1.Allegory: A narrative using symbolic names or characters that carries underlying meaning other than the one most apparent. The stories are usually long and complex, and are meant to explain or teach a moral idea or lesson to the
reader. The ideas are presented in a concrete and imaginative manner, and incidents usually represent political, spiritual, or romantic situations. The characters are types (Mr. Stingy Cheapo) or they are moral characteristics (Kindness, Jealousy). One character can represent a whole bunch of people. For example, in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, Dante symbolizes mankind and is guided by the poet Virgil through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. During this journey, he learns about the punishments of sin, and the process of salvation. There are also allegories in the story Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne in which the character Faith is used to represent good fighting evil. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and Spenser's "The Faerie Queen" are famous allegories in English. Allegories can also be found in parables and fables. In fables, inanimate objects or animals take on human characteristics in order to point out their weaknesses and desired traits. There is usually a short, simple, commonly cliched lesson (that your parents love to quote for you) which is stated at the end. A famous example is Aesop's fables about
the hare and the tortoise (slow and steady wins the race) and the one about the grapevine. A parable is a concise story using everyday situations making a point through comparisons. In the Bible, Jesus uses parables to simplify ideas for his disciples. For example, he compares the kingdom of God to the mustard seed. He says it is the smallest seed planted in the ground, yet when it grows, it becomes the largest garden plant providing shade and comfort. [Pearl Chang, '99]
2.Alliteration: Originated in the early 17th century from medieval Latin alliterato; used for poetic effect; the repetition of the initial sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables. It can also be referred to as head rhyme or initial rhyme. ( Example: "Aunt Jennifer's Tigers" -Adrienne Rich pg. 471 "Aunt Jennifer's fingers fluttering through her wool" "We'll go on prancing, proud and unafraid" and "Hymn To God the Father" -John Donne pg. 505 "Shall shine as he shines now . . ." [Jessica Sharron, '99]
3.Allusion: an indirect or implied reference to another work of literature, historical event, famous quotation, etc. The desired effect is to enhance the meaning of the author's work by the reference. This can only be achieved by the level of the reader's knowledge of the work being alluded to.
For example: in the novel Animal Farm, there is a revolution which takes place when the animals overthrow their human owners. The leader of the animals is a monarchic pig name Napoleon. The story alludes to the Bolshevik Revolution during World War I, allowing for the reader to better see the level of power a single ruler can reach. [Kristin Pesceone, '99]
4.Ambiguity: In literary criticism ambiguity refers to the exploitation for artistic purposes of language which has usually two but possibly multiple meanings. Ambiguity gives a state of doubt and indistinction to words or expressions that make them capable of being interpreted and understood in more than one way. It should be noted that ambiguity is not necessarily negative in literature and literary criticism.
Examples: In Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, during the discussion between Jane and Mr. Rochester that eventually ends in him asking her to marry him, it is ambiguous as to whether Mr. Rochester is referring to Blanche Ingram, or some other woman whom he holds such deep affection for.
In this very same novel, there is another example of
ambiguity in much a similar situation. When St. John asks Jane to be his wife and come with him on his mission, it is ambiguous as to whether he truly loves her or whether he wants her along for some other reason. [Joel Carlson, '99]
5.Analogue: An analogue is a piece of writing that is similar in some aspect to another. When one work is like another because it is intentionally derived from it, it is not called an analogue. The second work is just called a source. The plays Antigone by Sophocles and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare are analogues because they are both tragedies written in verse in which the hero sets out to make peace for the death of a loved one, but ultimately dies himself.
"The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin and "Astronomer's Wife" by Kay Boyle can also be thought of as analogues because both are short stories which deal with a woman's liberation from her husband, although the results of the stories are quite different. [Erin Hyun, '99]
6.Anapest: In poetry, a foot composed of two short, unstressed syllables followed by a long, stressed one. An example of anapestic meter is Lord Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib."
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,7.Anecdote: A very brief story or tale told by a character in a piece of literature. The story usually consists of an interesting biographical incident. This is seen in The Canterbury Tales. It is also seen in the beginning of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five when the author is speasking of how he came to write the succeeding story. [Micah Bedrosian, '99]
And his cohorts were gleaming in ipurple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. [Nora Quiros, '99]
8.Antagonist [Foster]
9.Aphorism [1st] [Quach]
10.Apostrophe: When the narrator suddenly breaks his story to directly address someone or a personified abstraction which may or may not be present. Milton provides an example in his Paradise Lost:
"Hail, holy light, offspring of Heaven first born." [Nathan Westhoff, '99]11.Aside: An aside is a short speech made by a character in a play--it is is heard only by the audience; the rest of the characters cannot hear it. In many instances an aside is a way for a playwright to voice his or her character's thoughts and feelings.
"How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!12.Assonance: a vowel sound repeated in literary work. This echoing effect is used to enhance the tone and feeling the author is trying to convene in the work.
The harlot's cheek is, beautied with plast'ring art,
Is not more ugly to the thing that helps it
Than is my deed to my most painted word:
O heavy burthen!" [Leah Porter, '99]
In the “Stopping by Woods,” the lines
“The only other sound’s the sweepThe e sound is echoed in “sweep,” “easy,” and “downy” and the ow sound in “sound and downy.” [Alisso Ko, '99]
Of easy wind and downy flake.”
13.Autobiography: A biography about a person written by that person. It is usually written and narrated in the first erson and recounts the life, or significant details from the life, of the author.
