BAn adjective meaning prosperous, or wealthy. America is a generally affluent nation relative to much of the world.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBalliteration
BThe repetition of consonants in a series of words in poetry or music. For example, Gwendolyn Brooks uses alliteration in her lines from IWe Real CoolI when she writes: IWe/Lurk late. We/Strike Straight. We/Sing sin.I
Ec[000000]f[16]LBallusion
BAn indirect or casual reference to a famous person or event in history, the Bible, a literary work, mythology, or another known source.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBantagonist
BThe most important character, generally perceived as immoral or at least wrong, who stands in opposition to the main character, or protagonist, in a novel or play.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBaristocratic
BOf or pertaining to a member of an aristocracy, a class of persons holding exceptional rank and privileges, especially hereditary nobility.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBaside
BIn the theater, an aside refers to a comment by an actor intended for the audience and supposedly not heard by others on stage.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBautobiography
BA story of a person's life as written by that person. Autobiographical generally refers to a novel or play in which the events are very similar to those of the author's or playwright's life.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBballad
BA poem that tells a story, often of folk origins, and is written to be sung.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBbiography
BA biography is the life story of one person as told by another. Generally, biographies are written about famous or historical people who are seen as having an important influence on their times.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBblank verse
BA type of poetry in which rhyme is not used. Each line has ten syllables with an iambic rhythm (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable in each poetic foot), as in "about the town").
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcivility
BCourtesy, politeness; a polite attention or expression.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcolloquial
BCharacteristic of ordinary or familiar conversation rather than formal speech or writing. For example, in standard American English, "He hasn't got any" is colloquial, while "He has none" is considered formal.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBcomedy
BA type of fiction or drama in which the characters are treated humorously. There is usually a happy ending, and the audience is generally amused and moved to laughter.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBconflict
BIn drama or fiction, the conflict refers to the collision between opposing forces, generally represented by two characters, the protagonist and the antagonist.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBconservative
BUsed to describe someone or something that is disposed to preserve existing social conditions and institutions; resistant to changes.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBconventional
BConforming or adhering to accepted standards of conduct and taste.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdenouement
BFrench word meaning literally the untying of a knot, used to refer to the final outcome, solution or unraveling of the principal dramatic conflict in a literary work.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBDepression
BA period in American history, between World War I and World War II, which is considered to be the greatest economic crisis in American history. The stock market crash on October 24, 1929 is regarded as the beginning of the Depression. More than 5000 banks Ec[000000]f[16]LFclosed their doors, resulting in millions losing their savings. By 1933 more than one-fourth of the labor force, some 15 million workers, were unemployed.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdeus ex machina
BThe literal translation of this Greek phrase is "god from the machine." In literary terms, it is used to describe the use of an unexpected and unforeshadowed person or event that provides a contrived, artificial solution to a dramatic conflict that is often impossible to resolve otherwise.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdiscrimination
BThe act or an instance of making a distinction in favor of or against a person or thing based on a perceived difference, such as race or gender, rather than merit.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdissonance
BA harsh, unpleasant sound used in poetry, generally intentionally for a specific effect. Cacophony is often used as a synonym for dissonance.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBdrama
BA work written to be acted on the stage. It also specifically refers to plays that have serious intentions or purposes without reaching the heights of tragedy.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBemancipation
BThe act of freeing someone, as from slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation (1862) provided that all slaves in those states and parts of states in rebellion on or after January 1, 1863, were to be free. Slavery in the four loyal states was not affected by this proclamation. For greater Ec[000000]f[16]LFeffectivness Lincoln held back the announcement of this policy until after the Union victory at Antietam in September 1862.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBend rhyme
BRhymes occurring at the ends of lines of poetry. Most poetry uses end rhymes, although many modern poets also create complicated internal rhyme schemes with the lines of poems.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBepic
BAn extended narrative poem, usually written in an elevated style, that centers on the deeds of a legendary or actual hero. Poems like the IIliadI and the IOdysseyI are classical epics with certain formal characteristics. A poem like Milton's IParadise LostI, in which such Ec[000000]f[16]LFcharacteristics are applied to later or different materials is called an art epic or literary epic. A poem like IBeowulfI is considered as expressing the early ideals and traditions of a people or nation and is called a folk epic or national epic.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBepilogue
BThe concluding section of a literary work. Sometimes also refers to the speech in early drama spoken by an actor directly to the audience at the conclusion of the play.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBepiphany
BA literary term used by James Joyce to refer to a sudden intuitive perception of the essential nature or meaning of an event; the moment of understanding or revelation for a character.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBepistolary
BOf or pertaining to the writing of letters. Often used in literature to refer to a type of novel in which the story is told entirely through letters from one or more persons.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBepitaph
BOriginally used to describe a verse inscription on a gravestone, this term is now commonly used to mean a poem or short statement written or spoken to commemorate the dead.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBessayists
BWriters who write essays, prose compositions, usually brief, dealing with a particular theme or topic.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBexploitation
BCapitalizing on the selfish use of another person's labor or talent for the purpose of profit, without adequately compensating the person for that labor.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBExpressionism
BA literary movement of the early-20th century, found mostly in drama, dedicated to revealing the depths of the human mind. It was heavily influenced by the discoveries of Sigmund Freud.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBflashback
BA literary technique that interrupts the chronological narrative flow of a story in order to present scenes or incidents that occurred prior to the beginning of the story.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBforeshadowing
BA plot device in novels that warns or prepares the reader for what will happen at some future point in the story.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBfree verse
BA type of verse that does not have a regular meter. Free verse takes its poetic language from the cadence of stressed and unstressed syllables and the rhythms that exist in everyday speech.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBgentility
BAn adjective meaning superior refinement or elegance.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBghetto
BA thickly populated section of the city, usually populated by poor people or a minority group.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBheredity
BThe transmission of genetic characteristic from parents to offspring, which is dependent on the segregation and recombination of genes during meiosis and fertilization.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBhero
BIn myth and early literature, a character filled with courage and idealism. Hero can also refer to the central character of a novel or play. The feminine form of the word is heroine.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBhyperbole
BA figure of speech, usually a deliberate exaggeration used to stress a point.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBiambic
BA metrical foot that has two syllables, with the accent or stress on the second. It is usually used in conjunction with another word to denote the rhythm and number of stressed syllables in a line of poetry. For example, five sets of stressed syllables are called an iambic pentameter.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBillusion
BA mental deception that arises from a false mental image or conception.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBImagists
BA group of American poets, which included Carl Sandburg and Ezra Pound, prominent in the early-20th century. They believed in producing poems that employed the language of common speech, and often included new rhythms, new subject matter and strong, concrete imagery.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBinstinct
BA natural or innate impulse, inclination, or aptitude.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBinterior monologue
BA technique used in the writing of a novel or short story to record the inner thoughts and emotional responses of a character. It is sometimes called stream of consciousness. James Joyce and William Faulkner are two writers who often employ interior monologues.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBinternal rhyme
BRefers to a rhyme scheme within poems that include words that rhyme within a single line, or in the middle of two different lines, as opposed to a rhyme scheme that uses only end rhymes, which is rhyming words at the end of a line.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBirony
BIrony is a figure of speech or a literary device that (1) uses a humorous or subtly sarcastic expression in which the intended meaning of the words is the direct opposite of their usual sense; (2) contrasts, as in a play, what a character thinks the truth is, as revealed in a speech Ec[000000]f[16]LFor action, and what an audience or reader knows the truth to be; (3) culminates events to a result that is the opposite of what is or might be expected or considered appropriate.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBirrational
BLacking in sound judgment or reason, acting without thinking logically or reasonably.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBisolationism
BRefers to the American policy of avoiding involvement with European nations after World War I. American membership in the League of Nations was voted down by the Senate, even though the League had been initiated by then President Woodrow Wilson.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBJim Crow laws
BAmerican laws passed chiefly during the 1890s, with the goal of depriving American Blacks the equality they had ideally gained upon emancipation. The laws provided for strict segregation of the races in schools, restaurants, transportation facilities, sports arenas, and other public places. It Ec[000000]f[16]LFwas not until 1954, when the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that separate could not be equal, that this form of legalized segregation was abolished.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBlegend
BA story that is popularly regarded as historical, and may have its roots in fact, but one in which imagination also comes into play. Legends often involve folk heroes, such as Paul Bunyan or Johnny Appleseed.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBline break
BThe point in a poem where the poet chooses to start another line. It can be at the beginning of a new sentence, or in mid-sentence, and is often determined by a predetermined formula, such as the number of syllables within the line.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBlitotes
BA figure of speech that uses understatement to make a point stronger usually by stating the opposite of the point being affirmed, as in "a Chicago hot dog is not a bad meal".
Ec[000000]f[16]LBlyric
BA short, melodic, imaginative poem, usually characterized by intense personal emotion.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBMcCarthyism
BA term that has come to designate ruthless, reckless, and unfair charges. It derives from the unfair charges brought against many Americans by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Un-American and communist activities in the years after World War II.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmetaphor
BA figure of speech implying a comparison between two objects by saying one object is another, not like another.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmetonymy
BA figure of speech in which a word that is closely associated with a term is substituted for the term itself. For example, "We insure you from the cradle to the grave." Cradle stands for birth, and grave stands for death.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmiddle classB
The social class between the lower and upper classes.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmigrant laborer
BUsually refers to people hired seasonally by farmers to help harvest crops. Migrant workers move from region to region, following the harvest season, and are paid very little for their work. Often they live in squalid, inadequate housing provided by the farmers.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBminstrel
BAny of a medieval class of entertainers who traveled from place to place. These wandering entertainers were especially known for their singing and reciting to musical accompaniment.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmonologue
BA discourse either oral or written by or for one speaker only, often called a soliloquy in a play.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmuses
BA muse is the spirit that is thought to inspire a poet or other artist. Muses are figures of Greek mythology; there were nine muses of Greek poetry, including Clio (history), Erato (love poetry), Melppomene (tragedy), Terpsichore (dance), and Thali (comedy).
Ec[000000]f[16]LBmystique
BAn aura or mystery or mystical power surrounding a particular person or pursuit.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBnarrative verse
BPoetry that tells a story. IThe Canterbury TalesI is an example of narrative verse. Narrative verse is relatively rare in contemporary poetry, as the novel has usurped its role.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBnarrative
BA story of events or experiences, usually a written or spoken or work containing such a story.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBnaturalism
BA faithful adherence to nature and realism; A type of realistic fiction that developed in France, America, and England in the 19th and early-20th centuries that was based on the notion that humans are like puppets, controlled completely by external and internal forces. In Realism, Ec[000000]f[16]LFcharacters have a larger measure of free will. Characters in naturalistic fiction have almost no free will at all; their actions and choices are pre-disposed by their heredity and environment.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBNegro Renaissance
BRefers to the period in American history just after World War I, when African-American writers and artists experienced a period of enormous growth and acceptance. Many African-American writers settled in New York's Harlem neighborhood.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBNobel Prize
BAwards given each year in several fields, including literature and medicine, by an Academy in Sweden founded by Alfred Nobel, to acknowledge excellence and achievement in that field in the previous year. One of the few literary awards that are international in scope, winning a Nobel Ec[000000]f[16]LFPrize is often considered a writer's highest achievement. American winners of Nobel Literature Prizes include Sinclair Lewis, William Faulkner, Eugene O'Neill, and Pearl Buck.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBnovella
BA term frequently used to denote a work that is somewhere between a short story and a novel in length; a short novel.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBonomatopoeia
BA word whose sound is descriptive of its sense or meaning, such as hiss, buzz, splash.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpastoral
BA poem about rural life, derived from ancient Greek poetry. The word can also describe poetry marked by nostalgia for lost innocence.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpatriotism
BDevoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpersonification
BA figure of speech that gives human forms and characteristics to abstractions, objects, or animals.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBplay
BA stage presentation of a drama.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBplaywrightB
One who constructs a play.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBplurality
BThe votes polled by the leading candidate in an election, which may not necessarily be a majority of all votes cast.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpoemB
A composition, usually in metric verse.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpoetryB
Writings in metrical verse.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBpoint of view
BA phrase used to denote the vantage point from which an author presents the action in a work of fiction.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBprotagonist
BThe leading character, usually the hero or heroine, in a novel or play.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBrealism
BA term generally applied to any literature that is true to life. It is specifically applied to a movement in France, England and America in the latter half of the 19th century, in which novelists tried to be as true to life as possible.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBRenaissance
BThe transition period in Europe from medieval to modern culture, the Renaissance is viewed as a period of rebirth or re-awakening of learning and the arts. It began in Italy in the 1300s and then spread throughout Europe in the 1400s.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBrepetition
BA device used in writing poetry or prose in which an idea is repeated for emphasis.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBrhyme
BA similarity or correspondence in the vowel sounds of two words that have differing consonantal sounds, for example cat and fat.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBrhyme scheme
BThe recurring pattern in which rhymes are placed in a stanza or poem.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBRomanticism
BA movement in literature and the arts that arose in the 18th and 19th centuries as a reaction to the extreme rationalism of the Enlightenment.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsarcasm
BA literary device that uses irony to state in a negative and bitter way the opposite of the intended meaning.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsatire
BA type of literary work that uses sarcasm, wit, and irony to ridicule and expose the follies and foibles of humankind.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBscienceB
knowledge that deals with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws; systematic knowledge of the physical or material world gained through observation and experimentation
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsegregation
BThe act or practice of separate or setting apart a group from the main body or group, usually along racial, religious, or other arbitrary lines.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsentimental
BExpressive of or appealing to sentiment, especially such feelings as love, pity, nostalgia, etc.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsetting
BThe physical background of a narrative. A setting includes the historical epoch in which the action occurs.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsimile
BA figure of speech in which an object of one type is compared to another. The phrase usually includes the word "like" or "as".
Ec[000000]f[16]LBSocialism
BPolitical and economic doctrine that seeks to replace the competitive capitalist system with a cooperative society. A key element is ownership of the means of production and distribution either by the government or collectively by the people. Socialism developed as a response to the Ec[000000]f[16]LFextreme hardships and social injustice brought about by the Industrial Revolution.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsoliloquy
BA monologue delivered by an actor alone on stage, with the intention of revealing what is going on in the character's mind. Shakespeare often uses soliloquies in his plays.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBstereotype
BA standardized conception or image invested with a special meaning and held in common by members of a group. Many Americans have stereotyped images of people of other nationalities.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBstream of consciousness
BA type of psychological prose that presents the inner thoughts and feelings of a character in a novel or short story in an uneven, endless stream that stimulates the character's consciousness. It is sometimes also called an interior monologue.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBstress
BThe accent or emphasis given to a syllable or word in poetry or other rhythmic writing.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBstyle
BAn author's unique method of expression to convey the meaning she or he wishes. Elements of style include language, the plot structure, the type of characters, the point of view of the narrative.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBsymbol
BRefers to something that is meaningful in itself, but at the same time stands for, or means, something else. In literature, there are many universal symbols and others that suggest special meaning because of the way they are used. For example, a journey is a universal symbol for life.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBtragedy
BA serious drama, in either prose or poetry, about a person, usually of a high station in life, who experiences sudden personal reversals. Tragedies always end with a catastrophic event, such as a war or death.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBTranscendentalism
BAn optimistic, liberal philosophy developed by Ralph Waldo Emerson and other New England intellectuals such as Henry David Thoreau before the Civil War. Transcendentalism emphasized the dignity of the common man and held that intuition transcended experience.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBtrilogy
BA literary work with three parts, each a complete unit in itself. For instance, John Dos Passo's U.S.A. is a trilogy.
Ec[000000]f[16]LBUnconventional
BDefying or breaking accepted standards of conduct and taste.
