50 literary terms with definition and example1

50 literary terms with definition and example1

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  “50 Literary Termswith Definition and Example” 1. Adventure novel. A novel where exciting events are more important than character development and sometimes theme. Adventure novels are sometimes described as "fiction" rather than "literature" in order to distinguish books designed for mere entertainment rather than thematic importance. Examples: H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon's Mines Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo 2. Allegory. A figurative work in which a surface narrative carries a secondary, symbolic or metaphorical meaning. In The Faerie Queene, for example, Red Cross Knight is a heroic knight in the literal narrative, but also a figure representing Everyman in the Christian journey. Many works contain allegories or are allegorical in part, but not many are entirely allegorical. Examples of allegorical works include Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress Dante, The Divine Comedy William Golding, Lord of the Flies (allegorical novel) Herman Melville, Moby Dick (allegorical novel) George Orwell, Animal Farm (allegorical novel) 3. Allusion-is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, representation of a place, historical event, literary work, myth, or work of art. Allusions can be direct references or implications. Example: The girl‟s love of sweets was her Achilles heel. Harriet Tubman was called the Moss of her time. It must have rained for 40 days and 40 nights. 4. Analogy is a comparison that is made between two things that are in some way/ ways similar. An analogy is often used to help explain something or make it easier to understand. Example: Shoe is to foot as tire is to wheel. Citizen is to president as solar system is to galaxy. 5. Apologue. A moral fable, usually featuring personified animals or inanimate objects which act like people to allow the author to comment on the human condition. Often, the apologue highlights the irrationality of mankind. The beast fable, and the fables of Aesop are examples. Some critics have called Samuel Johnson's Rasselas an apologue rather than a novel because it is more concerned with moral philosophy than with character or plot. Examples: George Orwell, Animal Farm Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book 6. Autobiographical novel. A novel based on the author's life experience. More common that a thoroughly autobiographical novel is the incluision of autobiographical elements among other elements. Many novelists include in their books people and events from their own lives, often slightly or even dramatically altered. Nothing beats writing from experience, because remembrance is easier than creation from scratch and all the details fit together. Examples of autobiographical novels are: Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III
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  James Joyce, Portraitof the Artist as a Young Man Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel 7. Blank Verse. Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Shakespeare's plays are largely blank verse, as are other Renaissance plays. Blank verse was the most popular in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in England. Here are some examples you likely won't see elsewhere: At last, The clouds consign their treasures to the fields, And softly shaking on the dimpled pool Prelusive drops, let all their moisture flow In large effusion o'er the freshened world. --James Thomson, The Seasons, Spring, 172-176 Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot, To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix The generouis purpose in the glowing breast. --James Thomson, The Seasons, Spring, 1152-1156 How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, How complicate, how wonderful is man! How passing wonder He, who made him such! Who centred in our make such strange extremes? ........ Distinguish'd link in being's endless chain! Midway from nothing to the Deity! --Edward Young, Night Thoughts, Night the First, 67-70, 73-74 John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667) John Dryden, All for Love James Thompson, The Seasons 8. Caesura. A pause, metrical or rhetorical, occurring somewhere in a line of poetry. The pause may or may not be typographically indicated (usually with a comma). An Example from George Herbert's "Redemption": At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth Oftheeves and murderers: there I him espied, Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, and died. 9. Children's novel. A novel written for children and discerned by one or more of these: (1) a child character or a character a child can identify with, (2) a theme or themes (often didactic) aimed at children, (3) vocabulary and sentence structure available to a young reader. Many "adult" novels, such as Gulliver's Travels, are read by children. The test is that the book be interesting to and--at some level--accessible by children. Examples: Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables Booth Tarkington, Penrod and Sam 10.Christian novel. A novel either explicitly or implicitly informed by Christian faith and often containing a plot revolving around the Christian life, evangelism, or conversion stories. Sometimes the plots are directly religious, and sometimes they are allegorical or symbolic. Traditionally, most Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III
