Terms : Hide Images
| 309992431 | Allegory | a story or visual image with a second distinct meaning partially hidden behind its literal or visible meaning. An allegory may be conceived at a metaphor that is extended into a structured system. | |
| 309992432 | Anecdote | a brief narrative of an entertaining and presumably true incident. | |
| 309992433 | Argument | discourse intended to convince or persuade through appeals to reason or emotion. | |
| 309992434 | Autobiography | an account of all or a part of a person's life written by that person. The Autobiography of Malcolm X | |
| 309992435 | Bildungsroman | translated literally means "development novel." A coming of age work that follows its protagonist from youth to experience, or maturity. The Life of Pi and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | |
| 309992436 | Biography | a written account of someone's life, written by someone else, which focuses on the character and career of the subject. | |
| 309992437 | Comedy | a literary work written chiefly to amuse its audience. It usually provides a happy ending and emphasizes human limitations rather than human greatness. | |
| 309992438 | High Comedy | characterized by grace, elegance and wit; intellectual comedy | |
| 309992439 | Low Comedy | crude, boisterous comedy; slapstick and crude jokes; physical comedy | |
| 309992440 | Confessional Literature | autobiographical writing in which the author discusses highly personal and private experiences normally withheld. | |
| 309992441 | Convention | an accepted or expected style or form. (Wicked step-mothers in fairy tales, happy endings, etc.) | |
| 309992442 | Courtly Love | the formal, non-sexual, ritualized love for a lady that a knight was expected to bestow toward a noble lady. A convention of literature of the Middle Ages. | |
| 309992443 | Didactic | Any text whose main purpose is to teach or instruct. | |
| 309992444 | Dirge | a funeral song of lamentation; a short lyric of mourning. | |
| 309992445 | Discourse | spoken or written language. | |
| 309992446 | Argument | discourse intended to convince or persuade through appeals to reason or emotion. | |
| 309992447 | Description | the picturing in words of people, places and activities through detailed observations of color, sound, smell, touch and motion. | |
| 309992448 | Exposition | the setting forth of a systematic explanation of or argument about any subject. | |
| 309992449 | Narration | the process of relation a sequence of events or another term for narrative. | |
| 309992450 | Rhetoric | the art of persuasion, in speaking or writing | |
| 309992451 | Essay | a short written composition in prose that discusses a subject or proposes an argument without claiming to be a complete or thorough exposition. Essays can be formal, informal or humorous. | |
| 309992452 | Epistolary | a novel written in the form of correspondence between characters. | |
| 309992453 | Eulogy | A formal composition or speech in high praise of someone (usually dead, but dead or alive) or something. | |
| 309992454 | Exemplum | a brief tale told to illustrate a biblical text or to teach a lesson or moral. | |
| 309992455 | Expose | article exposing scandal or crime. | |
| 309992456 | Fable | a brief tale that conveys a moral lesson, usually by giving human speech and manners to animals and inanimate things. | |
| 309992457 | Farce | A type of drama related to comedy but emphasizing improbable situations, violent conflicts, physical action, and coarse wit over characterization or articulated plot. | |
| 309992458 | Genre | a French term for a type, species, or class of composition such as novel, poem, short story, and such sub-categories as sonnet, science fiction or mystery. | |
| 309992459 | Gothic | a type of novel characterized by mystery, horror, and the supernatural, often with haunted castles, secret passageways, grisly visions, and all of the paraphernalia of the tale of terror. Edgar Allan Poe's writing is an example | |
| 309992460 | Historical Novel | attempts to re-create an historically significant personage or series of events. | |
| 309992461 | Homily | religious sermon or discourse | |
| 309992462 | Melodrama | drama that pits unbelievably good characters against a despicably evil character. The plot includes dire events and near disasters. Good is always rewarded, and evil punished. This is not drama, but Scooby Doo is a good example of the rest of the definition | |
| 309992463 | Memoir | an account of a single period in a writer's life, often one that coincides with important historical events. | |
| 309992464 | Metaphysical poetry | intricate 17th century English poetry employing wit and unexpected images. John Donne writes metaphysical poetry. | |
| 309992465 | Miracle Play | medieval religious drama based on a miraculous event in a saint's life or a story from the Bible. | |
| 309992466 | Mock Epic | comically or satirically imitates the form and style of the epic, treating a trivial subject in a lofty manner. The Rape of the Lock | |
| 309992467 | Morality Play | allegory in dramatic form. Hero, who represents all mankind, is surrounded by personifications of virtues, vices, angels, demons and death, who battle for possession of the hero's soul. | |
| 309992468 | Myth | an anonymous narrative, originating in the primitive folklore of a race or nation, which explains natural phenomena, or recounts the deeds of heroes; passed on through oral tradition. The Odyssey | |
| 309992469 | Novel | a lengthy fictional narrative in prose dealing with characters, incidents, and settings that imitate those found in real life. | |
| 309992470 | Novelette | built on one incident; shorter than a novel, but has more development of character and theme than a short story. | |
| 309992471 | Novella | a short novel. | |
| 309992472 | Novel of manners | a novel, usually comical and satirical, whose characters and plot emerge from and are limited by the social customs, values, habits and mores of a particular social class in a particular time and place. Pride and Prejudice | |
| 309992473 | Paean | a song of triumph or thanksgiving. | |
| 309992474 | Parable | a brief tale intended to be understood as an allegory illustrating some lesson or moral. "The Good Samaritan" from the Bible | |
| 309992475 | Parody | A composition that ridicules another composition by imitating and exaggerating aspects of its content. X-Man is a parody of the slave narrative genre, but not in an outwardly ridiculing way | |
| 309992476 | Pedantic | writing that borders on lecturing. Scholarly, academic, and often overly difficult and distant. | |
| 309992477 | Picaresque novel | a novel whose principal character is a low-born rogue who lives by his/her wits and who becomes involved in one predicament after another. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | |
| 309992478 | Play | a literary work written in dialogue and intended for performance before an audience by actors on stage. | |
| 309992479 | Poetry | literature in its most intense, most imaginative, and most rhythmic form. | |
| 309992480 | Prose | in the broadest sense, all forms of ordinary writing and speech lacking the sustained and regular rhythmic patterns found in poetry. It resembles closely everyday speech. | |
| 309992481 | Psychological Novel | novel that focuses on the "interior" lives of its characters, their mental states and emotions, and their psychological motivations of their actions than on the actions themselves. | |
| 309992482 | Romance | any extended work of fiction that deals with adventure, extravagant characters, strange or exotic places, mysterious or supernatural incidents, heroic or marvelous achievements, or passionate love. | |
| 309992483 | Science Fiction | novels and short stories set either in the future or on some imaginary world. | |
| 309992484 | Short Story | a fictional narrative in prose, short in length (500-15,000 words approx.), usually limited to a few characters, a single setting, and a single incident. | |
| 309992485 | Sociological Novel | concerned primarily with social issues and problems. | |
| 309992486 | Tract | a formal, religious essay or pamphlet. |
