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Literary Terms H-Z
40.
hyperbole: a deliberate exaggeration or overstatement is used in
the service of truth.
·
His eloquence could split rocks.
·
My left leg weighs three tons
.
41.
iamb: a metrical foot consisting of one unaccented syllable
followed by one accented syllable
(example: re – HEARSE)
42.
internal rhyme: a rhyme in which one or both of the rhyme words
occurs WITHIN THE LINE.
43.
irony: a contrast between what is stated and what is really
meant
EX: By Spring, if God was
good, all of the proud privileges of trench lice, mustard gas, spattered
brains, punctured lungs, ripped guts, mud, and gangrene, might be his.—Thomas
Wolfe
44.
litotes: a deliberate understatement, not to deceive someone but
to enhance the impressiveness of
what we have to say.
·
Last week I saw a woman flayed, and you will hardly believe how
much it altered
her appearance for the worse.
–Jonathan Swift
·
It isn’t very serious. I have this tiny little tumor on the
brain. –J.D. Salinger
45.
lyric poem: a poem, usually a short one, that expresses a
speaker's thoughts or describes an object or emotion.
46.
metaphor: a direct comparison of two unlike things. The two
things being compared may be named or unnamed.
·
On the final examination, several students went down in flames.
·
Birmingham lighted a runaway fuse, and as fast as the headlines
could record them,
demonstrations exploded all over the country.
47.
metaphysical poetry: The best metaphysical poetry is honest,
unconventional, and reveals the poet's sense of the complexities and
contradictions of life. It is intellectual, analytical,
psychological, and bold; frequently it is absorbed in thoughts of
death, physical love, and religious devotion. Metaphysical poets such as John
Donne wanted to write poems that were not in the style of sentimental
Elizabethan love poetry. These poems are known for their use of conceits—unusual
analogies such as linking love and a compass.
*** tendency to psychological analysis of emotion of love
and religion
*** form is frequently an argument
*** images were “unpoetical”—drawn from commonplace life or
intellectual study
48.
meter: rhythmical pattern of a poem
49.
metonymy: figure of speech that substitutes something closely
related for the thing
EX: crown for royalty; brass
for military officers; pen for writer; White House for the US President;
rebels for VHHS students.
50.
motif: a recurring feature (such as a name, an image, or a
phrase) in a work of fiction . A conspicuous recurring element, such as a
type of incident, a device, a reference, or verbal formula, which appears
frequently in works of literature. For instance, the ugly girl who turns out
to be a beautiful princess is a common motif in folklore, and the man fatally
bewitched by a fairy lady is a common folkloric motif. The mockingbird
imagery in To Kill a Mockingbird acts as a motif. The Carpe Diem (seize the
day) motif often appears in contemporary literature.
51.
narrative poem: tells a story in verse. Ballads and epics are
two forms of narrative poetry. An example is Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven.”
52.
octave: an eight line stanza
53.
onomatopoeia: use of a word whose sound in some degree imitates
or suggests its meaning.
·
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn yard.
–Alfred Noyes
·
The birds chirped away. Fweet, Fweet, Bootchee-Fweet.—Saul
Bellow
54.
oxymoron: the yoking of two terms that are ordinarily
contradictory
EX: sweet pain; cheerful
pessimist; conspicuous by her absence; thunderous silence;
make haste slowly;
jumbo shrimp; rational hysteria
55.
paradox: a statement that reveals the truth but at first seems
contradictory
·
He is guilty of being innocent.—about Joseph K. in Kafka’s The
Trial
·
The past is the prologue. –Paul Newman
56.
paraphrase: a restatement of the content of a poem designed to
make its prose meaning as clear as possible.
57.
parallelism: the use of phrases, clauses, or sentences that are
similar or complementary in structure or
in meaning.
58.
pentameter: a metrical line containing five feet. Shakespeare
most often wrote in iambic pentameter ( 5 feet per poetry line with each foot
consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)
59.
personification: a figure of speech in which human attributes
are given to an animal, an object, or a concept.
·
The ground thirsts for rain; the harvester sits carelessly on
the granary floor; the wind cried as it raced through the trees.
