Literary Terms, NOR-REN

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Norwegian literature
Norwegian literature, the body of writings by the Norwegian people. The roots of Norwegian literature reach back......
novel of manners
novel of manners, work of fiction that re-creates a social world, conveying with finely detailed observation the......
novella
novella, short and well-structured narrative, often realistic and satiric in tone, that influenced the development......
nursery rhyme
nursery rhyme, verse customarily told or sung to small children. The oral tradition of nursery rhymes is ancient,......
Oceanic literature
Oceanic literature, the traditional oral and written literatures of the indigenous people of Oceania, in particular......
ode
ode, ceremonious poem on an occasion of public or private dignity in which personal emotion and general meditation......
Old Comedy
Old Comedy, initial phase of ancient Greek comedy (c. 5th century bc), known through the works of Aristophanes.......
Old English literature
Old English literature, literature written in Old English c. 650–c. 1100. For a description of this period in the......
Onitsha market literature
Onitsha market literature, 20th-century genre of sentimental, moralistic novellas and pamphlets produced by a semiliterate......
onomatopoeia
onomatopoeia, the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz......
oral literature
oral literature, the standard forms (or genres) of literature found in societies without writing. The term oral......
oratory
oratory, the rationale and practice of persuasive public speaking. It is immediate in its audience relationships......
organic form
organic form, the structure of a work that has grown naturally from the author’s subject and materials as opposed......
organic unity
organic unity, in literature, a structural principle, first discussed by Plato (in Phaedrus, Gorgias, and The Republic)......
Ossianic ballads
Ossianic ballads, Irish lyric and narrative poems dealing with the legends of Finn MacCumhaill and his war band.......
ottava rima
ottava rima, Italian stanza form composed of eight 11-syllable lines, rhyming abababcc. It originated in the late......
oxymoron
oxymoron, a word or group of words that is self-contradicting, as in bittersweet or plastic glass. Oxymorons are......
padam
padam, love poem in Carnatic music. A padam is slow in tempo and grave in import, and it is usually treated as......
paean
paean, solemn choral lyric of invocation, joy, or triumph, originating in ancient Greece, where it was addressed......
Pali literature
Pali literature, body of Buddhist texts in the Pali language. The word pali (literally, a “line”) came to be used......
palindrome
palindrome, word, number, sentence, or verse that reads the same backward or forward. The term derives from the......
panegyric
panegyric, eulogistic oration or laudatory discourse that originally was a speech delivered at an ancient Greek......
pansori
pansori, a traditional genre of Korean narrative song, typically performed dramatically by a vocalist accompanied......
pantoum
pantoum, a Malaysian poetic form in French and English. The pantoum consists of a series of quatrains rhyming abab......
parabasis
parabasis, an important choral ode in Greek Old Comedy delivered by the chorus at an intermission in the action......
paradox
paradox, apparently self-contradictory statement, the underlying meaning of which is revealed only by careful scrutiny.......
parallelism
parallelism, in rhetoric, component of literary style in both prose and poetry, in which coordinate ideas are arranged......
parody
parody, in literature, an imitation of the style and manner of a particular writer or school of writers. Parody......
partimen
partimen, a lyric poem of dispute composed by Provençal troubadours in which one poet stated a proposition and......
pasquinade
pasquinade, brief and generally anonymous satirical comment in prose or verse that ridicules a contemporary leader......
Passion play
Passion play, religious drama of medieval origin dealing with the suffering, death, and Resurrection of Christ.......
pastoral literature
pastoral literature, class of literature that presents the society of shepherds as free from the complexity and......
pathetic fallacy
pathetic fallacy, poetic practice of attributing human emotion or responses to nature, inanimate objects, or animals.......
pattern poetry
pattern poetry, verse in which the typography or lines are arranged in an unusual configuration, usually to convey......
PEN/Nabokov Award
PEN/Nabokov Award, annual American literary award for lifetime achievement established by the PEN American Center,......
penny dreadful
penny dreadful, an inexpensive novel of violent adventure or crime that was especially popular in mid-to-late Victorian......
pensée
pensée, a thought expressed in literary form. A pensée can be short and in a specific form, such as an aphorism......
pentameter
pentameter, in poetry, a line of verse containing five metrical feet. In English verse, in which pentameter has......
Pereval
Pereval, group of post-Revolutionary Russian writers opposed to the suppression of nonconformist literature and......
Periods of American Literature
The history of American literature reaches from the oral traditions of Native peoples to the novels, poetry, and......
peripeteia
peripeteia, the turning point in a drama after which the plot moves steadily to its denouement. It is discussed......
periphrasis
periphrasis, the use of a longer phrasing in place of a possible shorter form of expression; a roundabout or indirect......
Persian literature
Persian literature, body of writings in New Persian (also called Modern Persian), the form of the Persian language......
persona
persona, in literature, the person who is understood to be speaking (or thinking or writing) a particular work.......
personification
personification, figure of speech in which human characteristics are attributed to an abstract quality, animal,......
Philander
Philander, in Renaissance literature, a common name for a flirtatious male character who has many love...
philosophe
philosophe, any of the literary men, scientists, and thinkers of 18th-century France who were united, in spite......
phlyakes
phlyakes, farces adopted from Greek Middle Comedy plays and especially popular in southern Italy in the 4th and......
physical poetry
physical poetry, poetry (such as Imagist poetry) that is primarily concerned with the projection of a descriptive......
picaresque novel
picaresque novel, early form of novel, usually a first-person narrative, relating the adventures of a rogue or......
