alliteration

the repetition of initial consonant sounds at the beginning of words. For example: “And we were the first that ever burst/ Into that Silent Sea.”

ballad

a short narrative poem that tells a story. It begins close to the climax of the story and uses devices such as incremental repetition which show its roots in song. Characters are not developed and there are many conventions employed. Lips are like roses or cherries; lovers are abandoned; mothers are not friendly toward sons’ lovers.

ballad stanza

a stanza consisting of four alternating lines of four stresses and three stresses, the second and fourth lines rhyming: There lived a wife at Usher's Well, a
And a wealthy wife was she; b
She had three stout and stalwart sons, c
And sent them o'er the sea. b

In Scarlet town where I was born, (4 stresses) a
There was a fair maid dwellin' (3 stresses) b
Made every youth cry Well-a-day, (4 stresses) c
Her name was Barb'ra Allen. (3 stresses) b

Many hymns also make use of this stanza.

All hail the pow’r of Jesus’ name (4) a
Let angels prostrate fall (3) b
Bring forth the royal diadem (4) c
And crown him Lord of all (3) b

blank verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter (five feet to the line, each composed of an unstressed and a stressed syllable which is called an iamb). Shakespeare employs blank verse in his plays as does Milton in Paradise Lost. For example: “How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with.”

Brahmins

a term used to describe a group of educated literary figures, many of them academics, in the mid-19th century who were well-known and respected for their knowledge and their social status. The word originally meant a Hindu priest and was used with an ironic bow to the literary prominence of these men. The group included Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell, Whittier, Charles Eliot Norton, Julia Ward Howe, Margaret Fuller, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

burden

similar to a refrain, a repeated word or phrase, often unrelated to the rest of the verse, such as "nickety-nackety-no no no"or "hey, ho, the wind and the rain."

characterization

the devices an author uses to add dimension to a character in order to make the person more human-like or believable. This can be accomplished in various ways. The most direct and possibly the least satisfying in terms of literary craft is direct description. The writer tells us the age, height, general appearance, and personal traits of the character. The author defines the limits of a figure in the story, and little is left to the reader's imagination. Another approach to depiction is reporting someone's actions. The readers can then infer something about the person from our response to the behavior that is depicted. We may react to something said or done in the story that suggests some emotion or personal quality. When the author is acting as the third-person omniscient narrator who knows everything about all the characters, any of these qualities or personal attributes can be stated directly. What the character says, his or her part in the dialog, can be revealing, especially when the quotation has embellished tag lines such as “he stammered,“ “she blurted,” “he sobbed,” or “she muttered through clenched teeth.” The author is at liberty to make characters "round” or “flat,” referring to the degree of reality that is infused. Round characters are fully developed; flat characters are often there to advance the plot. Sometimes these flat characters are types: the jealous next-door neighbor, the joker, the young lover. Round characters are usually important in the narrative. Obviously, too much detail about minor characters detracts from the emphasis on the important ones and interferes with the flow of the story.

character development

the ways in which a given character is shown to change (often for the better) in general behavior, actions, motivation, and outlook as a story progresses. This usually applies to the principal character or the protagonist. Other characters may be left undeveloped because they are less important to the story or because over-dwelling on them would detract from the emphasis intended for the main character. Characters who are shown to change are usually called dynamic, while those who remain unchanged are called static.

dialect poetry

poetry written in dialect such as many of the poems of Robert Burns. Dialect is a variety of language distinct from the standard variety in pronunciation, grammar or vocabulary.

fable

a simple kind of story which points to a moral. One qualifying characteristic is its universality.

figure of speech

poetry employs many figures of speech. The most common are Simile--a comparison expressed with “like” or “as.” Metaphor--a comparison without such words. For example, “My love is a rose.” Metonomy--a substitution of a closely related term for an object or idea. For example: “We have always remained loyal to the crown.” Synecdoche—the substitution of the part for the whole. For example: “Lend me a hand.”

foreshadowing

a subtle way of preparing readers for important future events by mentioning a character, event, or object earlier in the narrative, planting a seed, so to speak, before the matter becomes significant.

frame

a kind of story "wrapped around" the principal story, as when a narrator is shown as recalling the main incidents to another person who is not participating in the events themselves. Joseph Conrad frequently used this device in his tales of adventure in the South Seas as did Rudyard Kipling in his "Plain Tales from the Hills."

free verse

poetry that follows the rhythms of speech rather than specific metrical forms.

iambic pentameter

a five foot line composed of five groups of unstressed/stressed syllables.

imagery

mental pictures suggested by an author's use of language to produce sensory images, which may take the form of physical objects, natural phenomena, experiences through the five senses, or moods invoked by the use of any of these.

irony

A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen. Dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows more than the characters themselves do.

