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| A poem that recounts a story, usually a single episode, that was originally intended to be sung. Ballads feature simple language, dramatic action, and frequently, but not always, a tragic ending. |
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| Beat Writers (Beat Generation) |
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| Refers to a period of American literature in the 1950s which was anti-traditional, anti-establishment, and anti-intellectual. Their writings challenged social and literary traditions and were characterized by a loose and informal structure and an informal, slang-filled diction. |
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| A novel, or extended piece of fictional prose, that traces the development of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood and chronicles the maturation of his or her character, intellect, and often spirituality or morality. Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a Bildungsroman because, even though Huck is only thirteen years old, by the end of the novel, he learns a great deal about himself and others. Throughout the course of the novel, he grows from a naïve, carefree boy who accepts others’ sense of morality as truth to one who trusts his own morals in a corrupt society and—perhaps most importantly—recognizes the humanity of slaves. |
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| A literary work or style where disturbing subject matters such as death, misfortune, disease, war, and suffering are treated with a sardonic or bitter humor. Usually black comedies are designed to shock or offend and often feature an element of futility or hopelessness. |
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| Lines of unrhymed verse, almost always in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a specific type of meter (the rhythms in poetry made by units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables) with lines made up of ten units, or feet, of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. Blank verse is the meter that most closely resembles the natural patterns of English speech. |
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| Combinations of words that sound and convey harshness and roughness. Sometimes called "dissonance," cacophony is the opposite of euphony. |
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| Comes from the Latin for "a cutting." Caesura is a pause in a line of verse replicating natural breaks in language. Often caesuras occur between clauses or sentences or through the poet's use of punctuation. |
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| In literary criticism, canon refers to a body of works attributed to a particular author, or works that are given special cultural status. Works that are labeled "classics" or "Great Books" or that are frequently taught or anthologized are called "canonical." |
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| Carnival (Carnivalization) |
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| As theorized by Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975), the carnival is a liberating and potentially subversive event that allows participants to transgress, overturn, or challenge hierarchies, customs, and laws, often only temporarily. Bakhtin argues that carnivalization has an effect on everyday life and on literature and language. Carnival is an element of Bakhtin’s dialogic criticism in which he described literary works as either monologic or dialogic. Unrelated to the number of characters, monologic works have one dominant voice or discourse, which is often but not always the voice of the dominant culture or ideology of the author's culture. In contrast, dialogic works allow numerous voices or discourses to emerge and interact. Thus, dialogic criticism is the analysis of these numerous voices and discourses, and the carnival is one event which brings out these multiple voices to challenge the hierarchies of the dominant culture or ideology. |
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| The fourth era of the Renaissance period in British literature defined by the reign of Charles I (1625-1649). The Caroline age was that of the English Civil War between the supporters of the king (called Cavaliers) and the supporters of Parliament (called the Roundheads). Literature of this period featured poetry, nonfiction prose, and the Cavalier Poets, who were associated with the court and wrote poems of gallantry and courtship. |
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| Latin for "seize the day," carpe diem is a frequent and traditional literary theme. In lyric poetry, carpe diem is used to convey the transience of life, youth, and love, and to implore readers to make the most of each fleeting moment. |
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| According to Aristotle, viewers watching tragic drama would feel a catharsis or a release of emotion. Catharsis refers to the purging or cleansing of emotion, which leads to relief or other beneficial emotions in an audience. |
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| Distributed by "chapmen" or peddlers from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, chapbooks contained popular literature such as ballads, tracts, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes. |
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| A fictional or imagined person in a narrative or literary text. Characters are often defined as flat, round, or stock. Flat characters are usually minor characters with one outstanding trait; flat characters rarely change during the course of the work (also called static characters) and are often based on stock characters. A round character is usually one of the main characters and is presented in a complex and detailed manner. A round character usually undergoes a significant change in response to the events or circumstances described in the plot. Because they change during the work, these characters are often called dynamic characters. Stock characters are common or stereotypical types of characters that are commonly seen in literature. |
