Literary Terms, 10 -AWD
Want to be able to distinguish your limericks from your haikus and your paeans from your panegyrics? Dive deep into literary terms and forms.
Literary Terms Encyclopedia Articles By Title
The 10 novels on this list have it all: suspense, drama, comedy, and, especially, great scenery. Set in lands beautiful,......
From delivering powerful critiques of toxic cultural practices to displaying the strength of the human spirit in......
From distraught English majors cramming for a final to aspiring writers trying to figure out new ways to spice......
Although debates may seem like an essential feature of U.S. presidential campaigns, they are in fact a relatively......
Some of the most exciting and prominent authors of the 21st century are also essential contributors to the impressive......
Literary critics, historians, avid readers, and even casual readers will all have different opinions on which novel......
The Indigenous peoples of what are now the United States and Canada have a rich history of oral tradition and folk......
Shrewd observers and lavish prose stylists, the writers on this list deserve your readership. Their variously humane......
Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) was a South African black nationalist who spent 27 years in prison for fighting against......
19th-century Norwegian literature, the body of written works produced in the Norwegian language between 1814, when......
The future is unwritten. It is also right around the corner, and, if, as science fiction author William Gibson......
20th-century Norwegian literature, the body of written works produced in the Bokmål and Nynorsk forms of the Norwegian......
The story collection known as The Thousand and One Nights has long been considered a treasure-house of literary......
A novel might frighten you, make you cry, or put you to sleep. But can a novel spur you to kill? Here are five......
September 8, 2016, is the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek on NBC. The series documented the five-year......
Many of the languages that are made up for television and books are just gibberish. However, a rare few have been......
An idiom is a phrase that is common to a certain population. It is typically figurative and usually is not understandable......
The word counterculture generally refers to any movement that strives to achieve ideals counter to those of mainstream......
Many of the most compelling love stories are tragic ones. From Romeo and Juliet to Ennis and Jack, here’s a look......
Poetry is a precise art. A great poem is made up of components that fit together so well that the result seems......
a lo divino, in Spanish literature, the recasting of a secular work as a religious work, or, more generally, a......
ab ovo, in literature, the practice of beginning a poetic narrative at the earliest possible chronological point.......
abecedarius, a type of acrostic in which the first letter of each line of a poem or the first letter of the first......
Abenteuerroman, in German literature, a form of the picaresque novel. The Abenteuerroman is an entertaining story......
abstract poem, a term coined by Edith Sitwell to describe a poem in which the words are chosen for their aural......
The Academy Award for best adapted screenplay is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts......
The Academy Award for best original screenplay is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture......
accent, in prosody, a rhythmically significant stress on the syllables of a verse, usually at regular intervals.......
accentual verse, in prosody, a metrical system based only on the number of stresses or accented syllables in a......
accentual-syllabic verse, in prosody, the metrical system that is most commonly used in English poetry. It is based......
accismus, a form of irony in which a person feigns indifference to or pretends to refuse something he or she desires.......
acrostic, short verse composition, so constructed that the initial letters of the lines, taken consecutively, form......
ad watch, a term used to describe efforts by the media to report on and evaluate the veracity of political advertising.......
adab, term used in the modern Arab world to signify “literature.” Adab evolved from its earliest meaning to became......
adage, a saying, often in metaphoric form, that embodies a common observation, such as "If the shoe fits, wear......
adynaton, a kind of hyperbole in which the exaggeration is so great that it refers to an impossibility, as in the......
aesthetic distance, the frame of reference that an artist creates by the use of technical devices in and around......
African American folktale, storytelling tradition that evolved among enslaved African Americans in the 18th and......
African American literature, body of literature written by Americans of African descent. Beginning in the pre-Revolutionary......
African literature, the body of traditional oral and written literatures in Afro-Asiatic and African languages......