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  Christian novels havebeen viewed as having less literary quality than the "great" novels of Western literature. Examples: Charles Sheldon, In His Steps Lloyd C. Douglas, The Robe Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis Par Lagerkvist, Barabbas Catherine Marshall, Christy C. S. Lewis, Perelandra G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who was Thursday BodieThoene, In My Father's House 11.Coming-of-age story. A type of novel where the protagonist is initiated into adulthood through knowledge, experience, or both, often by a process of disillusionment. Understanding comes after the dropping of preconceptions, a destruction of a false sense of security, or in some way the loss of innocence. Some of the shifts that take place are these: ignorance to knowledge innocence to experience false view of world to correct view idealism to realism immature responses to mature responses Examples: Jane Austen Northanger Abbey Charles Dickens, Great Expectations Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage 12.Consonance- is the repetition of consonant sounds by not vowel sounds. Example: On scrolls of silver snowy sentences. Some mammals are clammy. Dragging the lazy languid line along. 13.Detective novel. A novel focusing on the solving of a crime, often by a brilliant detective, and usually employing the elements of mystery and suspense. Examples: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express Dorothy Sayers, Strong Poison 14.Dystopian novel. An anti-utopian novel where, instead of a paradise, everything has gone wrong in the attempt to create a perfect society. Seeutopian novel. Examples: George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four Aldous Huxley, Brave New World 15.End-stopped. A line that has a natural pause at the end (period, comma, etc.). Example:(these lines are end stopped) My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun. Coral is far more red than her lips red. –Shakespeare 16.Enjambed. The running over of a sentence or thought into the next couplet or line without a pause at the end of the line; a run-on line. Example: (all lines here are Enjambed) Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III
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  Let me notto the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds Or bends with the remover to remove. . . . --Shakespeare 17.Epic. An extended narrative poem recounting actions, travels, adventures, and heroic episodes and written in a high style (with ennobled diction, for example). It may be written in hexameter verse, especially dactylic hexameter, and it may have twelve books or twenty four books. Characteristics of the classical epic include these: The main character or protagonist is heroically larger than life, often the source and subject of legend or a national hero The deeds of the hero are presented without favoritism, revealing his failings as well as his virtues The action, often in battle, reveals the more-than-human strength of the heroes as they engage in acts of heroism and courage The setting covers several nations, the whole world, or even the universe The episodes, even though they may be fictional, provide an explanation for some of the circumstances or events in the history of a nation or people The gods and lesser divinities play an active role in the outcome of actions All of the various adventures form an organic whole, where each event relates in some way to the central theme Typical in epics is a set of conventions (or epic machinery). Among them are these: Poem begins with a statement of the theme ("Arms and the man I sing") Invocation to the muse or other deity ("Sing, goddess, of the wrath of Achilles") Story begins in medias res (in the middle of things) Catalogs (of participants on each side, ships, sacrifices) Histories and descriptions of significant items (who made a sword or shield, how it was decorated, who owned it from generation to generation) Epic simile (a long simile where the image becomes an object of art in its own right as well as serving to clarify the subject). Frequent use of epithets ("Aeneas the true"; "rosy-fingered Dawn"; "tall-masted ship") Use of patronymics (calling son by father's name): "Anchises' son" Long, formal speeches by important characters Journey to the underworld Use of the number three (attempts are made three times, etc.) Previous episodes in the story are later recounted Examples: Homer, Iliad Homer, Odyssey Virgil, Aeneid Tasso, Jerusalem Delivered Milton, Paradise Lost 18.Epistolary novel. A novel consisting of letters written by a character or several characters. The form allows for the use of multiple points of view toward the story and the ability to dispense with an omniscient narrator. Examples: Samuel Richardson, Pamela Samuel Richardson, Clarissa Fanny Burney, Evelina C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters Hannah W. Foster, The Coquette Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III
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  19.Existentialist novel. Anovel written from an existentialist viewpoint, often pointing out the absurdity and meaninglessness of existence. Example: Albert Camus, The Stranger 20.Fantasy novel. Any novel that is disengaged from reality. Often such novels are set in nonexistent worlds, such as under the earth, in a fairyland, on the moon, etc. The characters are often something other than human or include nonhuman characters. Example: J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit 21.Frame. A narrative structure that provides a setting and exposition for the main narrative in a novel. Often, a narrator will describe where he found the manuscript of the novel or where he heard someone tell the story he is about to relate. The frame helps control the reader's perception of the work, and has been used in the past to help give credibility to the main section of the novel, through the implication or claim that the novel represents a true account of events, written by someone other than the author. In the 16th through the 18th centuries, frames were sometimes used to help protect the author and publisher from persecution for the ideas presented. Examples: Mary Shelley Frankenstein Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter 22.Free verse. Verse that has neither regular rhyme nor regular meter. Free verse often uses cadences rather than uniform metrical feet. I cannot strive to drink dry the ocean's fill since you replenish my gulps with your tears 23.Gothic novel. A novel in which supernatural horrors and an atmosphere of unknown terror pervades the action. The setting is often a dark, mysterious castle, where ghosts and sinister