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| Occurs when an action produces are smaller results than one had been led to expect. It is frequently comic. "Sir, your snide manner and despicable arrogance have long been a source of disgust to me, but I've overlooked it until now. However, it has come to my attention that you have fallen so disgracefully deep into that mire filth which is your mind as to attempt to besmirch my wife's honor and my good name. Sir, I challenge you to a game a badminton!" | ||
| A short and usually witty saying, such as: "Classic? A book which people praise and don't read." - Mark Twain. | ||
| A speech (usually just a short comment) made by an actor to the audience, as though momentarily stepping outside of the action on stage. | ||
| A trait or characteristic, as in "an _____ of a dew drop." | ||
| The repeated use of vowel sounds, as in, "Old king Cole was a merry old soul." | ||
| The emotional tone or background that surrounds a scene. | ||
| The name for a section division in a long work of poetry. It divides a long poem into parts the way chapters divide a novel. | ||
| These two terms carry the similar meaning of suggesting that there is more than one possibility in the meaning of words (image, idea, opposition); there are subtleties and variations; there are multiple layers of interpretation; the meaning is both explicit and implicit. | ||
| The repetition of consonant sounds within words (rather than at their beginnings, which is alliteration). A flock of sick, black-checkered ducks. | ||
| In a broad sense, it is simply a very long narrative poem on a serious theme in a dignified style. They typically deal with glorious or profound subject matter: a great war, a heroic journey, the Fall from Eden, a battle with supernatural forces, a trip to the underworld, etc. The mock-____ is a parody form that deals with mundane events and ironically treats them as worthy of this type of poetry. | ||
| To say or write something directly and clearly (this is a rare happening in literature because the whole game is to be "implicit," that is, to suggest and imply). | ||
| Today we use this word to refer to extreme broad humor. Writers of earlier times used this as a more neutral term, meaning simply a funny play; a comedy. (And you should know that for writers of centuries past, "comedy" was the generic term for any play; it did not imply humor). | ||
| Poetry written without a regular rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. | ||
| To say or write something that suggests or implies but never says it directly or clearly. "Meaning" is definitely present, but it's in the imagery, or "between the lines." | ||
| Switching the customary order of elements in a sentence or phrase. When done badly it can give a stilted, artificial, look-at-me-I'm-poetry feel to the verse, but poets do it all the time. This type of messing with syntax is called "poetic license." "I'll have one large pizza with all the fixins"-presto chango instant poetry: "A pizza large I'll have, one with the fixins's all." | ||
| Sentence that is complete before its end. (Does not in any way imply that the sentences are slack or shoddy). Example: "Jack loved Barbara despite her irritating snorting laugh, her complaining, and her terrible taste in shoes." | ||
| A sentence that is not grammatically complete until it has reached its final phrase. Example: "Despite Barbara's irritation at Jack's peculiar habit of picking between his toes while watching MTV and his terrible haircut, she loved him." | ||
| A word that is used to stand for something else that it has attributes of or is associated with. For example, a herd of 50 cows could be called 50 "head" of cattle. | ||
| Repeated syntactical similarities used for effect. | ||
| A phrase set off by commas that interrupts that flow of a sentence with some commentary or added detail. "Jack's three dogs, including that miserable little spaniel, were with him that day." | ||
| "If I were you, I'd learn this one!" That's a small joke because the grammatical situation involves the words "if" and "were." What you do is set up a hypothetical situation, a kind of wishful thing: "if I were you, if he were honest, if she were rich." You can also get away from the person and into the "it": "I wish it were true, would it were so(that even sounds like Shakespearean and poetry). Example: "Were one not already the Duke..." | ||
| The methods, the tools, the "how-she-does-it" ways of the author. The elements are not these. In poetry, "onomatopoeia" is this within the element of rhythm. In drama, "blocking" is this, as is "lightning." Concrete details are not these, but tone is. Main idea is not, but opposition is. | ||
| The main position of an argument. The central contention that will be supported. | ||
| In a tragedy, this is the weakness of character in an otherwise good (or even great) individual that ultimately leads to his demise. | ||
| An idealized place. Imaginary communities in which people are able to live in happiness, prosperity, and peace. Several works of fiction have been written about these. | ||
| The use of a word to modify two or more words, but used for different meanings. "He closed the door and his heart on his lost love." |
