A Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms
This page listing definitions of literary and rhetorical terms is a resource for students of literature developed by students of literature at Georgia Southern University for the course Introduction to Literary Studies. At this stage it is very much still a work in progress.
Go to the Glossary of Rhetorical Terms
A GLOSSARY OF LITERARY TERMS AND GENRES
Allegory
A narrative which has both a literal meaning and a
representative one. Allegory may be sustained throughout a work (as in the
medieval morality play) or comprise an episode in literature of any genre.
There are two main types of allegory: the historical and political
variety, in which historical persons and events are referred to, and the
allegory of ideas, in which characters personify abstract concepts and the
story has a didactic purpose.
Examples: George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) is a
modern example of the first type, describing the development of Russian
communism in terms of a revolt by farm animals. The allegory of ideas is
particularly common in medieval literature, as in Dante's Divine Comedy,
in which Dante the pilgrim represents a common person seeking salvation, both
helped and hindered by his reliance upon Reason (in the person of Virgil)
rather than upon Faith.
--Cynthia Gaines
Alliteration
This is the recurrence of initial consonant sounds within a
sentence or line of a poem. Often several words are placed next to each other
and are alliterated into one sentence. This is useful for emphasis as well as
expressing particular emotions.
Example: from Shelley's "The Cloud": "I bear light
shade for the leaves when laid."
One can also build an alliterative phrase from "Create Your Own
Shakespearean Insults" (Maguire): beef-witted beetle-headed beslubbering
boar-pig.
--Caroline Coleman
Allusion
A passage in a later literary work that achieves its meaning
through reference to a previous literary text or literary figure or event.
Example: When Wordsworth in the beginning of The Prelude
exalts that "the world is all before me now" (18), he is picking up
where
--Cynthia Gaines
Aside
An utterance meant to be inaudible to someone: especially an
actor's speech heard by the audience but supposedly not by other characters.
Example: William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet says,
"A little more than kin, and less than kind" (1.2.65). In this line
Hamlet speaks of but not to his new father, Claudius, who is also his uncle.
The grief-stricken Hamlet does not think kindly of him because his uncle has
married his mother Gertrude at the recent death of Hamlet's father.
--Joy Caine
Assonance
This is when similar vowel sounds are repeated in successive
patterns.
An example of assonance is from Byron's " She Walks in
Beauty":
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lighten o'er her face
--Caroline Coleman
Ballad Stanza
A ballad stanza is one of the divisions of a poem and is
usually in the form of a song. Ballads are short narratives that typically deal
with folklore or popular legends. The stanzas at times include a refrain. A
typical rhyme scheme is ABAB or ABBA.
An example of a ballad stanza can be found in William
Blake's "The Little Boy Lost":
Father, father, where are you going
O do not walk so fast.
Speak father, speak to your little boy
Or else I shall be lost,
The night was dark no father was there
The child was wet with dew.
The mire was deep, and the child did weep
And away the vapour flew.
--Andy Lee
Bildungsroman
German term signifying "novel of formation" or
"novel of education." The subject of this novel is the development of
the protagonist's mind and character, in the passage from childhood through
varied experiences and often through a spiritual crisis into maturity, which
usually involves recognition of one's identity and role in the world (Abrams).
Example: Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. This
novel centers around Pip as a poor, orphan boy who with the help of a
mysterious benefactor in the end becomes a gentleman.
--Avery Wright
Blank Verse
Blank Verse is poetry written in iambic pentameter with no
rhyme scheme, so called because of the 'blank' word at the end of the line that
should rhyme. Poets tend to use this technique in poetry for lengthy works such
as narrative poetry or dramatic monologues because of the flexibility Blank
Verse allows. However, Blank Verse should not be confused with Free Verse. Like
Blank Verse, Free Verse can have no apparent rhyme scheme, but, as opposed to
Blank Verse, Free Verse has the flexibility to rhyme at times. Moreover,Free
Verse is termed "free" because of its disregard for traditional
meter.
Example: from Shakespeare's The Merchant of
The qua / lity / of mer / cy is / not strain'd.
It drop / peth as / the gen / tle rain / from heaven
Upon / the place / beneath; / it is / twice blessed:
It bles/ seth him / that gives / and him / that takes: (IV.I.
)
Note the clear division into five iambic feet.
