Terms : Hide Images
| 14380079484 | characterization | the various literary means by which characters are presented | 0 | |
| 14380083281 | pastoral | a convention that celebrated the virtues of rural life and largely idealized them | 1 | |
| 14380085481 | comic relief | in a tragedy, a comic scene that follows a scene of seriousness and by contrast intensifies the emotions aroused by the serious scene | 2 | |
| 14380090053 | dramatic convention | any dramatic device which, though it departs from reality, is implicitly accepted by author and audience as a means of representing reality | 3 | |
| 14380090954 | farce | a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations. | 4 | |
| 14380096306 | rhythm | a wavelike recurrence of motion or sound | 5 | |
| 14380097176 | accent | a syllable given more prominence in pronunciation than its neighbors | 6 | |
| 14380098552 | foot | the basic unit used in the measurement of verse | 7 | |
| 14380102521 | iamb | a metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable. | 8 | |
| 14380103533 | Trochee | A metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable | 9 | |
| 14380116838 | anapest | A metrical foot consisting of two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable. | 10 | |
| 14380119956 | dactyl | a metrical foot consisting of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables | 11 | |
| 14380122816 | spondee | a metrical foot consisting of two syllables equally or almost equally accented | 12 | |
| 14380128395 | meter | the regular patterns of accent that underlie metrical verse | 13 | |
| 14380130554 | monometer | a metrical line containing one foot | 14 | |
| 14380132670 | dimeter | a metrical line containing two feet | 15 | |
| 14380134097 | trimester | a metrical line containing three feet | 16 | |
| 14380135549 | couplet | two successive lines, usually of the same meter, linked by rhyme | 17 | |
| 14380137957 | envoi | A brief ending (usually to a ballade or sestina) no more than 4 lines long; summary | 18 | |
| 14380138728 | heroic couplet | poems constructed from a sequence of rhyming pairs | 19 | |
| 14380142771 | heterometric stanza | a stanza using lines of differing lengths | 20 | |
| 14380144769 | isometric stanza | a stanza using lines of the same length | 21 | |
| 14380148454 | blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter | 22 | |
| 14380151960 | free verse | nonmetrical poetry in which the basic rhythmic unit is the line, and in which pauses, line breaks, and formal patterns develop organically from the requirements of the individual poem rather than from established poetic forms | 23 | |
| 14380152823 | internal rhyme | a rhyme in which one or both of the rhyme-words occurs within the line | 24 | |
| 14380155133 | masculine rhyme | when the rhyme sounds involve only one syllable | 25 | |
| 14380158748 | feminine rhyme | when the rhyme sounds involve two or more syllables | 26 | |
| 14380161212 | ballad | a song or poem | 27 | |
| 14380162256 | idyll | a brief descriptive poem, often dealing with rural life | 28 | |
| 14380163560 | lyric | a short poem in which a single emotion, usually personal, is expressed | 29 | |
| 14380165392 | ode | a poem that is usually addressed to some person or object or composed for some special occasion | 30 | |
| 14380691339 | sestina | a form of thirty lines and six stanzas, with a three-line envoi at the end | 31 | |
| 14380693360 | sibilant | describes consonants that are pronounced with a hissing sound | 32 | |
| 14380696648 | sonnet | a fixed form of fourteen lines, normally iambic pentameter, with a rhyme scheme conforming to or approximating one of two main types | 33 | |
| 14380702137 | terza rima | an interlocking rhyme scheme with the pattern aba bcb cdc, etc. | 34 | |
| 14380709670 | tercet | a three-line stanza exhibited in terza rima and villanelle as well as other poetic forms | 35 | |
| 14380711646 | truncation | In metric verse, the omission of an unaccented syllable at either end of a line | 36 | |
| 14380714775 | villanelle | A 19 line form using only two rhymes and repeating two of the lines according to a set pattern | 37 | |
| 14380716918 | ague | fever | 38 | |
| 14380718618 | ascetic | a person who renounces material comforts and leads a life of self-discipline | 39 | |
| 14380720661 | bark | small boat | 40 | |
| 14380721494 | benefactor | one that gives aid, especially financial aid | 41 | |
| 14380722828 | besotted | to muddle or stupefy | 42 | |
