Literary Terms K-Z

Front 1

Kenning

Back 1

compound expression representing a single noun

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Laurel Wreath

Back 2

wreath woven of the large glossy leaves of the laurel tree

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Lay

Back 3

medievel narrative poem, writen in couplets, for singing by a mistrel

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Lexis

Back 4

the complete vocabulary of a language or field of study

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Litotes

Back 5

creation of a positive or opposite idea through negation

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Low comedy

Back 6

comedy that relies on slapstick and horeseplay

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Lyric poetry

Back 7

poetry that presents the deep feelings and emtions of the poet as opposed to poetry that tells a story

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Machine

Back 8

armlike device in an ancient greek theater that could lower a god onto the stage from the heavens

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Macrocosm

Back 9

the world as a whole, the universe

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Magnum Opus

Back 10

great work, masterpiece

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Malapropism

Back 11

unintentional use of an inappropriate word similar in sound to the appropriate word

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Mask

Back 12

in the drama of ancient greece, a face covering with exaggerated features

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Master of Revels

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in shakespeare's time, a government censor who examined all playes for offensive material

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Melodrama

Back 14

literary work or film that uses maudlin sentimentality and sterotypical characters

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Memoir

Back 15

type of autobiography in which the writer focues primarily on people with whom they came into contact with

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Metaphor

Back 16

comparing one thing to an unlike thing without use like or as

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Meter

Back 17

recurring paterrn of stressed and unstressed

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Metonymy

Back 18

substitution of a word or phrase similar in meaning

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Microcosm

Back 19

a tiny world within the macrocosm

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MInstrel

Back 20

Roving medieval musician who sang and recited poetry

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Mise en Scene

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the stage set and arrangesment of the actors

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Motif

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recurring theme in a literary wrok

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Mock-Epic

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work that parodies the serious, elevated style of the classical epic poems

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Morality Play

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allegorical drama of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that teaches a lesson about how Christians should live

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Motivation

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reason or reasons behind a character's actions

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Narrator

Back 26

one who tells a story

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Naturalism

Back 27

an extreme form of realism that developed in France in the 19th century

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Neologism

Back 28

word or phrase-or a new meaning for an existing word or phrase-that is accepted into the dictionary

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Nihilism

Back 29

philopshy that calls for the destruction of existing traditions, customs, beliefs, and institutions

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Nine Worthies

Back 30

mythological, legendary, or historical personages alluded to in literature because of their heroic qualities

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Noble Savage

Back 31

writers have often depicted aboriginal or uncivilized people as noble

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Nom de Plume

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pen name, psudonym

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Noble Savage

Back 33

writers have often depicted aboriginal or uncivilized people as noble

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Novel

Back 34

long fictional story told in prose

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Nom de Plume

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pen name, psudonym

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Novella

Back 36

short prose tale that often has satire and a moral

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Novel

Back 37

long fictional story told in prose

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Novelette

Back 38

prose work shorter than a novel but longer than a short story

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Novella

Back 39

short prose tale that often has satire and a moral

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Objectivity

Back 40

ability of an author to keep his opinions and preachements out of a poem, play, story, novel

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Novelette

Back 41

prose work shorter than a novel but longer than a short story

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Ockham's Razor

Back 42

principle expressed by William of Ockham, that the simplest solution is the best

Front 43

Objectivity

Back 43

ability of an author to keep his opinions and preachements out of a poem, play, story, novel

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Octave

Back 44

first eight lines of a petrarchan or italian sonnet

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Ockham's Razor

Back 45

principle expressed by William of Ockham, that the simplest solution is the best

Front 46

Ode

Back 46

a lyric poem on a serious subject that develops its theme with dignified language intended to be sung

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Octave

Back 47

first eight lines of a petrarchan or italian sonnet

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Ode, Romantic

Back 48

dignified but highly lyrical poem

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Ode

Back 49

a lyric poem on a serious subject that develops its theme with dignified language intended to be sung