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| How an author uses description, action, dialogue, and emotion to convey the complexities of a character. Authors frequently use descriptions of a character's appearance, history, conversations, thoughts, reactions, and emotions. In this way, characterization is created, developed, conveyed, and revealed. Characterization also involves creating a character's motivation for why a particular character is driven or inspired to act in the ways he or she does in response to events of the plot. |
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| In Greek tragedy, the chorus often sang, danced, and interacted with the events of the play or functioned as a commentator on the characters or events. In Elizabethan tragedy, a chorus often spoke a prologue and epilogue to the play and offered a commentary on the events or characters. Choral characters or choral figures are also characters in a literary work who stand apart from the action and provide insight or commentary on the events or characters. |
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| A thorough and detailed analysis of a literary text and the elements that make up that literary work. Close readings examine all aspects and complexities of a specific text, including style, content, form, imagery, symbolism, and diction. They are also called explications and are often connected with Practical Criticism and New Criticism. |
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| An informal or everyday expression, phrase, or word. |
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| A period in American literature beginning with the founding of the English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia and lasting until the passing of the Stamp Act in 1765. Americans' opposition to the British Parliament's Stamp Act was a spark for the American Revolution (1776). Because the Colonial period was dominated by Puritan beliefs, imaginative literature was very rare; in some colonies it was banned for being immoral. Literature of this period was therefore often historical, religious, or didactic. Writings were primarily in genres such as tracts, polemics, journals, narratives, sermons, and some poetry. |
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| Broadly, comedy means anything that is amusing or entertaining. In a dramatic context, comedy usually involves a movement from unhappiness to happiness and often relates to themes of regeneration, renewal, and human triumph over chance. Comedy usually refers to plays or films, but prose fiction and narrative poetry can also contain comic elements. Forms of comedy include commedia dell arte ("comedy of the professional actors"), which emerged in Italy in the mid-sixteenth century and usually involved love intrigues, stock characters, and a mostly improvised dialogue surrounding a scenario. Commedia dell arte influenced European dramatists, particularly Elizabethan writers. Romantic comedy usually involves themes of love and young lovers and almost always has a happy ending. Comedy of manners is a high comedy, usually about love, that relies on intellectual rather than physical comedy and is meant to appeal to a "cultivated" audience. Comedy of manners is often associated with Restoration drama, and the setting is frequently aristocratic or high society. Farce is a form of low comedy and relies upon exaggerated character and physical action and unpredictable or improbable plot situations. Farce aims at entertaining, often with elements of panic, surprise, and cruelty. |
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| A form of high comedy, usually about love, that relies on intellectual rather than physical comedy and is meant to appeal to a "cultivated" audience. Comedy of manners is often associated with Restoration drama, and the setting is frequently aristocratic or high society. More specific than the broader sense of anything amusing or entertaining, comedy usually involves a movement from unhappiness to happiness and often relates to themes of regeneration, renewal, and human triumph over chance. |
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| “Comedy of the professional actors,” commedia dell arte is a form of comedy which emerged in Italy in the mid-sixteenth century that usually involved love intrigues, stock characters, and a mostly improvised dialogue surrounding a scenario. Commedia dell arte influenced European dramatists, particularly Elizabethan writers. More specific than the broader sense of anything amusing or entertaining, comedy usually involves a movement from unhappiness to happiness and often relates to themes of regeneration, renewal, and human triumph over chance. |
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| Also called the Puritan Interregnum (meaning "between reigns"), the Commonwealth period is the fifth era of the Renaissance period in British literature. This era begins with the execution of Charles I in 1649 and lasts until the restoration of the Stuart Monarchy with the crowning of Charles II in 1660. During this era, England was ruled by Parliament and the Puritan Oliver Cromwell until his death in 1658. Puritan rule was significant to literary history because theatres were closed on moral and religious grounds. While drama did not flourish, significant examples of nonfiction prose and poetry were written during this period. |
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| A form of poetry that is meant to be seen not only as a written text but also as a visual object. Words, phrases, and punctuation are placed on the page in a way that creates an image or a graphic form. The shape of the poem suggests the content, subject, or theme. |
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| Language that conveys specific information about a particular person or thing. Concrete is the opposite of abstract, which conveys general ideas or qualities of people or things. Abstract language lacks concrete language’s vivid or precise detail. |
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