- Introduction
- Riddles, Oral Traditions, Proverbs
- Epic, Oral, Tradition
- Oral Traditions, Writing
- Oral Traditions, Modern Writers
- Hausa, Oral Tradition, Epic Poetry
- Somali Poetry, Prose, & Oral Tradition
- Swahili, Oral Traditions, Poetry
- Yoruba, Oral Tradition, Prose
- European Languages, Colonialism, Postcolonialism
- Postcolonial, Oral Traditions, Writers
- French, Postcolonial, Oral
- Portuguese, Colonization, Oral Tradition
agon, debate or contest between two characters in Attic comedy, constituting one of several formal conventions......
aisling, in Irish literature, a poetic or dramatic description or representation of a vision. The Vision of Adamnán......
Akutagawa Prize, Japanese literary prize awarded semiannually for the best work of fiction by a promising new Japanese......
Albanian literature, the body of written works produced in the Albanian language. The Ottoman Empire, which ruled......
alcaic, classical Greek poetic stanza composed of four lines of varied metrical feet, with five long syllables......
Alexander romance, any of a body of legends about the career of Alexander the Great, told and retold with varying......
alexandrine, verse form that is the leading measure in French poetry. It consists of a line of 12 syllables with......
Like any playwright, William Shakespeare made stuff up. More often than not, though, he used real-life places as......
alliteration, in prosody, the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or stressed syllables. Sometimes......
alliterative prose, prose that uses alliteration and some of the techniques of alliterative verse. Notable examples......
alliterative verse, early verse of the Germanic languages in which alliteration, the repetition of consonant sounds......
allocution, historically, an address made by the pope in the course of a secret consistory. The reign of Pius XII......
alphabet rhyme, mnemonic verse or song used to help children learn an alphabet; such devices appear in almost every......
American literature, the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States. Like other......
- Introduction
- Puritanism, Colonization, Revolution
- Colonial, Revolution, Enlightenment
- 19th Century, Realism, Romanticism
- Transcendentalism, Realism, Romanticism
- Hawthorne, Melville, Whitman
- Fiction, Local Colourists
- Naturalism, Realism, Regionalism
- Gilded Age, Critics, Realism
- Modernism, Realism, Postmodernism
- New Poetry, Imagism, Modernism
- Fiction, Novels, Short Stories
- Criticism, Analysis, History
- Postwar, Diversity, Innovation
- Novels, Short Stories, Fiction
- Southern Fiction, Regionalism, Realism
- African American, Poetry, Fiction
- New Fictional Modes
- Raymond Carver, Minimalism, Realism
- Multicultural, Diversity, Inclusion
- Poetry, Verse, Rhyme
- Drama, Plays, Theater
- Literary Criticism, Social Commentary, Realism
anacrusis, in classical prosody, the up (or weak) beat, one or more syllables at the beginning of a line of poetry......
anadiplosis, a device in which the last word or phrase of one clause, sentence, or line is repeated at the beginning......
anagnorisis, (Greek: “recognition”), in a literary work, the startling discovery that produces a change from ignorance......
anagram, a word or group of words formed by transposing the letters of another word or group of words, preferably......
analogue, in literature, a story for which there is a counterpart or another version in other literatures. Several......
anamnesis, a recalling to mind, or reminiscence. Anamnesis is often used as a narrative technique in fiction and......
anapest, metrical foot consisting of two short or unstressed syllables followed by one long or stressed syllable.......
anaphora, (Greek: “a carrying up or back”), a literary or oratorical device involving the repetition of a word......
anatomy, in literature, the separating or dividing of a topic into parts for detailed examination or analysis.......
Anglo-Norman literature, body of writings in the Old French language as used in medieval England. Though this dialect......
anisometric verse, poetic verse that does not have equal or corresponding poetic metres. An anisometric stanza......
