72

Cothurni (singular, cothurnus)

Back 72

Boots worn by actors in ancient Greece to increase their
height and, thus, visibility to theater audiences.

Front 73

Couplet

Back 73

Two successive lines of poetry with end rhyme.

Front 74

Coup de Théâtre (pronounced KOO duh tay AH truh)

Back 74

(1) Startling development in a drama that is unforeseen and
unmotivated; (2) a cheap plot development intended solely
to create a sensation.

Front 75

Couplet, Heroic

Back 75

Two successive end-rhyming lines in iambic pentameter.
Following is an example:
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things
(Lines 1 and 2, The Rape of the Lock, by Alexander Pope)

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Dactyl and Dactylic

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Stressed + Unstressed + Unstressed
.........Three Syllables

Front 77

Dénouement

Back 77

The outcome or resolution of the plot, occurring after the
climax. In a murder mystery, this may outline the
clues that led to the capture of a murderer. In a drama
about family discord, it may depict the reconciliation of
family members after a period of estrangment–or the
permanent dissolution of family ties if the drama reaches a
climax in which the discord worsens.

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Deus Ex Machina

Back 78

Armlike device in an ancient Greek theater that could lower
a "god" onto the stage from the "heavens." The Greek word
15
for machine, mechane, later gave rise to a pejorative Latin
term, deus ex machina (god from a machine), to describe a
contrived event in a literary work or film. A contrived
event is a plot weakness in which a writer makes up an
incident–such as a detective stumbling upon an important
clue or a hero arriving in the nick of time to save a
damsel in distress–to further the action. The audience
considers such events improbable, realizing that the writer
has failed to develop the plot and the characters in such a
way that their actions spring from their motivations. The
term (pronounced DAY oohs ex MAHK in ah or DE ihs ex MAHK
in uh) is usually used adverbially, as in “The policeman
arrived deus ex machina to overhear the murderer admit his
guilt to his hostage. However, it can also refer to a
character who becomes the "god from the machine."

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Deuteragonist

Back 79

In Greek drama, the character second in importance to the
main character, or protagonist.

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Dialogue

Back 80

Conversation in a play, short story, or novel. A literary
work on a single topic presented in the form of a
conversation. Plato's Republic, Symposium, and Phaedo are
examples of literary works that are dialogues.

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Diction

Back 81

Word choice; the quality of the sound of a speaker or
singer. Good [this] means that a writer pleases the eye of
a reader or the ear of a listener.

Front 82

Didactic

Back 82

Adjective describing a literary work intended to teach a
lesson or a moral principle.

Front 83

Dimeter

Back 83

Two Feet

Front 84

Dionysia, Greater

Back 84

The
most prestigious of these festivals, held in Athens for five days and participated in
by playwrights such as Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes,
and Euripides.

Front 85

Rural Dionysia

Back 85

Festivals held in villages and small towns

Front 86

Dionysus

Back 86

Patron god of Greek drama; god of wine and vegetation.
Called Bacchus by the Romans, was the son of Zeus
and one of the most important of the Greek gods.
Died each winter and was reborn each spring, a cycle his
Greek devotees identified with the death and rebirth of
nature. He thus symbolized renewal and rejuvenation, and
each spring the Greeks celebrated his resurrection with
ceremonies that eventually included drama contests. The
most prestigious of festivals was named after him, held in Athens for five days and participated in
by playwrights such as Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes,
and Euripides. Festivals held in villages and small towns
were called the Rural ones.

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Dithyramb

Back 87

In the drama of ancient Greece, a choral hymn that praised
Dionysus, god of wine and revelry, and sometimes told a
story. In his great work, Poetics, Aristotle wrote that
these inspired the development of Greek tragic plays,
such as those of Sophocles. The first "play" supposedly
took place in the 6th Century B.C. when Thespis, a member
of a chorus, took the part of a character in a [this].
The action shifted back and forth between him and the
chorus. See also Thespian.

