Theme
The idea of a literary work abstracted from its details of language, character, and action, and cast in the form of a generalization.
The idea of a literary work abstracted from its details of language, character, and action, and cast in the form of a generalization.
Symbol
An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself and that stands for something beyond itself. The glass unicorn in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie, the rocking horse in D.H. Lawrence’s "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the road in Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"--all are symbols in this sense.
An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself and that stands for something beyond itself. The glass unicorn in Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie, the rocking horse in D.H. Lawrence’s "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the road in Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken"--all are symbols in this sense.
Synecdoche
A figure of speech in which a part is substituted for the whole. An example: "Lend me a hand” (hands means “assistance”); “All hands on deck” (hand means sailors or all of the crew on board a ship) etc.
A figure of speech in which a part is substituted for the whole. An example: "Lend me a hand” (hands means “assistance”); “All hands on deck” (hand means sailors or all of the crew on board a ship) etc.
Syntax
The grammatical order of words in a sentence or line of verse or dialogue. The organization of words and phrases and clauses in sentences of prose, verse, and dialogue. In the following examples, normal English syntax (subject, verb, object order) is inverted or convoluted: "Whose woods these are I think I know” or “Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?” (Yoda).
The grammatical order of words in a sentence or line of verse or dialogue. The organization of words and phrases and clauses in sentences of prose, verse, and dialogue. In the following examples, normal English syntax (subject, verb, object order) is inverted or convoluted: "Whose woods these are I think I know” or “Size matters not, ... Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?” (Yoda).
Stanza
A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form--either with similar or identical patterns or rhyme and meter, or with variations from one stanza to another. The stanzas of Gertrude Schnackenberg's "Signs" are regular; those of Rita Dove's "Canary" are irregular.
A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form--either with similar or identical patterns or rhyme and meter, or with variations from one stanza to another. The stanzas of Gertrude Schnackenberg's "Signs" are regular; those of Rita Dove's "Canary" are irregular.
Simile
A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as though. An example: "My love is like a red, red rose."
A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as though. An example: "My love is like a red, red rose."
Rhythm
The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse. In the following lines from "Same in Blues" by Langston Hughes, the accented words and syllables are underlined:
The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse. In the following lines from "Same in Blues" by Langston Hughes, the accented words and syllables are underlined:
I said to my baby,
Baby take it slow....
Lulu said to Leonard
I want a diamond ring
Baby take it slow....
Lulu said to Leonard
I want a diamond ring
Rhyme
The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words. The following stanza of Robinson’s poem "Richard Cory" employs alternate rhyme, with the third line rhyming with the first and the fourth with the second:
The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words. The following stanza of Robinson’s poem "Richard Cory" employs alternate rhyme, with the third line rhyming with the first and the fourth with the second:
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him;
He was a gentleman from sole to crown
Clean favored and imperially slim.
We people on the pavement looked at him;
He was a gentleman from sole to crown
Clean favored and imperially slim.
Metaphor
A comparison between essentially unlike things without an explicitly comparative word such as like or as. An example is "My love is a red, red rose" from Burns's "A Red, Red Rose." Langston Hughes's "Dream Deferred" is built entirely of metaphors. Metaphor is one of the most important of literary uses of language. Shakespeare employs a wide range of metaphor in his sonnets and his plays, often in such density and profusion that readers are kept busy analyzing and interpreting and unraveling them.
A comparison between essentially unlike things without an explicitly comparative word such as like or as. An example is "My love is a red, red rose" from Burns's "A Red, Red Rose." Langston Hughes's "Dream Deferred" is built entirely of metaphors. Metaphor is one of the most important of literary uses of language. Shakespeare employs a wide range of metaphor in his sonnets and his plays, often in such density and profusion that readers are kept busy analyzing and interpreting and unraveling them.
Meter
The regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that make up a line of poetry. Meter gives rhythm and regularity to poetry. The English language does not always fit exactly into metrical patterns and many poets (especially those writing) deploy irregular metric patterns in their verse. (See Free Verse.)
In English verse the most common meters are: iambic, dactylic, trochaic and anapestic.
Iambic Meter
Iambic Meter
An end stressed two-syllable foot.
For example “In Memoriam” by Lord Tennyson:
I DREAMED | there WOULD| be SPRING | no MORE
Trochaic Meter
A front stressed two-syllable foot.
For example “The Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
BY the | SHORES of | GIT chee | GUMee,
Anapestic Meter
An end stressed three-syllable foot.
For example: “The Destruction of the Sennacherib” by Byron:
And the SHEEN | of their SPEARS | was like STARS | on the SEA,
Dactylic Meter
A front stressed three-syllable foot.
For example “The Lost Leader” by Robert Browning
WE that had | LOVED him so, | FOLlowed him | HONoured him,
Metonymy
A figure of speech in which a closely related term is substituted for an object or idea. An example: "We have always remained loyal to the crown."
A figure of speech in which a closely related term is substituted for an object or idea. An example: "We have always remained loyal to the crown."
Literal language
A form of language in which writers and speakers mean exactly what their words denote. See Figurative language, Denotation, and Connotation.
A form of language in which writers and speakers mean exactly what their words denote. See Figurative language, Denotation, and Connotation.
Lyric poem
A type of poem characterized by brevity, compression, and the expression of feeling. Most of the poems in this book are lyrics. The anonymous "Western Wind" epitomizes the genre:
A type of poem characterized by brevity, compression, and the expression of feeling. Most of the poems in this book are lyrics. The anonymous "Western Wind" epitomizes the genre:
Western wind, when will thou blow,
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, if my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again!
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, if my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again!
Iamb
An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, as in to-DAY.
An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, as in to-DAY.
Image
A concrete representation of a sense impression, a feeling, or an idea. Imagery refers to the pattern of related details in a work. In some works one image predominates either by recurring throughout the work or by appearing at a critical point in the plot. Often writers use multiple images throughout a work to suggest states of feeling and to convey implications of thought and action. Some modern poets, such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams, write poems that lack discursive explanation entirely and include only images. Among the most famous examples is Pound's poem "In a Station of the Metro":
A concrete representation of a sense impression, a feeling, or an idea. Imagery refers to the pattern of related details in a work. In some works one image predominates either by recurring throughout the work or by appearing at a critical point in the plot. Often writers use multiple images throughout a work to suggest states of feeling and to convey implications of thought and action. Some modern poets, such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams, write poems that lack discursive explanation entirely and include only images. Among the most famous examples is Pound's poem "In a Station of the Metro":
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Petals on a wet, black bough.
Imagery
The pattern of related comparative aspects of language, particularly of images, in a literary work. Imagery of light and darkness pervade James Joyce's stories "Araby," "The Boarding House," and "The Dead." So, too, does religious imagery.
The pattern of related comparative aspects of language, particularly of images, in a literary work. Imagery of light and darkness pervade James Joyce's stories "Araby," "The Boarding House," and "The Dead." So, too, does religious imagery.
Irony
A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in life and in literature. In verbal irony, characters say the opposite of what they mean. In irony of circumstance or situation, the opposite of what is expected occurs. In dramatic irony, a character speaks in ignorance of a situation or event known to the audience or to the other characters. Flannery O'Connor's short stories employ all these forms of irony, as does Poe's "Cask of Amontillado."
A contrast or discrepancy between what is said and what is meant or between what happens and what is expected to happen in life and in literature. In verbal irony, characters say the opposite of what they mean. In irony of circumstance or situation, the opposite of what is expected occurs. In dramatic irony, a character speaks in ignorance of a situation or event known to the audience or to the other characters. Flannery O'Connor's short stories employ all these forms of irony, as does Poe's "Cask of Amontillado."
Free Verse
Poetry without a regular pattern of meter or rhyme. The verse is "free" in not being bound by earlier poetic conventions requiring poems to adhere to an explicit and identifiable meter and rhyme scheme in a form such as the sonnet or ballad. Modern and contemporary poets of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries often employ free verse. Williams's "This Is Just to Say" is one of many examples.
Poetry without a regular pattern of meter or rhyme. The verse is "free" in not being bound by earlier poetic conventions requiring poems to adhere to an explicit and identifiable meter and rhyme scheme in a form such as the sonnet or ballad. Modern and contemporary poets of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries often employ free verse. Williams's "This Is Just to Say" is one of many examples.
Feet
Each of the above meters can be used in lines with varying numbers of feet. The number of feet in a line is usually classified as follows: monometer (one foot), dimeter (two feet), trimeter (three feet), tetrameter (four feet), pentameter (five feet), hexameter (six feet), heptameter (seven feet) and octameter (eight feet).Figurative language
A form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words. Examples include hyperbole or exaggeration, litotes or understatement, simile and metaphor, which employ comparison, and synecdoche and metonymy, in which a part of a thing stands for the whole.
A form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words. Examples include hyperbole or exaggeration, litotes or understatement, simile and metaphor, which employ comparison, and synecdoche and metonymy, in which a part of a thing stands for the whole.
Enjambment
A run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line into the next. An enjambed line differs from an end-stopped line in which the grammatical and logical sense is completed within the line. In the opening lines of Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," for example, the first line is end-stopped and the second enjambed:
A run-on line of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from one line into the next. An enjambed line differs from an end-stopped line in which the grammatical and logical sense is completed within the line. In the opening lines of Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," for example, the first line is end-stopped and the second enjambed:
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now....
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now....
Diction
The selection of words in a literary work. A work's diction forms one of its centrally important literary elements, as writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values.
The selection of words in a literary work. A work's diction forms one of its centrally important literary elements, as writers use words to convey action, reveal character, imply attitudes, identify themes, and suggest values.
Denotation
The dictionary meaning of a word. Writers typically play off a word's denotative meaning against its connotations, or suggested and implied associational implications. In the following lines from Peter Meinke's "Advice to My Son" the references to flowers and fruit, bread and wine denote specific things, but also suggest something beyond the literal, dictionary meanings of the words:
The dictionary meaning of a word. Writers typically play off a word's denotative meaning against its connotations, or suggested and implied associational implications. In the following lines from Peter Meinke's "Advice to My Son" the references to flowers and fruit, bread and wine denote specific things, but also suggest something beyond the literal, dictionary meanings of the words:
To be specific, between the peony and rose
Plant squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes;
Beauty is nectar and nectar, in a desert, saves--
...
and always serve bread with your wine.
But, son,
always serve wine.
Plant squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes;
Beauty is nectar and nectar, in a desert, saves--
...
and always serve bread with your wine.
But, son,
always serve wine.
Connotation
The associations called up by a word that goes beyond its dictionary meaning. Poets, especially, tend to use words rich in connotation. Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" includes intensely connotative language, as in these lines: "Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright / Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, / Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
The associations called up by a word that goes beyond its dictionary meaning. Poets, especially, tend to use words rich in connotation. Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" includes intensely connotative language, as in these lines: "Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright / Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, / Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Blank verse
A line of poetry or prose in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare's sonnets, Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, and Robert Frost's meditative poems such as "Birches" include many lines of blank verse. Here are the opening blank verse lines of "Birches": “When I see birches bend to left and right / Across the lines of straighter darker trees, / I like to think some boy's been swinging them.”
A line of poetry or prose in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare's sonnets, Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, and Robert Frost's meditative poems such as "Birches" include many lines of blank verse. Here are the opening blank verse lines of "Birches": “When I see birches bend to left and right / Across the lines of straighter darker trees, / I like to think some boy's been swinging them.”
Assonance
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry or prose, as in "I rose and told him of my woe." Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" contains assonantal "I's" in the following lines: "How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, / Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself."
The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry or prose, as in "I rose and told him of my woe." Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" contains assonantal "I's" in the following lines: "How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, / Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself."
Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood." Hopkins, "In the Valley of the Elwy."
The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood." Hopkins, "In the Valley of the Elwy."