On August 4, 1944, Anne Frank, her family, and four other Jews were discovered after two years of hiding. They......
antagonist, in literature, the principal opponent or foil of the main character, who is referred to as the protagonist,......
antanaclasis, a word used in two or more of its possible meanings, as in the final two lines of Robert Frost’s......
anticlimax, a figure of speech that consists of the usually sudden transition in discourse from a significant idea......
antihero, a protagonist of a drama or narrative who is notably lacking in heroic qualities. This type of character......
antistrophe, in Greek lyric odes, the second part of the traditional three-part structure. The antistrophe followed......
antithesis, (from Greek antitheton, “opposition”), a figure of speech in which irreconcilable opposites or strongly......
antonomasia, a figure of speech in which some defining word or phrase is substituted for a person’s proper name......
aphorism, a concise expression of doctrine or principle or any generally accepted truth conveyed in a pithy, memorable......
Apollonian, of, relating to, or resembling the god Apollo. Friedrich Nietzsche used the term in his book The Birth......
apology, autobiographical form in which a defense is the framework for a discussion by the author of his personal......
aposiopesis, (Greek: “becoming silent”), a speaker’s deliberate failure to complete a sentence. Aposiopesis usually......
apostrophe, a rhetorical device by which a speaker turns from the audience as a whole to address a single person......
apprenticeship novel, biographical novel that concentrates on an individual’s youth and his social and moral initiation......
aptronym, a name that fits some aspect of a character, as in Mr. Talkative and Mr. Worldly Wiseman in John Bunyan’s......
arabesque, in literature, a contrived intricate pattern of verbal expression, so called by analogy with a decorative......
Arabic literary renaissance, 19th-century movement to a modern Arabic literature, inspired by contacts with the......
Arabic literature, the body of written works produced in the Arabic language. The tradition of Arabic literature......
- Introduction
- Qur'an, Poetry, Prose
- Poetry, Rhyme, Metre
- Poetry, Prose, & Drama
- Poetry, Prose, Themes
- Elegy, Poetry, Prose
- Poetry, Prose, Drama
- Love Poetry, Verse, Romance
- Poetry, Prose, Fiction
- Adab, Compilations, Anthologies
- Narratives, Imagination, Mythology
- Short Story, Genres, History
- Drama, Poetry, Prose
- Tawfiq al-Hakim, Modernism, Egypt
- Literary Criticism, Poetry, Prose
- Modernism, Poetry, Fiction
arcádia, any of the 18th-century Portuguese literary societies that attempted to revive poetry in that country......
Armenian literature, body of writings in the Armenian language. There is evidence that a pagan oral literature......
arsis and thesis, in prosody, respectively, the accented and unaccented parts of a poetic foot. Arsis, a term of......
arte mayor, a Spanish verse form consisting of 8-syllable lines, later changed to 12-syllable lines, usually arranged......
arte menor, in Spanish poetry, a line of two to eight syllables and usually only one accent, most often on the......
Arthur Miller was known for several thoughtful, exceptional plays, notably All My Sons, the Pulitzer Prize-winning......
Arthurian legend, the body of stories and medieval romances, known as the matter of Britain, centring on the legendary......
asclepiad, Greek lyric verse later used by Latin poets such as Catullus, Horace, and Seneca. The asclepiad consisted......
Assamese literature, body of writings in the Assamese language spoken chiefly in Assam state, India. Probably the......
assonance, in prosody, repetition of stressed vowel sounds within words with different end consonants, as in the......
asyndeton, the omission of the conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words or clauses, as in the phrase......
aureate, a writing style that is affected, pompous, and heavily ornamental, that uses rhetorical flourishes excessively,......
Australian literature, the body of literatures, both oral and written, produced in Australia. Perhaps more so than......
author, one who is the source of some form of intellectual or creative work; especially, one who composes a book,......
auto sacramental, (Spanish: “sacramental act”), Spanish dramatic genre that reached its height in the 17th century......
autobiography, the biography of oneself narrated by oneself. Autobiographical works can take many forms, from the......
awdl, in Welsh verse, a long ode written in cynghanedd (a complex system of alliteration and internal rhyme) and......