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Doggerel

Back 88

Trivial or bad poetry.

Front 89

Domesday Book [DOOMS day book]

Back 89

Official census of the English people and their
possessions, notably land, which was completed in 1086 at
the behest of King William I (William the Conqueror).

Front 90

Doppelgänger(pronounced DOP l gayng er)

Back 90

In folklore, the spirit double of a living person. Among
well-known writers who have used doppelgängers in their
works are Fyodor Dostoevski and E.T.A. Hoffman. A
doppelgänger is not the same as a ghost; the latter is an
apparition of a dead person.

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Drama

Back 91

Literary work with dialogue written in verse and/or prose
and spoken by actors playing characters experiencing
conflict and tension. The English word drama comes from the
Greek word "dran," meaning "to do."

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Dramatic Irony

Back 92

Failure of a character to see or understand what is obvious
to the audience. The most notable example of dramatic irony
in all of literature occurs in Oedipux Rex, by Sophocles,
17
when Oedipus fails to realize what the audience knows–that
he married his own mother.

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Dramatic Monologue

Back 93

Poem that presents a moment in which a narrator/speaker
discusses a topic and, in so doing, reveals his feelings
and state of mind to a listener or the reader. Only the
speaker, talks, hence the term. During his discourse, the
speaker intentionally and unintentionally reveals
information about himself. The main focus is this personal information, not the speaker's
topic. A type of character study.
Perhaps the most famous in English
literature is Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess."

Front 94

Dramatis Personae [druh-mah-tiss pur-soh-nay]

Back 94

List of the characters in a play. Such a list is found at
the beginning of each Shakespeare play, as well as the
plays of other dramatists.

Front 95

Dumb Show

Back 95

Part of play performed in gestures, without speech;
pantomime. In Shakespeare's plays, appears as a
stage direction.

Front 96

Edition and Issue

Back 96

Terms describing published versions of newspapers and
magazines.

2. A newspaper printed on a specific date, such as
August 22, is a [this]. However, the August 22 [this] of the
newspaper may go through several printings: one at 6 a.m.,
for example, and one at 2 p.m. and one at 10 p.m. The 2
p.m. version would update or revise news in the 6 a.m.
version--or add new stories; the 10 p.m. version would
update or revise news in the 2 p.m. version--or add new
stories.

1. The newspapers printed at 6 a.m., 2 p.m., and 10
p.m. would all be [these] of the August 22 issue.

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Egoism, Rational

Back 97

Acting in oneself’s best interests (that is, acting
selfishly) by selecting what appears to be the most
beneficial of all the choices available. Russian writer
Nikolay Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky (1828-1889) centered
various writings on this subject. His great contemporary,
Fyodor Mikhailovitch Dostoevsky (1821-1881), attacked
rational egoism in his novel Notes From the Underground.
There are two types of rational egoism, which are as
follows:

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Psychological Egoism

Back 98

Belief that a person’s nature, or
biological makeup, will always cause him to act in his own
self-interest. In other words, a person has no free will;
he will always end up choosing what he perceives is best
for him. Suppose, for example, that two persons each have a
toothache and a fear of dentists. After reviewing the
alternatives, the first person decides to go to the dentist
to have the tooth extracted because he perceives that the
latter course will cause him less pain and distress in the
long run. The second person, after reviewing the
alternatives, decides to pull the tooth himself because he
perceives that this course of action—despite the pain and
greater risk of complications that self-treatment poses—
will cause him less mental trauma than a dentist’s
treatment. In both cases, there is no real "decision." What
the persons do is dictated by their genetic makeup and
other determining factors, according to proponents of this
theory.

