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absurd

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Literature or drama that has as its basic premise the meaninglessness of life in the 20th century; uses banal repetitions and fantasy

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Alexandrine

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line of poetry with 6 iambic feet, used by Spenser as a long 9th line in his Spenserian stanza

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allegory

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narrative poem or prose work in which persons, events, and objects stand for something else

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alliteration

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the repetition of initial sounds in a series of words in poetry or prose

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allusion

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reference in a literary work to a famous person or event in history, the Bible, a literature, or mythology

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analogy

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comparison of one object, condition, process, or event to another in order to clarify or intensify the image or thought

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archetypes

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those images which are part of the collective subconscious of all humanity

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ballad

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poem that tells a story, often of folk origin, usually in 4 line iambic stanzas with the second and fourth lines rhyming

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baroque

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style in art, architecture, lit, and music characterized by flamboyancy, elaborate ornamentation, and symmetrical arrangement

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blank verse

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type of poetry in which rhyme is not used. each line has 10 syllables with an iambic rhythm

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bombast

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inflated, extravagant speech, usually in Elizabethan poems and plays

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carpe diem

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Latin phrase "Seize the day". first used by Horace and applied to lyric poems that have the theme "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die"

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classicism

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philosophy of art associated with the ancient Greeks and Romans, typically characterized by balance, moderation, self-control, dominance of reason, and respect for tradition

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closed couplet

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pair of rhymed lines of poetry containing a complete statement

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comedy of manners

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type of satirical comedy, especially popular in the Restoration and Neoclassical periods, concerned with manners of a highly sophisticated and artificial society and characterized by witty dialogue

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convention

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literary practice, style, or technique that has become, thru frequent use, an accepted method of literary expression

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couplet

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2 rhyming lines of poetry, usually in lines of 8 or 10 syllables each

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cycle

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originally meant circle used to describe a collection of poems or romances, as in "sonnet cycle"

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decadence

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used by literary historians to denote the decline that signals the end of a great period in literature, characterized by such qualities as abnormal and artificial subject matter, extreme self-consciousness, and overly subtle cycle

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didactic

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used to describe poetic works whose primary objective is to teach or to convey moral observations

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elegy

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long and formal poem meditating on the dead; often written to commemorate the death of a fellow poet

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end-stopped line

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line of poetry in which the idea is complete and which ends with a punctuation mark

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epic

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extended narrative poem, written in an elevated style, recounting the deeds of a legendary or actual hero

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essay

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prose composition, usually brief, dealing with a particular theme or topic

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expressionism

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literary movement of the early 20th century, found mostly in drama, dedicated to revealing the depths of the human mind (after psychologists like Freud), expressionist theater uses unreal atmospheres, distortion, and stylized action to depict external representations of extreme psychological states

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fabliau

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short comic tale in verse, often coarse in content, popular in French lit of the 12th and 13th centuries and the form used by Chaucer in several "Canterbury Tales"

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farce

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type of low comedy with broad and obvious humor and much physical action

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free verse

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poetic compositions in which there is neither rhyme nor a regular meter; also called "Vers libre"

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genre

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term used to indicate the various categories in which literary works are grouped by form; from the French word for kind or type

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gothic novel

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type of novel, popularized in late 18th century, characterized by thrill-provoking and supernatural events

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grotesque

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this word has come to denote characters who are spiritually or physically deformed

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Horatian ode

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an ode in which each stanza follows the same metrical pattern

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imagery

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refer either to figures of speech or to verbal representations of sensory objects or sensations

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informal essay

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brief and has a purpose that is less serious than a formal essay

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interior monologue

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technique used in the writing of a novel or short story to record the inner thoughts and emotional responses of a character; aka stream of consciousness

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irony

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rhetorical device in which the author conveys a meaning opposite to the words actually used

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Italian sonnet

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aka Petrarchan sonnet -divided into an octave, which always rhymes abbaabba, and a sestet, which rhymes cdecde

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kenning

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type of phrase found in Old English poetry as a figure of speech to stand for a simple noun, as in whale road for sea

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lyric

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short, melodic, imaginative poem, usually characterized by intense personal emotion

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melodrama

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term literally means: a play with music but denotes a play with stereotyped characters and highly charged emotions, usually with a romantic plot and a happy ending

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metaphor

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figure of speech implying a comparison between objects of diff classes or categories by saying one object IS another, not LIKE another

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miracle play

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type of drama common in medieval Englad depicts miracle performed by a saint, or an incident in the life of one. These plays are not usually based strictly on scriptual accounts