--Corey Bernard
Burlesque
A literary or dramatic work that makes a subject appear
ridiculous by treating it in an incongruous way, as by presenting a lofty
subject with vulgarity or an inconsequential one with mock dignity. There are
two (2) f orms of burlesque:
1) Mock-Epic: A
literary or dramatic work in which a frivolous or minor subject is treated
seriously, especially by using the machinery and devices of the epic (inv
ocations, descriptions of armor, battles, extended similes, etc.). The opposite
of travesty (Abrams). Two examples of this form are Geoffrey Chaucer’s
"The Nun’s Priest’s Tale" of The Canterbury Tales and
Alexander Pope’s "The Rape of the Lock."
2) Travesty: A
literary or dramatic work in which a serious subject is treated frivolously.
Miquel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote is an example of a travesty.
--LaKesha Palmer
Caesura
A brief pause that occurs in a metrical line of poetry.
Although a caesura usually comes about the middle of a poetic line, it can
appear anywhere in the line, or not at all; further, more than one caesura can
occur in a single line of poetry. It can occur between poetic feet or within
them. The position of the caesura is not dictated by meter or number of feet,
nor by any punctuation marks in the line. Rather, the position is dictated
exclusively by the meaning or content of the line, as well as by natural speech
rhythms; a caesura, therefore, helps the reader or listener to understand the
meaning of the poem. Thus, the ability to place caesuras precisely and
meaningfully is of inestimable benefit to any poet. A caesura is also crucial
as a means for avoiding rhythmic monotony. In scansion, a caesura is marked
with the symbol "||."
Examples: John Donne, in his "Holy Sonnet X," uses
caesuras masterfully, with astonishing effect. In the first line of the poem,
"Death, || be not proud, though some have called thee," Donne places
the caesura (as indicated) after the first word, "Death." Death, we
reason, is the great, the infinite pause. Appropriately then, Donne halts his
verse after this ominous first word. Donne logically continues this practice
throughout the poem: a caesura always occurs after the poet addresses Death.
The caesura in the first line, it is important to note, occurs not because of
the comma that indicates direct address; the caesura occurs because it
illumines and enhances the meaning or content of the line. In line thirteen is
placed another caesura that expresses death, which we now, because of the
poem's message, conceive of as only a brief pause: "One short sleep past
|| we wake eternally." This caesura occurs in the middle of the line,
where it is usually placed. Donne fixes two caesuras in the last line of the
poem, which again relate death, this time the death of Death: "And death
shall be no more; || Death, || thou shalt die." Line three, relating Death's
impetuous pride, suitably has no caesuras: "For those whom thou think
think'st thou dost overthrow."
--Eric Verhine
Catharsis (Greek: katharsis)
Catharsis is defined as the purification or purgation of emotions
(especially fear and pity) primarily through art.
Catharsis is used as a key term by Aristotle to show the effects of a true
tragedy on the spectator. Aristotle says that tragedy is to arouse "pity
and terror," and later allows us to purge ourselves of these emotions.
R.B. Sharpe in his book Irony in the Drama says that a tragic hero is
"a human figure upon whom we are able to load our emotions, from the
loftiest to our lowest, our hopes, and our sins, through such a deep and
complete emotional identification that he can carry them away with him into
heaven or the wilderness and so free us of the burden and the tension of
keeping them for ourselves" ( ).
A good example of a play that allows us to go through
catharsis is Oedipus Rex. The chorus and Tiresias are always reminding
the audience that Oedipus could possibly be the one who is causing the
"rotting of
Climax (Greek: klimax)
Words, phrases, clauses, and sentences arranged in a rising
order of most important, with the last word or phrase being the climax. In
literary works, the climax is the point where the reader is at his or her
highest level of interest. Structurally, the climax is the turning point in the
action when the rising action becomes the falling action. At this point the
dramatic tension is at its peak--this is the climax.
also see complex plot
Examples are abundant, for every literary work has a climax.
The stabbing assassination of Caesar in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is
one of the climaxes of that drama.
--Joesph Lutz
Complex Plot
A plot in which either reversal or recognition, or perhaps
both, accompanies the climax of the work. By Aristotle's definition, reversal
and recognition should manifest themselves from within the internal structure
of the plot, in order that the results constitute necessity or probability.
Example: The final scenes of Sophocles' Antigone, in
which Creon is transformed from proud leader to mourning husband and father,
provide a stunning example of complex plot. In this case, the plot type is
defined through Creon's recognition of his own erring sense of judgment and the
consequences yielded by his tragic decision
--Hunter Ginn
Dramatic Irony
Involves a situation in a play or a narrative in which the
audience or reader shares with the author knowledge of present or future
circumstances of which a character in the work is ignorant. In that situation
the character either unknowingly acts in a way we recognize to be grossly
inappropriate for the actual circumstances or expects the opposite of what we
know that fate holds in the way that the character intends (Abrams).