metaphor

a figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another, often dissimilar, thing. “Life is a dream” is a metaphor expressing that one thing IS another. X is said to BE Y in a metaphor. Metaphor asserts an identity. Examples: “That woman is a rose.” “I should have been a pair of ragged claws” (Eliot). Simile is a figure of speech that also expresses a comparison between one thing and another, using "like" or "as." It differs from metaphor in that a likeness is claimed, not an identity. Examples: “My love is like a red, red rose” (Burns) or “She walked steadily, like a camel.”

meter

one method of organizing a poem’s rhythm. An organization of elements of stress, duration, or number of syllables per line into a specific formal pattern.

mise en scene

fr. the staging or physical setting of a play; the scenery and properties of a stage production.

narrative poetry/ narrative verse

a poem that tells a story

narrator

the person through whose voice or viewpoint the story is told. The author may choose a character from the story to act in this capacity, speaking in the first person as if he or she had been present during the action or at least aware of much of what was happening. The author herself may be the "omniscient narrator," a designation that refers to a nameless observer who knows about all the characters and has insight into their emotions, actions, and motivation.

pacing

the rate at which an author allows the story to develop and move toward its climax, determined by such factors as the amount of dialog and description that intervenes, whether the author pauses in mid-action to reflect on what is taking place, and whether he or she departs from a linear plot to a flashback or a glimpse into the future, or switches the setting to a simultaneous subplot.

pathetic fallacy

the tendency of writers to attribute human characteristics and actions to nature, such as calling the sea voracious, ravening, etc., or saying that the waves swooped down on them, the trees loomed threateningly, and so on. A memorable example is King Lear's exhortation during the terrible storm, "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks!"

personification

the attribution of human or animal characteristics to inanimate objects or entities. Examples: "The sea roared." "The tree moaned in the wind."

plot

the way events in the narrative are organized. The linear plot is usually the most common, laying out the story in chronological sequence from beginning to end. Authors also use various types of non-linear plots in particular the flashback, in which the narration of a series of secondary events alternates with the main plot. Sometimes a framing device [see Glossary entry] encloses the principal story within another one, in which the scene is set and the story told by a third person who provides the exposition that brings the reader into the main story.

poetic license

deviation from form or rule by a writer for the sake of the effect gained.

reader response criticism

recognition of the knowledge, experience, and emotion that we bring to a reading of the author's text.

refrain

a line or phrase repeatedly inserted as the third line of a ballad stanza, providing a balance in the verse and also, possibly, serving as a place for the balladeer to catch his breath and gather his thoughts. It might have been a variation of line 2, or simply a kind of nonsense phrase.

rhyme

the correspondence of two or more words with similar sounding final syllables placed so as to echo each other. Much rhyme is end rhyme, but internal rhyme also occurs. For example: “We were the first that ever burst/ Into that silent sea.”

rhyme scheme

One of many patterns into which rhyme is organized. By tradition, lower case letters are used to indicate the rhyme scheme, beginning with “a.” There are many different rhyme schemes. Perhaps one of the most recognized is the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearian sonnet which is abba cdcd efef gg. For example, here is Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds a
Admit impediments. Love is not love b
Which alters when it alteration finds, a
Or bends with the remover to remove. b
(a sight rhyme; rhymed in Shakespeare’s day
O, no, it is an ever-fixed mark c
That looks on tempests and is never shaken; d
It is the star to every wandering bark, c
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken. d
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks e
Within his bending sickle’s compass come; f
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, e
But bears it out even to the edge of doom f
If this be error and upon me proved, g
I never writ, nor no man ever loved. g

setting

the place and time which a writer assigns to a story together with any other descriptive details that assist the reader in picturing where and when to locate the story in his/her imagination. Setting may be hinted at or described at length.

simile

see entry under metaphor

stanza

a division of a poem consisting of two or more lines. When a poem has stanzas, they are set off by white space. Stanzas of a poem resemble verses of a song.

suspension of disbelief

S. T. Coleridge’s theory that our response to drama is characterized by a “willing suspension of disbelief” so that although we know we are watching an actor on the stage we empathize with the character being portrayed.

symbol

a concrete object -- a tree, a light, a bird, a man -- which in addition to its role in the story has significance as representing some abstraction.

theme

a major idea that states in general or universal terms what the story is about. Three general themes are
--the struggle of the individual against nature
--the individual against society
--society against the individual
Any work of literature may have a number of themes.

tone

By the words selected and the level of language used, an author imbues the story with a tone which may be serious, playful, tragic, frightening, ironic, or any number of other possibilities. The implied attitude of a writer toward the subject and character of a work

Gale's Literary Terms

Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms

Dictionary of Literary Terms

The Virtual Classroom Glossary of Literary Terms

Literary Terms

VirtualSalt :A Glossary of Literary Terms

All American: Glossary of Literary Terms