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Normative Egoism

Back 99

Belief that a person will act in his own
best interests if he first thoroughly educates himself
about the choices available. In this type of egoism, the
second person in the example above would presumably decide
to go to a dentist because, after educating himself about
both alternatives, he would realize that professional
treatment is more likely to produce a positive outcome.
The rational egoists Dostoevsky criticizes—most notably
Chernyshevsky—maintained that one always acted in his own
self-interest, but also ought
to investigate the available alternatives or options in
order to make the most informed choice. However, there is a
conflict here. On the one hand, the other type of egoism presumes that a person has no free will. On the other hand,
this type of egoism implies that a person has at least a
modicum of free will and, after educating himself, acts
with "enlightened self-interest." Nevertheless,
Chernyshevsky believed that a person had no free will
regardless of how he went about making his choice.

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Elegy

Back 100

A somber poem or song that praises or laments the dead.
Perhaps the finest in English literature is Thomas
Gray's "[This] Written in a Country Churchyard."

Front 101

Elizabethan

Back 101

Pertaining to the time when Elizabeth I reigned as queen of
England. Elizabeth, born in 1533, reigned from 1558 until
her death in 1603. Elizabethan may be used to describe the
literature of the period (for example, Elizabethan poems
19
and Elizabethan plays) or anything else associated with the
age (such as Elizabethan costumes, Elizabethan customs,
Elizabethan music, and so on).

Front 102

Encomium (Plural: Encomia)

Back 102

(1) In ancient Greece, a poem in the form of a choral song
praising a victor in the Olympic games. (2) In modern
usage, any speech, essay, poem, etc., that praises a
person.

Front 103

Enjambment

Back 103

Carrying the sense of one line of verse over to the next
line without a pause. In the first four lines of "My Last
Duchess," by Robert Browning, enjambment joins the second
and third lines (I call / That) and the third and fourth
lines (Pandolf's hands / Worked):
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.

Front 104

Enter

Back 104

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating the
entrance onto the stage of a character or characters.

Front 105

Epic

Back 105

Long poem in a lofty style about the exploits of heroic
figures, often, those heroic figures who act in the
founding of a nation. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, as well as
the Old English poem Beowulf, are examples.

Front 106

Epic Conventions

Back 106

Literary practices, rules, or devices that became
commonplace in epic poetry. Among the classical conventions
Milton used are the following:
.......(1) The invocation of the muse, in which a writer
requests divine help in composing his work.
.......(2) Telling a story with which readers or listeners
are already familiar; they know the characters, the plot,
and the outcome. Most of the great writers of the ancient
world–as well as many great writers in later times,
including Shakespeare–frequently told stories already known
to the public. Thus, in such stories, there were no
unexpected plot twists, no surprise endings. If this sounds
strange to you, the modern reader and theatergoer, consider
that many of the most popular motion pictures today are
about stories already known to the public. Examples are ThePassion of the Christ, Titanic, The Ten Commandments, Troy,
Spartacus, Pearl Harbor, and Gettysburg........(3) Beginning the story in the middle, a literary
convention known by its Latin term in media res (in the
middle of things). Such a convention allows a writer to
begin his story at an exciting part, then flash back to
fill the reader in on details leading up to that exciting
part.
.......(4) Announcing or introducing a list of characters
who play a major role in the story. They may speak at some
length about how to resolve a problem (as the followers of
Satan do early in Paradise Lost).
.......(5) Conflict in the celestial realm. Divine beings
fight and scheme against one another in the epics of Homer
and Vergil, and they do so in Paradise Lost on a grand
scale, with Satan and his forces opposing God and his
forces.
.......(6) Use of dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is a
figure of speech in which a character in a story fails to
see or understand what is obvious to the audience. Dramatic
irony appears frequently in the plays of the ancient
Greeks. For example, in Oedipux Rex, by Sophocles, dramatic
irony occurs when Oedipus fails to realize what the
audience knows–that he married his own mother. In Paradise
Lost, dramatic irony occurs when Adam and Eve happily go
about daily life in the Garden of Eden unaware that they
will succumb to the devil's temptation and suffer the loss
of Paradise. Dramatic irony also occurs when Satan and his
followers fail to understand that it is impossible
ultimately to thwart or circumvent divine will and justice.