| 14380726846 | bier | a stand to support a corpse or a coffin prior to burial | 43 | |
| 14380728295 | brood | 1. to sit on and hatch 2. to worry | 44 | |
| 14380729919 | casement | window with sashes opening outward on hinges | 45 | |
| 14380732216 | charnel-houses | places of storage for the bones of the dead which had been exhumed to make room for new bodies | 46 | |
| 14380734975 | copious | large;abundant | 47 | |
| 14380735938 | coquetry | dalliance; flirtation | 48 | |
| 14380737257 | declamation | a speech marked by strong feeling | 49 | |
| 14380739319 | degradation | a decline to a lower condition or quality | 50 | |
| 14380744220 | disaffect | to cause to lose affection or loyalty | 51 | |
| 14380746083 | discomfiture | frustation or disappointment | 52 | |
| 14380747867 | dissipation | wasteful expenditure or consumption | 53 | |
| 14380752455 | dudgeon | a state or fit of intense indignation; resentment; ill humor | 54 | |
| 14380755361 | epistle | a letter, especially a formal one | 55 | |
| 14380758602 | execrate | to feel loathing for; abhor | 56 | |
| 14380760232 | exigency | a pressing or urgent situation | 57 | |
| 14380761704 | fastidious | difficult to please; exacting | 58 | |
| 14380763358 | fealty | faithfulness; allegiance | 59 | |
| 14380771273 | fortnight | two weeks | 60 | |
| 14380772096 | garrulous | talkative | 61 | |
| 14380772097 | gout | arthritic condition traditionally attributed to rich diet | 62 | |
| 14380775764 | heath | a wild, treeless tract of land; a moor | 63 | |
| 14380778398 | importunity | urgent persuasion | 64 | |
| 14380779364 | imprecation | the act of calling down a curse that invokes evil | 65 | |
| 14380781168 | indolence | habitual laziness | 66 | |
| 14380782832 | insipid | lacking qualities that excite, stimulate, or interest | 67 | |
| 14380785208 | interment | the act or ritual of burying | 68 | |
| 14380787758 | lassitude | a state or feeling of weariness, diminished energy, or listlessness | 69 | |
| 14380790218 | liege | lord or sovereign | 70 | |
| 14380792654 | lolling | sprawling | 71 | |
| 14380793631 | pallid | pale | 72 | |
| 14380795056 | paroxysm | a sudden outburst of emotion or action | 73 | |
| 14380798731 | penitent | a sinner or wrongdoer who feels regret or sorrow for misdeeds | 74 | |
| 14380804230 | penurious | unwilling to spend money | 75 | |
| 14380805875 | perfidious | marked by treachery | 76 | |
| 14380806861 | presentiment | a sense that something is about to occur | 77 | |
| 14380808533 | prodigious | impressively great in size, force, or extent | 78 | |
| 14380810478 | propitious | presenting favorable circumstances | 79 | |
| 14380812356 | prurience | inordinately interested in matters of sex | 80 | |
| 14380814199 | refectory | a place where meals are served, especially in college or other institutions | 81 | |
| 14380817812 | remonstrance | an act of protest, complaint, or reproof | 82 | |
| 14380819782 | revile | abuse verbally | 83 | |
| 14380820665 | saturnine | melancholy or sullen | 84 | |
| 14380822316 | smitten | to affect sharbly with great feeling | 85 | |
| 14380823196 | solecism | a violation of etiquette | 86 | |
| 14380824066 | supercilious | feeling or showing haughty disdain | 87 | |
| 14380827220 | surfeit | to feed or supply to excess, satiety, or disgust | 88 | |
| 14380830460 | turbid | heavy, dark, or dense, as smoke or fog | 89 | |
| 14380832270 | uncouth | crude | 90 | |
| 14380833614 | unctuous | oily; using excessive flattery | 91 | |
| 14380837405 | unmitigated | absolute | 92 | |
| 14380838133 | usurious | greatly exceeding bounds of reason or moderation | 93 | |
| 14380839157 | uxorious | excessively fond or submissive to a wife | 94 | |
| 14380840935 | vanquished | overcome in battle or in a contest | 95 | |
| 14380843426 | vignette | a short, usually descriptive literary sketch | 96 | |
| 14380855822 | albatross | something that causes persistent deep concern or anxiety | 97 | |
| 14380856655 | artful dodger | any skillful crook | 98 | |
| 14380857455 | bedlam | a state of wild disorder or noisy uproar | 99 | |
| 14380858514 | big brother | any government or ruler that tries to dictate, eavesdrop, or gather personal info on its citizens | 100 | |
| 14380864123 | brobdingnagian | marked by tremendous size | 101 | |
| 14380865295 | byronic | refers to any person who is like George Gordon, Lord Byron, who was an English Romantic poet who was considered a bit of a rake in his day | 102 | |
| 14380869061 | catch-22 | an absurd, no-win situation | 103 | |