Example: William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Gertrude says,
"I will my lord, I pray you pardon me" (5.2.269). In this line
Gertrude speaks of drinking from the cup that she and Hamlet are unaware has
been poisoned. By drinking from the cup, Gertrude will die, and Hamlet
continues fighting, unaware of the fact that Gertrude has just sealed her fate.
The irony is that the audience already knows that the cup has been poisoned and
that whoever drinks from it will be poisoned to death.
--Joy Caine
Dramatic Monologue
A species of lyric poetry in which the speaker is a persona
created by and clearly distanced from the poet; the speaker's character is
revealed unintentionally through his or her attitudes in the dramatic
situation. Furthermore, the speaker may address and interact with silent
listeners, usually not the reader.
Fine examples of the dramatic monologue are Robert
Browning's "My Last Duchess" and T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of
J. Alfred Prufrock." Tennyson's "Ulysses," likewise, reveals the
aged voyager's wariness of idle comfort in
Come, my friends,
`Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die. (1-6)
--Zeb Baker
Epic
A long narrative poem recounting actions, adventures, and
heroic episodes and written in high style(with ennobled diction, for example).
It may be written in hexameter verse, especially dactylic hexameter, and it may
have twelve books or twenty four books. Characterics of the classical epic
include these:
1. The main character or protagonist is heroically larger than life,
often the source and subject of legend or a national hero.
2. The setting covers several nations, the whole world, or even the
universe.
3. The episodes, even though they may be fictional,provide an explanation
for some of the circumstances or events in history of a nation or people.
4. The action, often in battle, consists of courageous and heroic deeds,
often revealing the suprehuman strength of the heroes.
5. The gods and lesser divinities take an active interest in the outcome
of actions ans sometimes intervene.
6. All of the various adventures form an organic whole, where each event
related in some way to the central theme.
7. The narrative presents the deeds of the hero objectively, revealing
his failings as well as his virtues.
Examples of an Epic poem are Beowulf,
--Daaiya Salaam
Epistolary Novel
A novel presented in the form of letters written by one or
more of the characters. The form allows for the use of multiple points of view
without the intrusive commentary of an omniscient narrator (Abrams).
Example:Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Brief
description: This novel tell sthe struggle of two, young African American
sisters growing up together in the early 1900's. One has it little better off
than the other because she is more appealing to the eye. She, Ciely, gets to
travel and go to
--Daaiya Salaam
Heroic Couplet
Two lines of successive rhymed iambic pentameter poetry. The
rhyming scheme occurs in pairs of aa, bb, cc, etc. It was introduced by Chaucer
and was often used in poetry in the 17th and 18th centuries. The two lines are
used to express a complete thought or event (an epigram), with a subordinate
pause of the first line, in neo-classical writings. It was the signature verse
of the neo-classical age since it dealt with precision and reason, and it was
used to educate the rising middle-class.
This example is from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales:
Lo, heer expres of wommen may ye finde
That womman was the los of al mankinde.
Tho redde he me how Sampson loste his heres:
Sleeping his lemman kitte it with hir sheres,
The following example is from Pope's "An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot":
The bard whom pilfered pastorals renown,
Who turns a Persian tale for half a crown,
Just writes to make his barrenness appear,
And strains, from hard-wrought brains, eight lines a year:
He, who still wanting, though he lives on theft,
Steals much, spends little, yet has nothing left:
The following example is an epigram written by
Coleridge that perfectly catches the spirit and purpose of an heroic couplet:
"What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole,/ Its body brevity,and wit its
soul."
--John Belcher
Italian sonnet
a fourteen line poem of iambic pentameter consisting of two
opening quatrains (the octet or octave) followed
by two tercets (the sestet). A sample rhyme scheme might run abab cdcd
efg efg, but although this might vary, the formal divisions of the 8 / 6
pattern will be recognizable. This formal pattern carries with it the strong
expectation of a "turn" or strong shift in meaning after the octet,
in which a problem is often posed; the sestet then goes on to address that
problem or offer a different perspective on issues raised by the first eight
lines. The overall effect is a meditative poem, a poem that takes its
time (and 6 whole lines) coming to terms with an important issue (in this
movement and mood, the Italian strongly differs from the snappier and wittier
English sonnet).