Picturing Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith—author of the novel Carol, on which the recent film of the same name was based—would have turned......
Pindaric ode
Pindaric ode, ceremonious poem by or in the manner of Pindar, a Greek professional lyrist of the 5th century bc.......
pixie
pixie, in the folklore of southwestern England, tiny elflike spirit or mischievous fairy dressed in green who dances......
ploce
ploce, the emphatic repetition of a word, with particular reference to its special significance (as in “a wife......
plot
plot, in fiction, the structure of interrelated actions, consciously selected and arranged by the author. Plot......
poet laureate
poet laureate, title first granted in England in the 17th century for poetic excellence. Its holder is a salaried......
poetic diction
poetic diction, grandiose, elevated, and unfamiliar language, supposedly the prerogative of poetry but not of prose.......
poetic imagery
poetic imagery, the sensory and figurative language used in poetry. The object or experience that a poet is contemplating......
poetic justice
poetic justice, in literature, an outcome in which vice is punished and virtue rewarded, usually in a manner peculiarly......
poetic license
poetic license, the right assumed by poets to alter or invert standard syntax or depart from common diction or......
poetry
poetry, literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response......
point of view
point of view, in literature, the vantage point from which a story is presented. A common point of view is the......
Polish literature
Polish literature, body of writings in Polish, one of the Slavic languages. The Polish national literature holds......
polyphonic prose
polyphonic prose, a freely rhythmical form of prose that employs characteristic devices of verse other than strict......
polyptoton
polyptoton, the rhetorical repetition within the same sentence of a word in a different case, inflection, or voice......
poststructuralism
poststructuralism, movement in literary criticism and philosophy begun in France in the late 1960s. Drawing upon......
poulter’s measure
poulter’s measure, a metre in which lines of 12 and 14 syllables alternate. Poulter is an obsolete variant of poulterer......
poète maudit
poète maudit, (French: “accursed poet”), in literary criticism, the poet as an outcast of modern society, despised......
praise song
praise song, one of the most widely used poetic forms in Africa; a series of laudatory epithets applied to gods,......
preciosity
preciosity, style of thought and expression exhibiting delicacy of taste and sentiment, prevalent in the 17th-century......
prequel
prequel, a literary or dramatic work whose story precedes that of an earlier-written work. For example, Lillian......
Presidential Debate Bingo
If you want to get the facts about subjects and people likely to come up in the 2024 presidential debates, click......
Prix Goncourt
Prix Goncourt, French literary prize, one of the most important in France. It was first conceived in 1867 by the......
problem play
problem play, type of drama that developed in the 19th century to deal with controversial social issues in a realistic......
prolepsis
prolepsis, a figure of speech in which a future act or development is represented as if already accomplished or......
prologue
prologue, a preface or introduction to a literary work. In a dramatic work, the term describes a speech, often......
prose poem
prose poem, a work in prose that has some of the technical or literary qualities of a poem (such as regular rhythm,......
protagonist
protagonist, in ancient Greek drama, the first or leading actor. The poet Thespis is credited with having invented......
Provençal literature
Provençal literature, the body of writings in the Occitan, or Provençal, language of Provence and neighbouring......
proverb
proverb, succinct and pithy saying in general use, expressing commonly held ideas and beliefs. Proverbs are part......
psychological novel
psychological novel, work of fiction in which the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of the characters are of......
puck
puck, in medieval English folklore, a malicious fairy or demon. In Old and Middle English the word meant simply......
Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize, any of a series of annual prizes awarded by Columbia University, New York City, for outstanding......
pun
pun, a humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest different meanings or applications, or a play on words,......
Punjabi literature
Punjabi literature, body of writing in the Punjabi language. Punjabi developed a written literature later than......
pure poetry
pure poetry, message-free verse that is concerned with exploring the essential musical nature of the language rather......
Pushkin Prize
Pushkin Prize, Russian literary prize established in 1881 in honour of Aleksandr Pushkin, one of Russia’s greatest......
putative author
putative author, the author of a work as defined in the work rather than the actual author, or the person or character......
pyŏlgok
pyŏlgok, Korean poetic form that flourished during the Koryŏ period (935–1392). Of folk origin, the pyŏlgok was......
qaṣīdah
qaṣīdah, poetic form developed in pre-Islamic Arabia and perpetuated throughout Islamic literary history into the......
quantitative verse
quantitative verse, in prosody, a metrical system based on the duration of the syllables that make up the feet,......
quatrain
quatrain, a piece of verse complete in four rhymed lines. The word is derived from the French quatre, meaning “four.”......
race, milieu, and moment
race, milieu, and moment, according to the French critic Hippolyte Taine, the three principal motives or conditioning......
Raven cycle
Raven cycle, collection of trickster-transformer tales originating among the Native Americans of the Northwest......
readerly and writerly
readerly and writerly, opposite types of literary text, as defined by the French critic Roland Barthes in his book......
redondilla
redondilla, a Spanish stanza form consisting of four trochaic lines, usually of eight syllables each, with a rhyme......
refrain
refrain, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at intervals throughout a poem, generally at the end of the stanza.......
renga
renga, genre of Japanese linked-verse poetry in which two or more poets supplied alternating sections of a poem.......

Literary Terms Encyclopedia Articles By Title