| 14380870474 | dantesque | any writing resembling Dante's | 104 | |
| 14380875952 | Dickensian | Writings similar to Charles Dicken's | 105 | |
| 14380878566 | Faustian/Faustian Bargain | refers to sacrificing one's self or one's values in exchange for getting what one desires, often wealth | 106 | |
| 14380881049 | gilded age | this phrase denotes the Civil War era | 107 | |
| 14380882855 | holy grail | an object that is extremely desirable or valuable and which is attainable only after a long and difficult quest | 108 | |
| 14380882856 | in medias res | in or into the middle of a plot; into the middle of things | 109 | |
| 14380884106 | leviathan | refers to anything that is huge and monstrous | 110 | |
| 14380886595 | lilliputian | refers to anything very tiny that can control something larger than themselves | 111 | |
| 14380888621 | machiavellian | refers to anyone who is merciless, clever, and unethical to obtain his goals, particularly in politics | 112 | |
| 14380891354 | man for all seasons | Any respected person who sticks to his beliefs courageously. [Sir Thomas More, author of Utopia, was sent to prison and executed because he refused to accept the Pope as head of the Roman Catholic Church. He was called a man for all time or a man for all seasons for sticking to his beliefs so strongly.] | 113 | |
| 14380892576 | man friday | an efficient and devoted aide or employee; a right-hand man | 114 | |
| 14380893897 | muckrake | to search for and expose real or alleged corruption, scandal, or the like, especially in politics. | 115 | |
| 14380895551 | noble savage | refers to an uncivilized person who is really more worthy and sensible than some of his civilized counterparts | 116 | |
| 14380899031 | platonic | any strong affinity for another person, usually of the opposite gender | 117 | |
| 14380900312 | pollyana | Someone who is unusually optimistic and always looking at the bright side. The term often has connotations of being excessively cheerful and naïve. [Pollyana is a character in children's stories written by Eleanor H. Porter. She is a little girl who teaches everyone she meets to play the ―lad game, a game in which a person tries to find something to be glad about in any situation, no matter how bad the situation is.] | 118 | |
| 14380902172 | Scheherazade | an excellent storyteller, especially one who is able to keep an audience in suspense | 119 | |
| 14380903224 | shangri-la | a remote, beautiful, imaginary place where life approaches perfection | 120 | |
| 14380906117 | silent spring | an ecological disaster | 121 | |
| 14380907178 | sound and fury | refers to a great, tumultuous, and passionate uproar that actually is unimportant or meaningless | 122 | |
| 14380911047 | thought police | Intolerant enforcers of a narrow orthodoxy of ideas and actions. Also the more diffuse but powerful social pressure or fear of reprisal that inhibit the free expression of nonconforming ideas. [Originates with George Orwell's 1984 where the thought police rooted out nonconformist ideas (―thought crimes‖) in Oceania. They were able to spy on everyone everywhere through the telescreens which could broadcast, but also watch and listen.] | 123 | |
| 14380913660 | ugly american | an American who acts ugly in foreign countries and thus represents Americans poorly | 124 | |
| 14380916742 | Xanadu | magnificent, beautiful, almost magical place | 125 | |
| 14380919195 | hexameter | a metrical line containing 6 feet | 126 | |
| 14380920517 | pentameter | a metrical line containing five feet | 127 | |
| 14380924085 | flat | a simple character that is one-dimensional | 128 | |
| 14380928684 | round | a complex character that is multi-dimensional | 129 | |
| 14380929919 | static | a character that stays the same from the beginning to the end | 130 | |
| 14380932972 | dynamic | a character that changes from the beginning to the end of a work | 131 | |
| 14380934940 | protagonist | the main character | 132 | |
| 14380935637 | narrator | storyteller | 133 | |
| 14380943915 | plot | the sequence of events in a literary work | 134 | |
| 14380943916 | exposition | the point in the plot when background info is revealed | 135 | |
| 14380945823 | climax | the moment of highest tension in the story | 136 | |
| 14380947648 | conflict | the central struggle between two or more forces in a story | 137 | |
| 14380949352 | symbol | A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract. | 138 | |
| 14380954198 | Foreshadowing | A warning or indication of a future event | 139 |