Example: Petrarch XC. In the octave the poet
pays glorious tribute to the lady he loves, hoping he discerns her pity for his
great love of her, hoping she will "kindle" the burning flame he
keeps hidden. But the sestet shifts the perspective by treating the lady
as a divine being removed by her very spirituality from the plane of the pining
lover.
Invective
An insult; abusive language or phrase.
Example: "Abhorred monster! Fiend that thou
art!"-- Dr. Frankenstein to the monster in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
--Heather Holloway
Kunstlerroman
"Artist novel," which represents the growth of a
novelist or other artist from childhood into the stage of maturity that
signalizes the recognition of the protagonist's artistic destiny and mastery of
an artistic craft.
Example: James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man. This novel is about the life of James Joyce from learning about
God and women until his great epiphany, when he discovers the true meaning of
writing or his aesthetic theory.
--Avery Wright
New Comedy
A dramatic form originating in the Roman plays of Terrence
and Plautus that offers a more conservative approach to the relation of the
rebel figure to the moral order. In this genre the rebel figure, often a young
aristocrat who wishes to marry below his class, must reconcile his desires with
those of the ruling moral order, often represented by concerned parents. Often
this reconciliation takes place through a late revelation or plot twist (e.g.
the supposedly poor maiden is really a princess in disguise!) that lets both
young and old affirm the importance of family and the social order, usually in
the form of a marriage.
Example: Terence's The Woman of Andros, in which an
array of characters mingle in a romantic fiasco that seems strikingly contemporary
in its concerns. Terence effectively circumvents the controversial pitfalls of
the Old Comedy form by implementing playful themes of love-gone-awry and
interfamilial bickering. Also, virtually all of Shakespeare's comedies
are "New Comedy."
--Hunter Ginn
Novella
A fictional prose narrative that is longer and more complex
than a short story; a short novel, a tale, or short story of the type contained
in the Decameron of Boccaccio(Abrams).
Example: Nela Larson's "Passing. "Brief description:
Two women by the name of Clare Kendry and Irene Redfield are childhood friends
that separate as they grow other. Both of them are of very fair color and both
could "pass" for being white. This short novel reveals the lives of
these two very different women with a lot in common. It tells the trial and
tribulations that both women go through when one decided to stay within her
race and the other decides to "pass" for whiteand marry outside her
race in a time where interracial marriages are very forbidden.
--Daaiya Salaam
Old Comedy
The term historically refers to an archaic dramatic form
comprised of loosely connected scenes, in which a situation is given believable
human contour through the devices of farce, fantasy, satire, and parody. The
plays of Aristophanes are the only extant examples of this form, but the genre
continued in what scholars now call "egocentric" comedy, in which the
rebel figure of a play wins out against the established moral order and
fulfills his or her wishes (as, for example, the Athenian women do in Lysistrata).
Example: Aristophones' The Lysistrata exemplifies the
boisterous, proto-slapstick comedy typical of the form, particularly in its
ironic cleverness (sexual in-fighting in an effort to achieve Athenian Pacifism).
Racy Restoration comedies, in which witty rakes triumph over their elders, are
also good examples of this comic form.
--Hunter Ginn
Ottava Rima
An eight-line stanza utilizing a rhyming pattern of
abababcc, with ten syllables per line. It is composed of heroic verse, and uses
an iambic scheme. It originated in
The following excerpt from Byron's Don Juan shows the form
well:
Barnave, Brissot, Condorcet, Mirabeau,
Petion, Clootz, Danton, Marat, La Fayette,
Were French, and famous people, as we know:
And there were others, scarce forgotten yet,
Joubert, Hoche, Marceau, Lannes, Desaix, Moreau,
With many of the military set,
Exceedingly remarkable at times,
But not at all adapted to my rhymes.
In the beginning of his epic, Byron starts with perfect form. Another excerpt shows how masterfully he can vary the form:
A long, long kiss, a kiss of youth, and love
And beauty, all concentrating like rays
Into one focus, kindled from above;
Such kisses as belong to early days,
Where heart, and soul, and sense, in concert move,
And the blood's lava, and the pulse a blaze,
Each kiss a heart-quake, -- for a kiss's strength,
I think, it must be reckon'd by its length.
This example shows how Byron fiddles with the form throughout Don Juan,
here by cheating with his rhymes
(love, above--move). Throughout Don Juan, Byron deviates from the
English ten syllables per line as well.