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Ode, Romantic

Back 50

dignified but highly lyrical poem

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Oeuvre

Back 51

complete works of an author, composer, painter

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Old Comedy

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comedy that displayed great imagination adn used cutthroat satire, carciature, and sometimes vulgar dialogue to ridicule public figures and ideas

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Od English Versification

Back 53

unrhymining verse, without stanzas, with a pause in the middlbe of each line

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Onkos

Back 54

headdress worn by some actors in ancient Greece to increase height

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Onomatopoeia,

Back 55

figure of speech in which a word mimics a sound

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Opera

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a play set to music

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Oration

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speech deliverd with great emotion to spur listerns to action

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Otiose writing

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extremely wordy writing in which the author is too lazy to edit

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Oxymoron

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combining contradictory words to reveal a truth

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Pantomime

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use of body movements and facial expressions by actors to convey a message without speaking

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Parabasis

Back 61

an ode in which the chorus addresses the audience to express the opinoins of the author

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Parodos

Back 62

a song sung by the chorus when it enters

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Paradox

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contradictory statement that may actually be true

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Paranomasia

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pretentious word for pun

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Parody

Back 65

imitation of a literary wrok or film to ridicule teh work and its writer or producer

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Pastoral Poem

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poem focusing on some aspect of rural life

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Periakti

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a prism having surfaces painted with pictures

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Peripeteia

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a sudden reversal of fortune from good to bad

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Peroration

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conclusion of a speech in which the speaker summarizes the main points

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Personificialtion

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giving humanlike qualities or human form to objects

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Philippic

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speech that bitterly denounces, blames, accuses, or insults a person

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Picaresque Novel

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novel that presents the episodic adeventures of a rogusih character as he travels from place to place and meets a variety of other characters

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Plaint

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expression of grief or sorrow in a poem

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Plot

Back 74

the events that unfold in a story

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Poetics

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important work by aristotle

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Poetry

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language that expresses powerful emotions and ideas in a stanza or stanzas

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Prolixity

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wordiness

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Prologue

Back 78

introduction to a play or literary work

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Prologos

Back 79

a prologue that begins the play with dialogue indicating the focus or theme of the play

Front 80

Promptbook

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the edited version of the play in which an acting company inserted stage directions

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Proscenium

Back 81

the stage of a theater

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Prose

Back 82

language of everyday speech and writing

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Protagonist

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main character of a play, novel, or film

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Protasis

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opening part of a stage drama that indroduces that characters and the focus of the play

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Pun

Back 85

play on words

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Quarto

Back 86

sheat of printinign paper fold twice to form eight sepearte pages for printing a book

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Quatrain

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stanza or poem of four lines

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Quill

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writing instrument

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Redundancy

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writing flaw in which unnecassary wording us used

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Re-enter

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stage direction in a play indicating re - entrance of a character

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Refrain

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group of words repeated at key intervals in a poem

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Realism

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a movement that stressed the presentation of life as it is, without embellishment or idealization

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Repartee

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quick, witty, often amusing reply

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Rhetoric

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art of effectively using words in speech and writing

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Roman a Clef

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novel in whcih real persons are thinly disguised as fictional characters

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Romance, Medieval

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long poem resembling an epic in its focus on heroic deeds, however, light in tone

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Romanticism

Back 97

a movement that championed imagination and emotions as more powerful than reason and thinking

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Rondeau

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lyric poem consisting of three stanzas with a total of fifteen lines

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Sarcasm

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form of verbal irony that insults a person with insincere praise

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Satire

Back 100

literary work that attacks or pokes fun at vices and imperfections

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Satyr Play

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a play that pokes fun at serious subject involving gods and myths

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Scenariio

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plot outline of a play, opera, tv program

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Scene

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part of an act of a play

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Science Fiction

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literary genre focusing on how scientific experiments, discoveries, and technologies affect human beings for better or worse

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Scop

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old english poet often attached to a monarchs court

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Sennet

Back 106

stage dirction to signal a trumpet flourish

Front 107

Sentimentality

Back 107

a flaw in a literary work or fiml in whcih the author relies on tear-jerking, or heart-wrenching scenes rather than talent

