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| A reference--used to create a comparison--to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science, or popular culture. |
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| The character or force that opposes or blocks the protagonist, or main character, in a literary text. |
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| A brief statement uttered by a character in a play, intended to be heard by the audience but not by other characters on the stage. |
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| A song or songlike poem that tells a story. Most ______ have a regular pattern of rhythm and rhyme, and they use simple language with a great deal of repetition to tell a tragic story. |
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| A brief story in prose or verse that teaches a moral or a practical lesson about life. The characters are animals that behave and speak like humans. |
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| Unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter, which is the standard format for all Shakespearean drama. |
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| A Latin phrase that literally means “seize the day”—that is, “make the most of present opportunities.” |
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| The system of ideals and social codes governing the behavior of knights and gentlewomen in feudal times. The ideal knight was meant to be brave, honorable, and courteous; gentlewomen were meant to be chaste. |
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| The point of greatest emotional intensity or suspense in a plot when the outcome of the conflict becomes known. |
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| A struggle or clash between opposing characters, forces, or emotions. In an external _______, a character struggles against some outside force: another character, society as a whole, or some natural force. An internal ________, on the other hand, is a struggle between opposing needs, desires, or emotions within a single character. |
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| Conversation between two or more people. Writers use _______ to advance the action of a plot, to present an interplay of ideas and personalities, and to reveal the background, occupation, or social level of the characters through tone and dialect. |
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| A contrast or discrepancy between expectation and realit--between what appears to be true and what really is true. This type occurs when the audience or the reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know. |
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| A humorous and satirical narrative, often ridiculing women or the clergy. |
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| A character who, through contrast, highlights the distinctive characteristics of another. |
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| The use of clues to hint at what is going to happen later in the plot. _______ arouses the reader’s curiosity and builds up suspense. |
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| A pair of rhyming lines, written in iambic pentameter, that expresses a complete thought. They are employed in Shakespearean drama to end a scene and to emphasize character or action. |
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| A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion or create a comic effect. While _______(also known as over-statement) does not express the literal truth, it is often used in the service of truth to capture a sense of intensity or to emphasize the essential nature of something. |
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| A line of poetry made up of five iambs. An iamb is a metrical foot, or unit of measure, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. __________ derives from the Greek words penta (five) and meter (measure). |
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| A line of poetry made up of four iambs. An iamb is a metrical foot, or unit of measure, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. _________ derives from the Greek words tetra (four) and meter (measure). |
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| Language that appeals to the senses. Most ________ are visual—that is, they appeal to the sense of sight. But, _________ can also appeal to the senses of hearing, touch, taste, or smell. |
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| A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike entities. |
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| Poetry written in an ironically grand style that is comically incongruous with the ‘low’ or trivial subject treated. Characters or events are treated with the elevated language and elaborate devices characteristic of the epic style. |
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| The feeling in a literary work. Atmosphere is usually created through descriptive details of the setting and evocative language. |
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| In literature, a word, a character, an object, an image, a metaphor, or an idea that recurs to unify a literary work or highlight theme. |
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| An eight-line stanza or poem or the first eight lines of an Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet. |
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| A figure of speech that combines apparently contradictory or incongruous ideas. “Bittersweet,” “cruel kindness,” and “eloquent silence” are __________. |
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| An apparent contradiction that is actually true. A __________ may be a statement or a situation. |
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| The imitation of a work of literature, art, or music that employs the subject matter, structure, or style of the original. |
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| A type of literature that depicts country life in idyllic, idealized terms. The term __________ comes from the Latin word for shepherd, and originally, __________ were about shepherds, nymphs, and rural life. Today, the term has a looser meaning and refers to any literary work that portrays an idyllic rural setting or that expresses nostalgia for an age or place of lost innocence. |
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| A kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman or nonliving thing or quality is talked about as if it were human or had life. |
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| The vantage point from which a writer tells a story. There are three main __________: first person, limited third person, and omniscient third person. |
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| A four-line stanza or poem or a group of four lines unified by a rhyme scheme. The __________ is the most common verse unit in English poetry. |
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| A repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines--used to create rhythm, build suspense, or emphasize important words or ideas. |
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| A six-line stanza or poem or the last six lines of an Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet. |
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| The __________ is the physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs. The major elements of __________ are the time, the place, and the social environment that frames the characters. |
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| A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things by using a connective word such as like, than, or resembles. |
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| A speech delivered while a character is alone on stage, which calculatingly reveals to the audience the honest thoughts and plans of that character. |
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| A fourteen-line lyric poem, usually written in iambic pentameter, that has one of several rhyme schemes. |
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| The imaginary voice, or persona, assumed by the author of a poem. This voice is often not identified immediately or directly. Rather, the reader gradually comes to understand that the __________'s characteristics must be interpreted as they are revealed. This process is an especially important part of reading a lyric poem. |
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| A person, place, entity, or event that stands both for itself and for an abstract idea beyond itself. Many __________ have become widely recognized: A lion is a __________ of power; a dove is a __________ of peace. |
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| The central idea or insight about human experience revealed in a work of literature. A __________ is not the same as the subject of a work, which can usually be expressed in a word or two: old age, ambition, love. The __________ is the idea the writer wishes to convey about that subject—the writer’s view of the world or revelation about human nature. |
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| The attitude a writer takes toward the reader, a subject, or a character. __________ is conveyed through the writer’s choice of words and details. |
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| A drama that relates the fall of a person of high status as a result of the protagonist’s flaw. It celebrates courage and dignity as the hero faces inevitable doom. The play begins in chaos and ends with the restoration of order through death. |
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| An error in judgment or a character weakness that results in the fall of the hero. |
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| The protagnoist who gains some self-knowledge and wisdom, even though he or she suffers defeat, possibly even death. |
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| A contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality—between what is said and what is really meant. A writer or speaker says one thing but really means something quite different, often the opposite of what he or she has said. |
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| The shift in thought, focus, or tone, especially in a sonnet, that is often indicated by turning words as But or Yet. |
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