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| The struggle between two forces in a literary work that constitutes the foundation of plot, or the arrangement of events, actions, and situations in a narrative work. Conflicting forces can include other characters, situations, events, and fate. Other forces can be a character's own personality, the inexorable progress of history, or simple circumstance. Generally, there are four types of conflict: 1) physical conflict between a character and the natural or physical world; 2) social conflict between a character and another character, or characters and society or a segment of society; 3) psychological conflict between a character and his or her thoughts, ideas, actions, or beliefs; and 4) metaphysical conflict between a character and fate or a deity. |
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| The repetition of identical or similar consonants in a sequence of words with different vowel sounds. |
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| Context is either a) the parts of a text that either precede or follow a given passage, or b) the social, cultural, biographical, and literary circumstances that exist outside a text. In both cases, context works against looking at a text in isolation. |
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| Either a) a character, plot, device, image, theme, or motif used frequently in literature, or b) an unrealistic device, such as an aside, that an audience or reading public has agreed to tolerate. |
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| A grouping of two rhymed verse lines typically with a common metrical pattern or line length. |
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| Criticism (Literary criticism) |
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| The detailed and reflective analysis of a literary work in order to understand meaning or to describe significance, interpretation, or evaluation. There are many different approaches to literary criticism based on various theories of interpretation, analysis, and reading. |
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| A common metrical unit of poetry consisting of a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. Metrical units (called feet) make up a poem’s meter, or rhythms in poetry made by units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables. |
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| A movement in British literature during the late nineteenth century. The term "decadence" was used to refer to qualities found in Greek and Roman literature in the last three centuries B.C.E. Decadence writers believed this classical literature possessed high refinement with an element of impending decay. They found this body of classical literature to be an appropriate reflection of European society. The ideas of Decadence were articulated by writers such as Baudelaire and Théophile Gautier. Decadence arrived in England through Swinburne in the 1890s. Because Decadence was concerned with unconventional artistic forms and ideas, many of its followers led unconventional lives in terms of behavior, dress, and sexuality. |
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| A close reading of a text that aims to demonstrate that a literary text is not a unified or logical whole, but is instead a text of many irreconcilable and contradictory readings. A deconstructive reading shows how conflicting elements undermine a seemingly unified structure and meaning and conveys that there is an unlimited number of interpretations. Deconstruction focuses on the text itself: as Jacques Derrida wrote, "there is nothing outside the text." |
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| Also referred to as resolution, dénouement is what follows the climax of a narrative and is usually the final scene in a play or the final chapter or section in a narrative or novel. French for "unknotting," dénouement is the final untying or clearing up a plot where its mysteries, confusions, or uncertainties are resolved. Dénouement can be applied to tragedy and comedy but catastrophe is usually used to describe the final resolution in tragedy. There are two main types of dénouement: open dénouement refers to endings where the author leaves several unresolved issues or loose threads for the reader to consider; closed dénouement refers to endings where all or almost all of the uncertainties are resolved, leaving very few loose threads. |
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| Latin for "god out of a machine." It refers to a) the practice in Greek drama of a god descending into the play from a crane-like machine in order to solve a problem in the plot and thus enable the play to end, or b) an unexpected, contrived, or improbable ending or solution in a literary text. |
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| A method of literary criticism based on the ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin. Bakhtin 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. |
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| In literature, dialogue is either a) the representation of spoken exchanges between or among characters, or b) a literary work where characters discuss or debate a particular subject. |
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| Either a) the author's choice of words or vocabulary in a literary work, or b) a performer's manner or style of speaking, including phrasing and punctuation. Poetic diction refers specifically to the choice and phrasing of words suitable to verse. |
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| A literary work that overtly attempts to instruct or convey a lesson about morality or behavior. |
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| A line of poetry consisting of two metrical units, or feet. Meter is the rhythm in poetry made by these units of sound created by accented and unaccented syllables. |
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| Discourse (Discourse analysis) |
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| Broadly defined, discourse is any mode of utterance which is part of social practice. Often discourse describes a discourse community that shares specific word or word usages, rules, and ideas. In linguistics, discourse describes units of language longer than a single sentence. In literary studies, discourse also includes the thoughts, statements, utterances, and dialogues of literary characters. Discourse analysis is a) the study of the relationships between sentences in written and spoken discourse, and b) the study of the way human knowledge is collected and structured into discourse or discourse communities. |
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| Usually referring to plays or the telling of a story through impersonation. Also refers to works written for the theater or works written in prose or verse that are meant to be performed theatrically. |
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| A poem where a single persona addresses an imaginary and silent audience. Dramatic monologues attempt to imitate natural speech and to reveal something about the character and situation of the persona. |
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| The cast of characters usually in a play but sometimes in a novel. In a play, Dramatis Personae is sometimes the heading given to the list of characters preceding the play that often contains short descriptions of the characters. |
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| A type of poetry emerging in the 1970s from Jamaica and England that was heavily influenced by the rhythms and themes of reggae music and meant to be performed publicly and orally. |
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| A specific type of character, or fictional or imagined person in a narrative or literary text. A dynamic (also called round) character is usually one of the main characters, is presented in a complex and detailed manner, and usually undergoes a significant change in response to the events or circumstances described in the plot. A dynamic character is distinct from a static or flat character, typically a minor character, identified by a single outstanding trait, who doesn’t change in the text. In Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, Macon “Milkman” Dead III begins the novel as a selfish, narcissistic man with no respect for his family or community. By the end, he’s recognized his shortcomings, developed the ability to empathize with others, and gained a sense of awe and admiration for his ancestors. In contrast, the handyman Freddie is the town gossip who doesn’t change and primarily serves to give Milkman his nickname after seeing him breastfeed at an inappropriate age. |
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| A period of American literature that spans the years between 1775 and 1828, beginning with the American Revolution and ending with the rise of Jacksonian democracy. This period is sometimes called the Federalist period after the conservative federalists in power at the time. During this period, a distinctly American body of imaginative literature began to emerge. The first American novel, William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy, was published in 1789. Poetry, essays, and sketches also began to flourish. Slave narratives were also published. |
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| Refers to the first era of the Renaissance period in British literature spanning 1500-1558. The Early Tudor period is known for its poetry and nonfiction prose. British literature's first dramatic comedy, Ralph Roister Doister, was first performed in 1553. |
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| Also called onomatopoeia. There are two applications of this term: a) broadly, it refers to words or passages in which the sound echoes the sense, or the words or passages sound like the words they describe either in terms of movement or sound, or b) more specifically, it refers to the sound of a word closely resembling or echoing the sound it conveys, such as “buzz” or “hiss.” |
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| A period of British literature named for the reign of Edward VII (1901-1910) and referring to literature published after the Victorian period and before World War I. The Edwardian period is not characterized by a consistent style, theme, or genre; the term generally refers to a historical period rather than a literary style. |
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