Front 107

Epicedium

Back 107

Funeral hymn or ode; dirge

Front 108

Epigram

Back 108

Wise or witty saying expressing a universal truth in a few
words. Following are examples from Shakespeare:
There's small choice in rotten apples.–The Taming of the
Shrew: Act I, Scene I.
A goodly apple rotten at the heart, O, what a goodly
outside falsehood hath!–The Merchant of Venice: Act I,
Scene III.
They are as sick that surfeit with too much as they that
starve with nothing.–The Merchant of Venice: Act I, Scene
II.
How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a
good deed in a naughty world.–The Merchant of Venice: Act
V, Scene I.Every cloud engenders not a storm.–Henry VI, Part III: Act
V, Scene III.
Words pay no debts.–Troilus and Cressida: Act III, Scene
II.
O! it is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is
tyrannous to use it like a giant.–Measure for Measure: Act
II, Scene II.

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Epigraph

Back 109

(1) Quotation inserted at the beginning of a poem, a novel,
or any other literary work; (2) a dedication of a literary
work or a work of art such as a painting; (3) words
inscribed or painted on a monument, building, trophy, etc.

Front 110

Epilogue

Back 110

In Shakespeare, a short address spoken by an actor at the
end of a play that comments on the meaning of the events in
the play or looks ahead to expected events; an afterword in
any literary work.

Front 111

Epinicion (Plural: Epinicia)

Back 111

In ancient Greece, a choral ode celebrating an athletic
victory. For additional information, click here.

Front 112

Episode

Back 112

Scene or incident in a literary work.

Front 113

Epistle

Back 113

Letter written by an apostle in the New Testament of the
Bible; any letter, especially an informal or instructive
one.

Front 114

Epistolary Novel

Back 114

Novel in which a character (or characters) tells the story
through letters (epistles) sent to a friend, relative, etc.
For example, in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Captain Robert
Walton writes letters to his sister to bring her up to date
on his expedition in the Arctic. After his ship takes
Victor Frankenstein aboard, he listens to Frankenstein’s
story and writes it down in letter form.

Front 115

Epitaph

Back 115

Inscription on a tomb or a written work praising a dead
person; any commemoration, eulogy, or remembrance.

Front 116

Epitasis

Back 116

The part of a stage play that develops the characters,
plot, and theme. Follows the protasis.

Front 117

Epithalamion (or Epithalamium, Epithalamy) [eppi-tha-la-
MEE-um]

Back 117

Poem or song honoring the bride and groom on the day of
their wedding. The term is derived from Greek words
referring to the bedroom of a woman. In ancient times, this was performed in front of the bridal chamber.
However, this can also refer to a song performed
during the wedding ceremony. Surviving fragments of the
Greek poetess Saphho (610-580 B.C.) indicate that she wrote
wedding songs called [this]. In Rome, the great lyric
poet Catullus (84-54 B.C.) wrote these. In the
Renaissance, English poets such as John Donne, Sir Philip
Sydney, Ben Jonson, Robert Herrick, and Richard Crashaw
wrote these. Many critics believe Edmund Spenser's
"This"–written in 1595 on the occasion of his
second marriage–is the greatest English poem in this genre.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) wrote a famous
[this], which used as its title the Latin word for
the term.

Front 118

Epithet

Back 118

One of the hallmarks of the style of the Greek epic poet
Homer, a combination of a descriptive phrase
and a noun. Presents a miniature portrait that
identifies a person or thing by highlighting a prominent
characteristic of that person or thing. In English, the
Homeric [this] usually consists of a noun modified by a
compound adjective, such as the following: fleet-footed
Achilles, rosy-fingered dawn, wine-dark sea, earth-shaking
Poseidon, and gray-eyed Athena. An
ancient relative of such later epithets as Richard the
Lion-Hearted, Ivan the Terrible, and America the Beautiful.
Homer repeated his [these] often, presumably so the
listeners of his recited tales could easily remember and
picture the person or thing each time it was mentioned. In
this respect, the Homeric [this] resembles the leitmotiv
of opera composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883). The leitmotiv
was a repeated musical theme associated with a character, a
group of characters, an emotion, or an idea.