Two famous examples of autobiographies are Bad as I Want to Be by Dennis Rodman, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X. Borh of these novels recount the authors' lives in first-person narrative. [Phillip Tadlock, '99]
14.Ballad [Wiederkehr]
15.Biography: The story of a person's life written by someone other than the subject of the work. A biographical work is supposed to be somewhat factual. However, since the biographer may be prejudiced in favor of or against the subject of the biography, critics, and the sometimes the subject of the biography himself, may come forward to challenge the accuracy of the material. [Mike Isenberg, '99]
16.Blank Verse: poetry written in meter, usually iamgic pentameter, but without a rhyme shceme. It is commonly used in narraive and dramatic poetry. For example, from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice:
The quality of mercy is not strain'd,17.Cacaphony/Euphony: A dissonant, unpleasant comgination of sounds/a harmonious, pleasant combination of sounds.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed:
It blesseth him that gies and him that takes. [Kristin Pesceone, '99]
I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils ["Elegy for Jane" by Theodore Roethke]Euphony:
A toad the power mower caught,
Chewed and clipped of a leg, with a hobbling hop has got ["The Death of a Toad" by Richard Wilbur]
The word plum is delicious18.Caesura [Parmelee]
pout and push, luxury of
self-love, and savoring murmur
full in the mouth and falling
like fruit. ["The Word Plum" by Lelen Chasin][Elena Allen, '99]
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,21.Catastrophe: A catastrophe is any sudden disaster that has occured. It is the scene in a tragic drama that includes the protagonist's death or moral destruction. One such tragedy is Oedipus the King by Sophocles. In Shakespeare's tragedies such as Othello, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet, the catastrophe is always included in Act 5.[Ezter Takacs, '99]
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today,
To-morrow will be dying. [Eric Frey, '99]
23.Characterization [1st] [Schroer]
24.Classicism: A movement to preserve and improve upon the attributes found in Greek and Roman works. The movement encompasses the many areas of art: music, visual arts, and literature. Often classicism involves the philosophies of Greek philosophers, so the movement involves much of ancient form.
There were three basic revivals of classicism. The first was during the Renaissance, wherein architecture and philosophy became Greco-Roman inspired. The second revival took place during the 18th and 19th centuries, when Pompeii was (re)discovered. This period is generally called "neoclassicism," and the Greco-Roman strain was mostly prevalent in literature (Goethe), music (Haydn, Mozart), and art (the Museum des Beaux-Arts in France). The third revival was the early 20th-century, where a renewed interest in abstracted classical art is found in Pablo Picasso, and modernized Greek literature is evident in the works of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.
An example of classicism in the literature studied this year comes from Gulliver's Travels, Book III. On the sorcerer-populated island of Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver calls up Aristotle and Homer, who sneer at modern philosophy. The Travels were published in 1726, around the time of the neoclassicism revival, and this passage reflects the then-presumably prevalent attitude that ancient philosophy is moral and decent and a good thing to study. [Christa Young, '99]
25.Climax: In a work of literature, the most decisive and critical scene or event is the climax. The climax is the major turning point of the work; it is the culmination of the rising action, conflicts, and complications of the story.
In "Oedipus Rex," the climax occurs when Oedipus discovers the truth of the prophecies and oracles. This was the major turning point in the play which caused Oedipus to change from a glorified and honored king to a shamed and destroyed outcast. [Nicki Roberts, '99]
26.Comedy: A comedy is literary work which is amusing and ends happily. This work can be a play or a novel, even a movie. Modern comedies are usually funny, while Shakespearean comedies just end well. Shakespearean comedies accomplish their comedic effect by using misunderstandings or mistaken identities. Modern comedies throw their characters into peculiar situations, and must then deal with those situations. Witty and clever lines are dispensed to make the piece entertaining for readers or viewers.
A good example of a Shakespearean comedy could be Twelfth Night. It cleverly shows it's comedic air by disguising the Viola as a boy, a case of mistaken identity. [Jarrod Armour, '99]
27.Conceit [1st] [Takacs]
28.Conclusion: The final outcome of main characters in a drama or novel that is based on logical events from the story. To tie the loose ends of the plot lines of the major characters together. The ending of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a good example:
"....and, as Heter Prynne had no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoyment, people brought all their sorrows, perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through mighty trouble." [Nathan Westhoff, '99]29.Concrete Poetry: A poem that visibly resembles the object which it describes. This is accomplished by arranging the words or lines of the poem so that they form the desired shape or pattern. Examples are "Easter Wings" by George Herbert and "Women" by May Swenson. [Doug Yuen, '99]
32.Consonance: This is one of those great literary terms to use when you are doing an AP write and you are trying to think of a sophisticated way to say that the words in the piece sound nice and harmonious with each other. It will come up most commonly with poetry or prose-like pieces of writing when words have a close correspondence of sounds. More specifically, it means the repetition of consonants (letters of the alphabet) or a consonant pattern, especially at the end of words. (Kind of like alliteration, but instead of the repeating sound in the beginning, the repetition is at the end.) Usually, it sounds good and the word is also commonly used to describe music as in agreement, or accord. So you want some examples?,
"I listened, motionless and still,33.Couplet [1st] [Cope]
And as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more."
In these four lines from the "Solitary Reaper" by William Wordsworth, there is consonance at the end of line 1 and 2 (hill.. still), and then line 3 and 4 (bore... more). :) :) [Pearl Chang, '99]