humans roam menacingly. Horace Walpole invented the genre with his Castle of Otranto. Gothic elements include these: Ancient prophecy, especially mysterious, obscure, or hard to understand. Mystery and suspense High emotion, sentimentalism, but also pronounced anger, surprise, and especially terror Supernatural events (e.g. a giant, a sighing portrait, ghosts or their apparent presence, a skeleton) Omens, portents, dream visions Fainting, frightened, screaming women Women threatened by powerful, impetuous male Setting in a castle, especially with secret passages The metonymy of gloom and horror (wind, rain, doors grating on rusty hinges, howls in the distance, distant sighs, footsteps approaching, lights in abandoned rooms, gusts of wind blowing out lights or blowing suddenly, characters trapped in rooms or imprisoned) The vocabulary of the gothic (use of words indicating fear, mystery, etc.: apparition, devil, ghost, haunted, terror, fright) Examples: Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto William Beckford, Vathek Anne Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca 24.Graphic Novel. A novel illustrated panel by panel, either in color or black and white. Graphic novels are sometimes referred to as extended comics, because the presentation format (panel by panel illustration, mostly dialog with usually little exposition) suggests a comic. So too does the Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III
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  emphasis on actionin many graphic novels. Characters who are not human, talking monsters, and imaginary beings sometimes populate graphic novels, bringing them closer to science fiction or fantasy than realism. Jeff Smith, Bone Matt Wagner, Mage: The Hero Discovered 25.Heroic Couplet. Two lines of rhyming iambic pentameter. Most of Alexander Pope's verse is written in heroic couplets. In fact, it is the most favored verse form of the eighteenth century. Example: u / u / u / u / u / 'Tis hard to say, if greater want of skill u / u / u / u / u / Appear in writing or in judging ill. . . . --Alexander Pope [Note in the second line that "or" should be a stressed syllable if the meter were perfectly iambic. Iambic= a two syllable foot of one unstressed and one stressed syllable, as in the word "begin." Pentameter= five feet. Thus, iambic pentameter has ten syllables, five feet of two syllable iambs.] 26.Historical novel. A novel where fictional characters take part in actual historical events and interact with real people from the past. Examples: Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott, Waverly James Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans Lloyd C. Douglas, The Robe 27.Hypertext novel. A novel that can be read in a nonsequential way. That is, whereas most novels flow from beginning to end in a continuous, linear fashion, a hypertext novel can branch--the reader can move from one place in the text to another nonsequential place whenever he wishes to trace an idea or follow a character. Also called hyperfiction. Most are published on CD-ROM. See also interactive novel. Examples: Michael Joyce, Afternoon Stuart Moulthrop, Victory Garden 28.Ironic statements (verbal irony)-typically imply a meaning that is opposite to the literal meaning. Sarcasm is a form of verbal irony Examples: o A character may be referred to as “intelligent” while she is actually perceived by others as being foolish. 29.Invective. Speech or writing that abuses, denounces, or attacks. It can be directed against a person, cause, idea, or system. It employs a heavy use of negative emotive language. Example: Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III
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  I cannot butconclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth. --Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels 30.Metaphor is a comparison in which one thing is said to be another. The words “like” and “as” are not used in metaphors. Example: You are a gem. Time is thief. Life is a journey. 31.Mock Epic. Treating a frivolous or minor subject seriously, especially by using the machinery and devices of the epic (invocations, descriptions of armor, battles, extended similes, etc.). The opposite of travesty. Examples: Alexander Pope, The Dunciad Alexander Pope, Rape of the Lock 32.Multicultural novel. A novel written by a member of or about a cultural minority group, giving insight into non-Western or non-dominant cultural experiences and values, either in the United States or abroad. Examples: Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart Amy Tan, The Kitchen God's Wife Forrest Carter, The Education of Little Tree Margaret Craven, I Heard the Owl Call My Name James Baldwin, Go Tell It on the Mountain ChaimPotok, The Chosen Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent Alice Walker, The Color Purple 33.Novella. A prose fiction longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. There is no standard definition of length, but since rules of thumb are sometimes handy, we might say that the short story ends at about 20,000 words, while the novel begins at about 50,000. Thus, the novella is a fictional work of about 20,000 to 50,000 words. Examples: Henry James, Daisy Miller Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Henry James, Turn of the Screw Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness 34.Novel of manners. A novel focusing on and describing in detail the social customs and habits of a particular social group. Usually these conventions function as shaping or even stifling controls over the behavior of the characters. Examples: Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair 35.Onomatopoeia-is the formation of a word that imitates or suggests the sound that it represents. Example: The “oink” of the pig. The „meow‟ of the cat. The “roar” of the lion. Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III