·
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest/ Against the earth’s
sweet-flowing breast.
60.
point of view: vantage point from which a narrative is told.
These include the personal, private thoughts to the reader.
61.
protagonist: the central character of a drama, novel, short
story, or narrative poem. The character that the readers USUALLY sympathizes
the most with. Protagonists often have rivals or opposing characters called
antagonists
62.
pun: a play on words. Involves using a word or a phrase that
has two different meanings at the same time.
·
If we don’t hang together, we’ll hang separately. –Ben
Franklin
·
Your word is sound, nothing but sound. –Ben Franklin
63.
quatrain: a four line stanza
64.
refrain: a repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines,
normally at some fixed position in a poem written in stanzaic form.
65.
rhetorical question: when a question is asked that requires no
one to answer it
EX: A good
student body is perhaps the most important factor in a great school. How
can you possibly make
good wine from poor grapes?
66.
rhyme: repetition of the accented vowel sound and all the
succeeding sounds in important or importantly positioned words ( examples:
old-cold, vane-reign, court-report). This definition applies to a perfect
rhyme.
67.
rhyme scheme: regular pattern of rhyming words in a poem or
stanza.
68.
rhythm: any wave-like recurrence of motion or sound.
69.
satire: writing that ridicules or holds up to contempt the
faults of individuals or groups.
70.
sentimental poetry: poetry that attempts to manipulate the
reader’s emotions in order to achieve a greater emotional response than the
poem itself warrants. (a sentimental novel or film is often called a
“tear-jerker.”)
71.
sestet: a six line stanza
72.
setting: the time and place in which a story or poem occurs
73.
simile: the comparison of two unlike things using the words
"like" or "as"
EX: He had a posture like a
question mark.
·
Silence settled down over the audience like a block of
granite.
·
Like an arrow, the prosecutor went directly to the point.
74.
soliloquy: long speech made by one character who is alone and
thus reveals his/her
75.
sonnet: a fourteen-line poem with a single theme. Two
traditional patterns exist.
****Petrarchan or Italian sonnet is divided into two parts-- an
eight-line octave and a six line sestet. The octave rhymes abba abba, while
the sestet generally rhymes cde, cde. The two parts of the sonnet work
together. The octave raises the question, states a problem, or presents a
brief narrative. The sestet answers the question, solves the problem, or
comments on the narrative. The
****Shakespearean or English sonnet consists of 3 quatrains
and a concluding couplet, with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. Each
of the 3 quatrains usually explores a different variation of the main theme.
The couplet presents a summarizing or concluding statement.
76.
stanza: a clustered group of lines in a poem. Many poems are
divided into stanzas that have metrical patterns repeated throughout a poem.
synecdoche: (sin- NECK- ta-KEY) a figure of speech in which a part is
used to stand for the whole.
EX: bread for food;
cutthroat for assassin; hands for helpers; roofs for houses
silver for money;
·
In Europe, we gave the cold shoulder to DeGaulle, and now he
gives a warm hand to
the Chinese. –Richard Nixon
·
Give us this day our daily bread.
·
The face that launched a thousand ships
·
They braved the waves to protect the fatherland.
·
Are there no roofs in this town that will harbor an honorable
man?
77.
tercet: a three line stanza
78.
theme: the general idea or insight about life that a writer
wishes to express in a literary work. A central idea or statement that unifies
and controls an entire literary work. The theme can take the form of a brief
and meaningful insight or a comprehensive vision of life; it may be a single
idea such as "progress" (in many Victorian works), "order and duty" (in many
early Roman works), "seize-the-day" (in many late Roman works), or "jealousy"
(in Shakespeare's Othello).
79.
tone: the attitude a writer takes toward his or her subject,
characters, or audience. The means of creating a relationship or conveying
an attitude or mood. By looking carefully at the choices an author makes (in
characters, incidents, setting; in the work's stylistic choices and diction,
etc.), careful readers often can isolate the tone of a work and sometimes
infer from it the underlying attitudes that control and color the story or
poem as a whole. The tone might be formal or informal, playful, ironic,
optimistic, pessimistic, or sensual.
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