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| A unit of rhythm, created by one or more stressed syllables combined with one or more unstressed syllables, that makes up a line of poetry. Examples of feet include iamb (iambic, adj.), an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable; trochee (trochaic, adj.), a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable; dactyl (dactylic, adj.), a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables; and anapest (anapestic, adj.), two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. Two less-common metrical feet include the spondee (spondaic, adj.), a foot of two successive syllables that are equally or almost equally stressed, and the pyrrhic (pyrrhic, adj.), a foot of two successive syllables that are equally or almost equally unstressed. The type of foot and the number of feet per line determine the poem’s meter. |
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| Suggestions of what is to come later on in a narrative. Foreshadowing can be created through imagery, dialogue, diction, events, or actions. Authors use foreshadowing to create narrative cohesion, build suspense, and develop plot. Because foreshadowing hints at what is to come, it helps an author prepare readers for an ending, thus helping to create resolutions that do not seem contrived. |
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| Either a) the genre or the general type of a literary work (i.e., sonnet, novel, or short story), or b) the way a literary work's component parts are arranged into a shape or structure. |
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| Formalism is the study of a literary work's component parts. Rather than examining factors external to the text, formalist critics analyze the literary work as an object in and of itself. |
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| Frame narrative (frame story) |
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| A story or narrative that includes or encloses one or more stories. Usually there is a thematic or plot-based connection between the frame narrative and the interior stories. Also called "tale within a tale." |
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| A form of verse where rhythm is not organized into regular meter. Free verse also has irregular line lengths, lacks rhyme schemes, and depends on natural speech rhythms. Also known as "open form." |
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| Gay and lesbian theory/ Queer Theory |
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| A form of gender criticism focusing on literary representations of and issues connected with homosexuality (and heterosexuality). Queer Theory is related to gay and lesbian theory but offers a distinct approach to analyses of gender and sexualities. |
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| French for "type." Genre is used to classify literature according to form, style, or content. Sonnet, novel, tragedy, and elegy are all examples of genre. |
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| As applied to literature, Gothic refers to a kind of literature that creates a sense of terror and suspense. The Gothic can be characterized by its use of claustrophobic and confining spaces, macabre and medieval-based settings, and gloomy moods. Another feature is its recurring use of dark, threatening, violent forces which often trap virtuous young heroines. The Gothic novel is still a vibrant form and can be traced back to Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto (1764). |
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| A period in American literature in the 1920s and 1930s emerging from African-American writers, artists, musicians, and performers. The Harlem Renaissance was the first major burgeoning of visual, literary, and performing arts by African Americans concerned with African-American life, art, culture, and politics. |
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| A line of poetry consisting of seven 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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| Originally referring to the principles used to interpret Biblical readings, hermeneutics now refers to theories and philosophies related to the interpretation, perception, and understanding of texts. |
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| A line of poetry consisting of six 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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| A novel, or extended piece of fictional prose, using historical events, situations, and characters for its premise. The historical novel was made popular in the nineteenth century by Sir Walter Scott. |
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| Stanzas of identical form, number of lines, and rhyme scheme. Homostrophic stanzas are common in Horatian odes, or reflective, private lyric poems with an elaborate stanza structure and distinct tone of formality and stateliness, addressing either a person or an abstract idea or entity. |
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| Reflective, private lyric poems with an elaborate stanza structure and distinct tone of formality and stateliness, addressing either a person or an abstract idea or entity. Meditative and personal Horatian odes are distinct from the public, choral celebrations of Pindaric odes. Horatian odes use homostrophic stanzas, or stanzas of identical form, number of lines, and rhyme scheme. |
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| Excess of pride usually leading to divine retribution. Hubris usually leads a character toward ignoring warnings from gods or higher powers, transcending human limits, or violating a moral or cultural code. The character's downfall is usually seen as the gods' retribution for hubris. Hubris is a specific form of tragic flaw, or defect in a protagonist’s character or reasoning that brings about his or her downfall. |
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| A figure of speech which uses exaggeration for comic, ironic, or serious effect. Its opposite is understatement or meiosis. |
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| A unit of poetic meter (or foot) that involves an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Metrical units (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 set of beliefs or assumptions that are common to a particular group. For members of a group, the dominant ideology will seem natural or entirely logical and will usually be taken as a given. Generally, a society has one or more dominant ideologies, but other ideologies can co-exist. |
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| Imagery (collective form of image) refers to a) depictions of objects or qualities perceived by the five senses; b) the figurative language used to convey abstract ideas concretely; or, more specifically, c) the depiction of visual objects or scenes. Imagery is what makes language and literature concrete and not abstract. |
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| In literature, impressionism refers to the depiction of a character's fleeting impressions of character, place, setting, and events, as well as his or her subjective observations. Impressionism focuses primarily on the inner or emotional life of a character rather than on external reality. |
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| A term used by William K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley to critique the practice of basing literary interpretations on either explicit or implicit statements by an author about his or her intentions regarding his or her literary text. The intentional fallacy posits that the author is an unreliable source regarding the meaning and purpose of his or her text. Instead of focusing on the author's intentions, readers should base their interpretations upon the text itself and what is in it. |
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| A written depiction of a character's inner thoughts, sensations, memories, ideas, and impulses. Interior monologues can be a form of stream of consciousness. |
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| Generally, rhyme refers to the similar sound in syllables or paired groups of syllables. Internal rhyme, which occurs within a line of verse, is less common than end rhyme, which occurs at the end of a line of verse. |
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| The processes of analyzing and describing a literary work in order to articulate its meaning or significance in terms of genre, style, form, content, theme, etc. Interpretation is an important part of literary criticism, a larger concept using interpretation, analysis, and reading to describe the overall significance, meaning, or evaluation of a literary work. |
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