--John Belcher
Persona
Refers to the speaker or narrator of a poem, not necessarily
to be equated with the author of the work. In lyric poetry it is the speaker,
and in verse or prose narratives written in first-person point-of-view it is
the story's narrator. The term originates from the Latin word for
"mask," and persona was the mask worn by ancient Greek actors while
performing dramas. The speaker can actually be a part of the fictional
character. Keats referred to this as "negative capability," which is
when the poet temporarily forgets who he or she is and takes on the qualities
of the subject, thus enabling the poet to write in a more empathetic sense. For
an example of this see "Ode to a Nightingale," in which Keats
imagines himself as a bird.
Other examples of persona include: "September
1913" by Yeats, in which the speaker of the poem is Sir Hugh Lane, who
offered his collection of French Impressionist paintings to the city of Dublin
with the stipulation that the city would build an appropriate museum to house
them; "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S.Eliot, in which the
speaker is Prufrock, a lonely middle-aged man with little self-esteem and a
fear of women; and in "The General" by Siegfried Sassoon, in which
the speaker is a soldier in World War I, actually the poet himself, who
expresses his disgust at his experiences through his poetry.
--John Belcher
Parody
Ridicules the work, ideas, or writing style of an author or
previous text. A parody may imitate an author's use of vocabulary, punctuation,
tone, or philosophy.
Example: Joyce Carol Oates' attack on hunters, an essay
entitled "Most Dangerous Game," parodies Jonathan Swift's "A
Modest Proposal." Oates mimics the format and tone of Swift's essay, helping
to make her point by association.
--Heather Holloway
Revenge tragedy
A dramatic form popular during the Elizabethan Age in which
the protagonist, directed by the ghost of his murdered father or son, inflicts
retaliation upon a powerful villain. Notable features of the revenge tragedy
include violence, bizarre criminal acts, intrigue, insanity, a hesitant
protagonist, and the use of soliloquy.
Example: William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet says,
" The point envenomed too! Then, venom, to thy work!" (5.2.301). As
Hamlet is speaking this line he is stabbing his Uncle Claudius with the poisoned
weapon, finally avenging the death of his father. Hamlet sought to avenge his
father's death after a visit from the ghost of his father, who informed his son
of Claudius' murderous act
--Joy Caine
Roman a clef (French for "novel with a key")
A novel in which historical events and actual people are
written about under the disguise of fiction.
Example: Bebe Moore Campbell's Your Blues Ain't Like Mine
is a fictional novel about the murder of a young boy named Todd in rural
--Cynthia Gaines
Rime Royale
A stanza of
Among thise other folk was Criseyda,
In widew's habit blak; but natheles,
Right as our first lettre is now an A,
In beautee first so stood she, makles;
Hire goodly lokyng gladed al the prees.
Nas nevere yet seyn thing to ben preys derre,
Nor under cloude blak so bright a sterre. (I. 169-75)
It was termed "royal" because his imitator, King James I of
"Spring Song of the Birds"
Worschippe ye that loveris bene this May,
For of your blisse the Kalendis are begonne,
And sing with us, Away, Winter, away!
Cum, Somer, cum, the suete sesołn and sonne!
Awake for schame! That have your hevynnis wonne,
And amorously lift up your hedis all,
Thank Lufe that list you to his merci call!
Later examples include Shakespeare's "The Rape of Lucrece,"
The first stanza of
O fairest flower no sooner blown but blasted,
Soft silken Primrose fading timelessly,
Summer's chief honor if thou hadst outlasted
Bleak winter's force that made thy blossom dry;
For he being amorous on that lovely dye
That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss
But kill'd alas, and then bewail'd his fatal bliss.
--Zeb Baker
Sarcasm
A verbal form of irony. Saying the exact opposite of what
one thinks in order to mock another person. Sarcasm expresses scorn,
disapproval, or annoyance.
Example: "'Ford! Hello, how are you?'
'Fine,' said Ford, 'look are you busy?'
'Am I busy?' exclaimed Arthur. 'Well, I've just got all
these bulldozers and things to lie in front of because they'll knock my house
down if I don't, but other than that . . . well, no, not especially, why?'
They don't have sarcasm on Betelgeuse, and Ford Prefect
often failed to notice it unless he was concentrating.
He said, 'Good, is there anywhere we can talk?'"
--Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
--Heather Holloway
Schauerroman
A novel of terror.
Example: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This novel is
about Dr. Frankenstein who wants to be God and create the perfect human. When
the being he creates is not what he envisions, Dr. Frankenstein banishes him
from the garden. The monster becomes aware of who he is and who created him and
thus sets out to destroy his maker.
--Avery Wright
Simple Plot
In the Aristotelian sense, simple plot denotes an imitative
action that is singular and static within the course of dramatic flow. This
plot type is awarded distinction from Complex
Plot through its lack of reversal
or recognition.