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mock epic

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long poem, intended to be humorous, that treats a trivial subject in the lofted, exalted style of the epic poem

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morality play

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type of drama popular in medieval England, characterized by pronounced use of allegory to point up a moral teaching

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mystery play

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type of medieval play based on Biblical stories

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myth

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stories that come anonymously from the remote past; myths stir the subconscious in powerful ways b/c such folklore and folk beliefs are based on kind of primitive truth that once attempted to explain inexplicable psychological and scientific truths to ancient ancestor

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naturalism

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type of realistic fiction that developed in France, America, and England in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It presupposes that human beings are like puppets, controlled completely by external and internal forces

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Neoclassicism

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used to describe a set of literary characteristics that flourished in the age b/w the Restoration (beginning 1660)and the publication of "Lyrical Ballads" (1798), which signaled the triumph of Romanticism in English lit. Neoclassical lit is characterized by an emphasis on correct form, wit, common sense, elegance, reason, and a careful control of the emotions

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octave

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poetic stanza with 8 lines, now used chiefly to denote the first 8 line section of an Italian sonnet

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ode

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sustained lyric poem w/ a noble theme and an intellectual tone

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ottava rima

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poetic stanza with 8 iambic pentameter lines rhyming abababcc

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pastoral

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poem about shepherds and rural life, derived from ancient Greek poetry

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parody

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humorous lit work that ridicules a serious work by imitating and exaggerating its style

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pentameter

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a line of poetry containing 5 metrical ft

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persona

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in the criticism of fiction, the term refers to a person through whom the narrative is told

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personification

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figure of speech that gives human forms and characteristics to abstractions, ideas, animals, and other creatures

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POV

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to denote the vantage point from which an author presents the action in a work of fiction

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prosody

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word applied to the theory and a practice of writing poetry

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quatrain

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stanza or poem with 4 lines, with many possible rhyme schemes

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realism

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term generally applied to any lit that is true to life. specifically applied to a movement in latter half of 19th century, when novelists were reacting against Romanticism

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refrain

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regularly repeated phrase or line of poetry that recurs frequently in a poem or ballad

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rhyme

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similarity or correspondence in the vowel sounds of two words that have differing consonantal sounds

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rhyme royal

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type of stanza containing 7 iambic pentameter lines and rhyming ababbcc

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rhyme scheme

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recurring pattern in which rhymes are placed in a stanza or poem

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romance

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originally a term denoting a medieval narrative in prose or poetry, dealing with a knightly hero; but now, any fiction concerning heroes, exotic subjects, passionate love, or supernatural experiences

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run-on line

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line of poetry in which the sense of the sentence or clause is not complete but which continues into succeeding lines

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short story

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a brief narrative, ancient in origin, which includes fables, parables, tales, and anecdotes

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soliloquy

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monologue delivered by an actor alone on stage

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sonnet

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poem of 14 iambic pentameter lines with a rigidly prescribed rhyme scheme. the 2 main types of sonnets = Italian (Petrarchan) and the English (Shakespearian)

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Spenserian stanza

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9 line stanzaic form consisting of 8 iambic pentameter lines followed by an Alexandrine, a line of 6 iambic ft

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stanza

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group of lines of poetry arranged as a melodic unit that follows a definite pattern

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subplot

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secondary dramatic conflict that runs thru a story as a subordinate complication and which is less important than the main plot

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symbol

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something that is a meaningful entity in itself and yet stands for, or means, something else

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terza rima

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special type of 3 line stanza that has interlocking rhymes in a continuous rhyme scheme: aba bcb cdc ded, etc

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tone

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author's attitude toward his subject and his audience as implied int he literary work

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tragedy

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a serious drama, in prose or poetry, about a person, often of a high station in life, who experiences sudden personal reversals

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tragic irony

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occurs when a character in a tragedy uses words that mean one thing to him and something more meaningful to the audience

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tragi-comedy

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type of drama that is initially serious in tone or theme, until it becomes apparent that the tragic events will end happily

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unities

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principles of structuring dramas requiring that the plot be one continuous action (unity of action), that the action takes place w/in the walls of one city (unity of place), and in one day (unity of time)

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verse

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general name given to all metrical (or poetic) compositions

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epiphany

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moment of insight, spiritual or personal; character's sudden revelation about life or circumstances

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parable

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short tale that teaches thru example usually a moral or religious lesson

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versimilitude

answer

quality in lit of being true to life details seem realistic and believable even if the setting is supernatural

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vernacular

answer

the ordinary everyday speech of a region

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