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  The “quak” ofthe duck. The “achoo” of the sneeze. The “flutter” of the wings. 36.Oxymoron is figure of speech that combines contradictory terms. Example: Act naturally . Random order. Original copy. Awfully good. 37.Picaresque novel. An episodic, often autobiographical novel about a rogue or picaro (a person of low social status) wandering around and living off his wits. The wandering hero provides the author with the opportunity to connect widely different pieces of plot, since the hero can wander into any situation. Picaresque novels tend to be satiric and filled with petty detail. Examples: Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote Henry Fielding, Jonathan Wild 38.Pseudonym. A "false name" or alias used by a writer desiring not to use his or her real name. Sometimes called a nom de plume or "pen name," pseudonyms have been popular for several reasons. First, political realities might make it dangerous for the real author to admit to a work. Beatings, imprisonment, and even execution are not unheard of for authors of unpopular works. Second, an author might have a certain type of work associated with a certain name, so that different names are used for different kinds of work. One pen name might be used for westerns, while another name would be used for science fiction. Lastly, an author might choose a literary name that sounds more impressive or that will garner more respect than the author's real name. Examples: Samuel Clemens used the name Mark Twain Mary Ann Evans used the name George Eliot Jonathan Swift used the name Lemuel Gulliver (once) 39.PUN (also called PARANOMASIA)-is a play on words wherein one word is used to convey two meanings at the same time. Puns are often intended for a humorous or rhetorical effect. Example: I met this girl in internet café, but we did not click. The failure of the largest manufacturer of baby‟s toys was enough to rattle the entire industry. 40.Regional novel. A novel faithful to a particular geographic region and its people, including behavior, customs, speech, and history. Examples: Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III
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  Harper Lee, ToKill a Mockingbird Thomas Hardy, Return of the Native 41.Roman a clef. [French for "novel with a key," pronounced roh MAHN ah CLAY] A novel in which historical events and actual people are written about under the pretense of being fiction. Examples: AphraBehn, Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises 42.Romance. An extended fictional prose narrative about improbable events involving characters that are quite different from ordinary people. Knights on a quest for a magic sword and aided by characters like fairies and trolls would be examples of things found in romance fiction. Examples: Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote Sir Philip Sidney, The Arcadia In popular use, the modern romance novel is a formulaic love story (boy meets girl, obstacles interfere, they overcome obstacles, they live happily ever after). Computer software is available for constructing these stock plots and providing stereotyped characters. Consequently, the books usually lack literary merit. Examples: Harlequin Romance series 43.Science fiction novel. A novel in which futuristic technology or otherwise altered scientific principles contribute in a significant way to the adventures. Often the novel assumes a set of rules or principles or facts and then traces their logical consequences in some form. For example, given that a man discovers how to make himself invisible, what might happen? Examples: H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles 44.Sentimental novel. A type of novel, popular in the eighteenth century, that overemphasizes emotion and seeks to create emotional responses in the reader. The type also usually features an overly optimistic view of the goodness of human nature. Examples: Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield Henry Mackenzie, The Man of Feeling Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey Thomas Day, The History of Sandford and Merton 45.Sequel. A novel incorporating the same characters and often the same setting as a previous novel. Sometimes the events and situations involve a continuation of the previous novel and sometimes only the characters are the same and the events are entirely unrelated to the previous novel. When sequels result from the popularity of an original, they are often hastily written and not of the same quality as the original. Occasionally a sequel is written by an author different from that of the original novel. See series. Examples: Mark Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Detective Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind Alexandra Ripley, Scarlett Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III
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  46.Series. Several novelsrelated to each other, by plot, setting, character, or all three. Book marketers like to refer to multi-volume novels as sagas. Examples: Anthony Trollope, Barsetshire novels C. S. Lewis, Chronicles of Narnia novels L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea novels James Fenimore Cooper, The Leatherstocking Tales 47.Situational Irony- A situation is ironic if actions taken have an effect exactly opposite from what was intended or expected. Example: Hyde noted the irony of Ireland‟s copying the nation she most hated. The water vendor died of thirst. 48. Simile-A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike quantities by employing the words “like”, “as”, or “than”. Example: She swims like a dolphin. She danced as gracefully as a swan. He kicks like mule. 49.Utopian novel. A novel that presents an ideal society where the problems of poverty, greed, crime, and so forth have been eliminated. Examples: Thomas More, Utopia Samuel Butler, Erewhon Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward 50.Western. A novel set in the western United States featuring the experiences of cowboys and frontiersmen. Many are little more than adventure novels or even pulp fiction, but some have literary value. Examples: Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Ox-Bow Incident Owen Wister, The Virginian Alemar Allecer 50 Literary Terms With Definitions and Examples Project in Englsh III