Example: Aeschylus' Agamemnon, in which Clytemnestra
successfully exits the dramatic dialogue without a reversal in fortune or an ostensible
recognition of wrongdoing. This in effect illustrates a textual linearity (in
its trajectory of action) that is in accordance with Aristotle's
definition. Although a real reversal of plot awaits her in The
Libation Bearers, it is uncertain to what degree she achieves any moment of
recognition.
--Hunter Ginn
The Six Parts of Any Dramatic Work
According to Aristotle's Poetics, the six parts of
any dramatic work are: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and melody.
The order of these six parts is imperative. Plot is more important than
character, character is more important than diction, etc. Aristotle explains
that the true purpose of drama is that a character's action determines who a
person is rather than the reverse The organization of these actions becomes the
plot. Characters in a play, while highly significant, act as mere vehicles for
these actions. Diction and thought help support the plot by providing clear
meaning, while spectacle and melody serve as ornamental embellishments. All six
parts are necessary, but it is stressed in Poetics that plot is most
important and should be supported by the other five.
Example: Today, in the age of movie stars and special
effects, drama has moved away from Aristotle's rigid definition. While all six
parts are still significant, their order of importance is often altered. Eugene
O'Neill's play, Long Day's Journey Into Night, is one example of a drama
where character is more important than plot. O'Neill's play has a strong plot
and, at first glance, appears to follow Aristotle's model. However, it is
explained in Poetics that when the actions of the plot are used mainly
in sevice of characterization, then the character has become the main element
in that drama. In Long Day'sJourney Into Night, arguably the psychology
of the characters generates the line of action.
--Amy Conger
Spensearean Stanza
A heterometric stanza (a stanza containing lines with
differing numbers of feet), invented by Edmund Spenser (1552? - 1599). The
Spensearean stanza was based originally on the eight-lined ottova rima stanza.
Comprised of nine lines, the Spensearean stanza has an ababbcbcc rhyme scheme.
Two couplets occur within the nine lines, one that is internal and another
that, like the couplet in a Shakespearean sonnet, closes the poem. The first
eight lines of the stanza are in iambic pentameter; to the last line is added
one foot, making the line iambic hexameter. This final line in hexameter is
often called an alexandrine; it is the most significant formal aspect of the
poem, adding, as Alfred Corn opines, "weight (and metrical surprise) to
the stanza's conclusion" (87). At least one other literary critic,
Alexander Pope, disagrees with Corn's positive assessment of the alexandrine.
Pope calls the alexandrine "needless" and writes that the line,
"like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along" (278). Whatever
one's opinion may be of the aesthetic worth of the alexandrine, this unique
final line makes the poem readily noticeable: the poem looks somewhat like a
top hat, the alexandrine line being the brim and the other eight lines being
the cylindrical crown. Spenser invented this stanza for The Faerie Queene.
Byron also used the form for his famous Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and
Keats for his "The Eve of St. Agnes."
Example: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: Canto 4, 125. Byron's
sorrowfully gorgeous poem provides an example of Spensearean stanza.
Few --none--find what they love or could have loved,
Though accident, blind contact, and the strong
Necessity of loving, have removed
Antipathies--to recur, ere long,
Envenom'd with irrevocable wrong;
And Circumstance, that unspiritual god
And miscreator, makes and helps along
Our coming evils with a crutch-like rod,
Whose touch turns Hope to dust,--the dust we all have trod.
Byron follows the rhyme scheme (ababbcbcc) perfectly. The rhymes are strong, for all of the rhyming words differ only by one, two, or, at most, three initial letters; take, for example, "trod" and "rod," or "long" and "along." Both the couplets, the internal and the closing, are effectively used.
What is most memorable about the poem, however, is the last line, the
alexandrine. Byron writes in this stanza about our inability as humans,
whatever its causes be, to find an utterly lovable object, someone we can love
absolutely and exhaustively. Nevertheless, we love. We love because we must
love, because loving is a "strong Necessity." Necessity coupled with
"accident" and "blind contact" removes, which is to say it
causes us to overlook at first, those negative characteristics had by the
persons we love. In more concrete prose, lovers initially ignore what is
distasteful in one another because they are so desperate to love and because
the chance to love has come. But these "Antipathies," soon resurface
and cause "irrevocable wrong" and "evils." This is the
reality of love, one of life's disappointing trails. Byron uses the alexandrine
to mirror this reality. The overlong alexandrine reflects this overlong trek on
which everyone's hope of genuine love is turned to dust.