Front 108

Sermon

Back 108

a clergyman's talk centering on a scriptural passage

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Sestet

Back 109

final six lines of an italian sonnet

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Sestina

Back 110

poem with six stanzas of six lines each

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Setting

Back 111

the environment in which a story unfolds

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Sic

Back 112

word inserted in a qoted statement in a reasearch work

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Simile

Back 113

comparing two unlike things using like or as

Front 114

Soliloquy

Back 114

recitation in a play in which the character reveals his thoughts to the audience but not to other characters

Front 115

Solus

Back 115

stage direction indicating character is alone on stage

Front 116

Sonnet

Back 116

form of poetry invented in italy that has 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme

Front 117

Curtal Sonnet

Back 117

shorted or contracted sonnet

Front 118

Soubrette

Back 118

a maid or servant girl involved in intrigue affecting the central characters

Front 119

Southern Gothic

Back 119

Fictional genre with a setting in the Souther US

Front 120

Spoonerism

Back 120

slip of the tongue in which a speaker transposes the letters of words

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Spenserian Stanza

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a stanza with eight lines in iambic pentameter

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Stasimon

Back 122

a scene in which the chorus sings a song, uniterrupted

Front 123

Stationer's Register

Back 123

a book in whcih teh english government required printers to register the title of a play

Front 124

Stanza

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lines that form a division or unit of a poem

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Stereotype

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character in a literary work who thinks or acts according to certain unvarying patterns

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Stichomythia

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alternating lines of dialogue spoken in rapid fire succession

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Sturm and Drang

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literary movement characterized by a rejection of many classical literary conventions

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Style

Back 128

the way an author writes a literary work

Front 129

Subplt

Back 129

secondary or minor plot in a story that usually relates to the main plot

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Suspense

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anxiety about what will happen in the next story

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Symbol

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a person, place, or thing that represents something else

Front 132

Syncope

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omitting letters or sounds within a word

Front 133

Synecdoche

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substitution of a part to stand for the whole

Front 134

Synesthesia

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use of an adjective associated with one sensation to describe a noun referring to another sensation

Front 135

Tautology

Back 135

wordiness, needless repitition

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Tercet

Back 136

a unit of three lines that usually contain end rhyme

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Terza Rima

Back 137

Italian verse form

Front 138

Tetraology

Back 138

four plays staged by a playwright during a drama competition

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Greek Theater

Back 139

open-air structure in which plays were performed

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Theater of the Absurd

Back 140

term to descrive the plays of Samuel Beckett and other writers who believed that life is meaningless

Front 141

Theme

Back 141

main idea of a literary work

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Thespian

Back 142

actor or actress

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Tone

Back 143

prevailing mood or atmosphere of a literary work

Front 144

Tiring House

Back 144

dressing rooms of actors behind a wall at the back of the stage

Front 145

Torches

Back 145

stage direction in a play indictating characters carrying torches

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Tragicomedy

Back 146

play that has tragic events but ends happily

Front 147

Transcendentalism

Back 147

belief that every human being has inborn knowledge that enables him to recognized and understand moral truth

Front 148

Travesty

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play, novel, poem that trivializes a serious subject or composition

Front 149

Trope

Back 149

figure of speech

Front 150

Troubador

Back 150

lyric poet/musician of sourther France or Northern Italy, minestral

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Ubi Sunt

Back 151

term is applied to poetry that laments the passing of people

Front 152

Unities

Back 152

three key elements of dramatic structure: time, place, and action

Front 153

Universality

Back 153

appealing to readers and audiences of any age or any culture

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Verisimilitude

Back 154

having the appearance of truth, realism

Front 155

Verse

Back 155

collection of lines

Front 156

Villanelle

Back 156

form of poetry popularized mainly in France in the 16th century

Front 157

Within

Back 157

stage dirction in a play manuscript indicating that a person speaking or being spoken to is behind a door or inside a room

Front 158

Zeugma

Back 158

use of one word to serve two or more other words with more than one meaning