Ballad ►seeGenres

GlOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS

Adynation A type of hyperbole in which the exaggeration is magnified so greatly that it refers to an impossibility. For example: I'd walk a million miles for one of your smiles.

Allegorical narrative A story, poem or play in which the characters and events not only have meaning in themselves but also convey a second meaning that lies outside the work.

Allegory ►seeGenres

Alliteration The repetition of the same consonants at the start of several words or syllables in sequence or in close proximity to each other. For example: And sings a solitary song

That whistles in the wind (from “Lucy Gray” by William Wordsworth)

Allusion An indirect reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art.

Allusive name ► Symbolic name.

Analepsis ► Flashback.

Anapest A metrical foot consisting of three syllables. The first two are unstressed and the last is stressed. For example: undermine, overcome.e

Anti-climax A sudden transition from an elevated thought to a trivial one in order to achieve a humorous or satirical effect.

Anti-novel ►seeGenres

Antithesis The expression of opposing or contrasting ideas laid out in a parallel structure. For example: Not that I loved Caesar, but that I loved Rome more (From Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare)

Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables in a sequence of nearby words. For example:

Thou still unravished bride of quietness. Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, (from 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' by John Keats)

Ballad ►seeGenres

Beast fable A brief story that teaches a lesson or moral in which animals talk and act like humans. Beast fables are found in many cultures. Among the most famous are the fables attributed to Aesop, the Greek slave of the sixth century ВС and the fables of La Fontaine, a seventeenth-century French poet.

Blank verse Verse that consists of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, i.e. ten-syllable lines in which unstressed syllables are followed by stressed syllables. It is the most common metrical pattern in English because it recreates most successfully the rhythm of ordinary speech.

Caesura A break or pause that occurs in the middle of a line of poetry. The term comes from a Latin word meaning “cut or slice”. Caesura is usually marked by a double slash. For example:

He stared at the Pacific // - and all his men

Look'd at each other // with a wild surmise

Silent // upon a peak in Darien.

(from 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer' by John Keats)

Casting The choice of actors in a play.

Character The representation of a human being in narrative fiction, poetry or drama. Round characters have a distinct identity and usually change their thoughts, feelings and behaviour in the course of a story, while flat characters have little psychological depth and do not evolve.

Character portrayal In drama, a character can be portrayed through tone, movement, gestures, facial expressions and costume.

Chacterisation The act of creating and developing a character. Characterisation may focus on external aspects, i.e. physical traits or behaviour, and/or the character's internal world, i.e. thoughts and feelings. In direct characterisation the writer simply states the character's traits, while in indirect characterisa­tion he allows the reader to draw conclusions.

Climax The point in a literary or theatrical text when the conflict and resulting tension reach the highest point of interest or suspense.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14