--Eric Verhine
Soliloquy
In a dramatic work, the act of talking to oneself. Where an aside is meant to be heard by an audience, a
soliloquy is only meant to be "overheard." A famous example is
Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy.
--Caroline Coleman
Terza Rima
A three-line stanza form of poetry, borrowed from the
Italian poets, where the rhyme scheme is aba, bcb, cdc, ded, etc. One
rhyme-sound is used for the first and third line of each tercet rhyme, while a
new rhyme is introduced for the second line, in turn, being used for the first
and third lines of the subsequent stanza. This interlockingrhyme scheme
combines a strong sense of forward movement with a feeling of conclusiveness in
each step--a seamless blend of forward motion and backward glance.
This style of poetry was developed by Dante expressly for his Commedia.
While Italian is a language rich in vowel endings that rhyme, English is not.
In English language poetry, the terza rima is usually found in iambic
pentameter. In some English terza rima, the poet has rhymed only the first and
third lines of the tercet, allowing inexact rhymes or sporadic rhyming.
The finest example of English language terza rima is
Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind":
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's
being, a
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves
dead, b
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter
fleeing
a
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic
red.
b
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O
thou,
c
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed . .
.
b
Some variations exist. As terza rima is a poetic form not achieved easily in English, variations in meter and imperfect rhyme are frequently employed. Two sufficient examples of such variations are T. S. Eliot's "Little Gidding,"
In the uncertain hour before the morning
Near the ending of interminable night
At the recurrent end of the unending
After the dark dove with the flickering tongue
Had passed below the horizon of his homing
While the dead leaves still rattled on like tin. (II, 81-86)
and William Carlos Williams' "The Yachts,"
contend in a sea which the land partly encloses
shielding there from the too heavy blows
of an ungoverned ocean which when it chooses
tortures the biggest hills, the best man knows
to pit against its beatings, and sinks them pitlessly.
Mothlike in mists, scintillant in the minute . . . (1-6)
In both poems, there is a weak rhyme scheme and obvious metrical
liberties.
--Zeb Baker
A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms
Anaphora
the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of
successive phrases, clauses or sentences. Anaphora emphasizes a certain
thought or feeling through repetition.
Example:
In vain the speeding or shyness,
In vain the plutonic rocks send their old heat against my reproach.
In vain the mastadon retreats beneath is own powdered bones,
In vain objects stand leagues off and assume manifold shapes.
---Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass.
--Wayne Whitley
Apostropohe: A turning aside from or interruption in a narrative to directly address an absent person, an abstract
concept, or an important object. Ex: With sad steps, O moon, thou climbest the skies. -- Loretta McNeil-Houston
Antithesis--- (Greek-- setting opposite)
The rhetorical contrast or opposition of ideas by means of parallel or balanced arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences. Examples: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. --Neil Armstrong In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it. --Samuel Johnson Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome --Shakespeare, Julius Caesar --Samantha Pierce
Chiasmus
(Greek "X")
sometimes called a reverse parallelism. A chiasmus
keeps the second part of the grammatical construction balanced or paralleled
with the first, but in reverse order. This type of grammatical
construction offers variety to simple sentences as well as a means of placing
ideas in a precise relationship without obvious repetition.
Example: He labors without complaining and without bragging
rests.
Also this couplet from
Polished in courts and hardened in the field,
Renowned for
conquest, and in council skilled.
--Wayne Whitley
Eponym
substitutes a name of a well known political, literary or
historical figure in place of a particular attribute that accurately describes
the person mentioned. An eponym is only effective if the reader is
familiar with the attribute of the famous person mentioned.
Example: 1. When it comes to computers, Billy is a
real Einstein. 2. He looked as big as Goliath as he stepped from
the shadows and onto the road.
--Wayne Whitley
Euphemism: (Greek: auspicious, sounding good.)The substitution of an agreeable or at least non-offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant. Example: Genesis 49:33 He was gathered to his people (died). --Josh Ferguson
Hyperbole (Greek Root: flung too far)
A rhetorical term for exaggeration or overstatement, usually deliberate and not meant to be taken (too) literally. Examples: flood of tears, having the time of my life, tons of money, etc.
--Anna Geiss
Irony:
(Gk: “eironia,” a dissember or actor)
A passage that implies a meaning that is in fact contrary to what its words appear to say. The simplest form of irony is probably sarcasm. Dramatic Irony occurs in a play when the audience knows facts about which the characters in the play are ignorant.