Front 119

Epitome

Back 119

(1) Statement summarizing the content of a book, essay,
report, etc. (2) Person or object that embodies all the
qualities of something

Front 120

Esprit d'escalier (es PRE duh SKAL yay)

Back 120

Slow wit. Used to characterize a person who thinks of the
ideal reply or retort after leaving a conversation and
going upstairs (escalier). On the stairs, the ideal reply
occurs to him.

Front 121

Essay

Back 121

Short, nonfiction composition on a single topic. The
typical essay contains 500 to 5,000 words, although some
essays may contain only 300 words and others 10,000 or more
words. Examples of essays are newspaper or magazine
articles that inform readers about current events,
newspaper or magazine editorials that argue for or against
a point of view, movie reviews, research papers,
encyclopedia articles, articles in medical journals, and
articles in travel magazines. There are four types of
essays: those that inform the reader without taking a
position; those that argue for or against a point of view;
those that describe a person, place, thing, or idea; and
those that tell a true story. Essays often require
extensive research to support claims made by the writer of
the essay.

Front 122

Eulogy

Back 122

Speech or written work paying tribute to a person who has
recently died; speech or written work praising a person
(living, as well as dead), place, thing, or idea.

Front 123

Euphemism

Back 123

Word or phrase that softens the hard reality of
the truth, such as senior citizen for old person, passed
away for died, misstatement for lie, previously owned car
for used car, collateral damage for civilian deaths during
war, and pleasingly plump for fat. The U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency once used the euphemism Health
Evaluation Committee for assassination team. In general,
good writers avoid euphemisms.

Front 124

Euphuism

Back 124

Ornate, high-flown style of speaking or writing.

Front 125

Excursion

Back 125

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating that a
military attack is taking place. The opening of Scene II in
Act III of Shakespeare's King John contains such a stage
direction.

Front 126

Exemplum

Back 126

Short narrative in verse or prose that teaches a moral
lesson or reinforces a doctrine or religious belief.

Front 127

Exeunt..[EX e unt]

Back 127

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating the departure of two or more characters from the stage.

Front 128

Exeunt Omnes..[EX e unt AHM-nez]

Back 128

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating the
departure of all the characters from the stage.

Front 129

Exit

Back 129

Stage direction in a play manuscript indicating the
departure of a character from the stage.

Front 130

Exodos (EX uh doss)

Back 130

In a drama of ancient Greece, the exit scene; the final
part of the play

Front 131

Expressionism

Back 131

In literature, this is a writing approach,
process, or technique in which a writer depicts a
character’s feelings about a subject (or the writer’s own
feelings about it) rather than the objective surface
reality of the subject. A writer, in effect, presents his
interpretation of what he sees. Often, the depiction is a
grotesque distortion or phantasmagoric representation of
reality, for the character or writer must reshape the
objective image into his mind's image. However, there is
logic to this approach for these reasons: (1) Not everybody
perceives the world in the same way. What one person may
see as beautiful or good another person may see as ugly or
bad. Sometimes a writer or his character suffers from a
mental debility, such as depression or paranoia, which
alters his perception of reality. Enables the
writer to present this altered perception. An example of a
character who sees reality through his mind's eye is Joseph
K., the protagonist of Franz Kafka's novel The Trial.

Front 132

Exposition

Back 132

In a story, the part of the plot that introduces the
setting and characters and presents the events and
situations that the story will focus on. Also
refers to an essay whose primary purpose is to inform
readers rather than to argue a point.