Example
1: Oedipus searches to find the killer of the former king of
Example 2: A pickpocket sits down after a long day on the streets feeling quite successful in that days work, then finds that someone has picked his pockets.
--Kortni Potter
[Note:
There is also a form or irony let’s call cosmic irony, which results from a
disjunction of meaning between earthly and heavenly points of view. Example: When Milton’s Satan vaunts that “From this descent /
Celestial virtues rising will appear / More glorious and more dread than from
no fall” (P.L. II 14-16), his boast is unaware that the he ironically speaks
the truth: from his fall and that
of Adam and Eve, Christ will come and eventually the Second coming (the felix
culpa).]
Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two
unlike objects without the use of the words "like" or "as.’
Example: Shakespeare's As You Like It. "All the
world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players" (Act 2, Scene
7). A metaphor implies that one thing is another rather than it being like
another. In this passage Shakespeare views life as a performance. In
Shakespeare's eyes, the world is a stage and men and women are just actors
performing on it.
--Shawntineal Hughes
Metonymy (Greek for "change of name")
When one word represents another, yet is not a synonym. Usually the replacement word has to do with a prominent feature or part of the word replaced. Synecdoche is the form of metonymy in which a small part of something is used in place of the whole. Example: " His blood be on us and our children" (Matt. 27:25). Blood metonymically indicates guilt. Examples: "The pen is mightier than the sword." ("Pen" refers to writing, not actual pens, and "sword" means violence.)
--John Harris and Shawntineal Hughes Onomatopoeia: (Greek: name making)
the naming of an object or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it.
Example: buzz, hiss, whack, pop
--Cory Ed Parrot
Oxymoron
a combination of contradictory terms, also considered a
paradox. It is usually reduced to two words that have an adverb-adjective or an
adjective-noun relationship.
Example: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. "Why
then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O heavy lightness, serious vanity;
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold
fire, sick health!" (1.1). These oxymorons--love and hate, heavy and
lightness, bright and smoke, cold and fire, sick and health--are all opposites
of each other. They show a sense of war between
emotions.
--Shawntineal Hughes
Paronomasia (Greek Root: “para-“ = beyond, beside “-onomasia” = to name)
A play upon words which sound alike. This rhetorical term has been used since 16th century English for serious examples of word play or punning.
Examples: Thou art Peter (Greek petras), and upon
this rock (Greek
The dying Mercutio: “Ask for me tomorrow and you will find me a grave man.--Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliette
--Anna Geiss
Personification
Personification is the application of human traits to
inhuman objects metaphorically. A human trait can be greed, love, gluttony,
jealousy, etc. The most common use of Personification in literature is in the
Allegory. An example of Personification is in Shelley's "The Cloud":
I
bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
from the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
in their noonday dreams.
From my winds are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,
Here
you can see that the cloud is bringing showers for the thirsting flowers.
Clouds cannot naturally bring things and flowers cannot really thirst. These
are all human attributes placed onto things.
--Corey Bernard
Simile
When a comparison is made between two apparently unlike
things, it is called a Simile. This figure of speech can be detected through
the presence of the words like, as, or than.
Burns' "A Red, Red Rose" has a classic example of
simile in its first line:
O,
my luve's like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June,
--Corey Bernard
Synecdoche (Greek Origin: Synecdoche comes from the greek word “synekdoche” which comes from the verb
“synekdechesthai” which means to “take on a part of.”)
A synecdoche is a figure
of speech where a part of something is used to represent the whole. The term is
very
similar
to or a sub-category of metonymy.
An example of a
synecdoche is used in Tennyson's "Ulysses": "Free hearts, free
foreheads,--you and I are old."
Ulysses is literally adressing parts of his sailors' bodies (hearts and forheads) but is really appealing to their emotions
and minds, their whole being.
Another example: An example of synecdoche could be “lend me your ears,” using ears to represent the whole concept
of listening, or to represent the people themselves. Another example is “all hands on deck,” using hands to as a part to
represent people as a whole.
--Andy
Lee and Amanda Hayes
Zeugma
A zeugma is a figure of speech where one word is used to
refer to two or more very different words in a sentence with the same
grammatical and semantic relationship. The first is usually a verb and the
latter two predicate adjectives or nouns.
An example of a zeugma is found in Alexander Pope's "
An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot": "Obliged by hunger, and request of
friends." (two very different reasons--predicate nominatives--to eat).
--Andy Lee
WORKS CITED
Glossary
of Poetic Terms. Online.
Abrams,
M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed.