intentional, artistic use of language for a specific purpose. Purposes may include
entertainment, education (dicactic purpose), or communication. Literature ofthen reflects
or critiques cultural discourses and practices.
canon:
The literary canon is a collection of works that are considered important artistic or cultural texts. Until the 1950s, the
literary canon was relatively stable--and dominated by texts by white middle- and upper-middle class male writers.
Today, with prodding from various theoretical perspectives, first and most famously feminism, but also broader gender theory, class theory,
post colonialism, and new historicism, the canon has been expanded to include many more works by overlooked types of authors:
women, indigenous peoples, etc. Some would even argue that the "canon" as such no longer exists.
prose:
The regular form of spoken and written language that is measured in sentences.
verse:
Writing arranged in lines, commonly associated with poetry. Line breaks may not align with grammatical units (e.g. sentences).
genre:
This term is used to describe a class of writing that shares a core set of common characteristics. Categories like poetry, drama,
and fiction are common examples. However, this term is used differently by different literary scholars. For example, one scholar
may consider poetry a genre and the sonnet a sub-genre of poetry, while another may consider the sonnet a genre unto itself.
Whenever you see this term, be aware of the specific context so that you understand how broadly it is being applied.
fiction:
Genre of literature written in prose and containing a narrative or plot structure, setting, characters, and a narrative point of view.
poetry:
Genre of literature written in verse. Poetry can have many formal features such as rhyme and meter.
drama or dramatic work:
Genre of literature characterized by the interchange of direct speech by one, and more commonly, two or more characters. A drama is meant to be acted rather than merely read.
nonfiction:
Genre of prose works that describe actual, as opposed to imaginary or fictional characters and events.
narrative:
A general term for the story in a piece of literature. All of the main literary genres--fiction, poetry, drama--can have a narrative element.
character:
Person represented in a narrative who is interpreted by the reader (or meant to be interpreted by the reader) as having moral, physical, emotional, and other human qualities.
setting
The time and place where the narrative takes place.
Setting
setting:
The time and place where the plot of the story takes place. Setting includes all important elements of context, including social environment.
physical location:
can refer to the overall location of a narrative (such as "Italy"), but also specific details of locations where plot actions take place
(such as "dark, ancient, catacombs"). There may be many physical locations in a single narrative.
temporal setting:
the time when a narrative is set. The temporal setting may be in the past,
present, or future. Past and present settings may be historical or fictional/imaginary. Consider
also time representations within the text when analyzing temporal settings--time of day,
duration of the story or events within the story, etc.
Genre: The Epic
verse:
Writing arranged in lines, commonly associated with poetry.
Line breaks may not align with grammatical units (e.g. sentences).
line:
a single line of verse in a poem. Lines are composed of metrical feet.
stanza:
a unit of meaning in a poem made up of multiple lines. Stanzas are usually marked by
white space before and after or and indentation. A stanza in a poem is analogous to a
paragraph in fiction.
epic
Long narrative poem; ancient epics usually began as oral tradition and were written down
centuries after their first composition; though they might be attributed to the author who finally
wrote them down, they are often cultural compositions that have developed over centuries and have
been influenced by many voices of many authors over time. There are two main types of epic:
heroic epics and episodic epics.
episodic epic
series of stories connected through a frame narrative; the episodes
episodes may be further collected in books/cantos with similar themes. Individual stories
may vary in form or tone, and individual episodes may contain morals/lessons (didactic)
or explain natural phenomena (e.g. why there are rainbows).
frame narrative
A literary technique where one narrative is nested within another.
The frame narrative is often provides the occasion for telling the nested narrative
and is frequently connected thematically to the inner story.
epic dialect
style of writing characteristic of Homeric epics that was not used in the regular
speech patterns of any dialect of spoken Greek.
epithet
formulaic phrases used to describe characters that are repeated throughout a
text -- particularly used in oral-formulaic epic texts.
formula
a group of words that is regularly employed under the same metrical conditions to express
a given essential idea.
type scene
blocks of words in which typical events are arranged in the same order, often with the same words.
Plot
plot:
The events or actions in a story. Works of poetry, fiction, and drama
can all have a plot, and the plot structure can take many forms.
1. exposition:
Term used in Freytag's Pyramid to describe events at the beginning of a story. The exposition is the starting point of a narrative and can be thought of as the status quo, before the complications of the plot begin.
2. inciting incident
Term used in Fretag's Pyramid for the event--sometimes described as a destabilizing event--that alters the status quo presented in the exposition and initiates the rising action of the plot.
3. rising action
Term used in Freytag's Pyramid to describe the plot complications that drive the narrative toward the climax. Often, much of the narrative energy is involved in developing the rising action.
4. climax
Term for the turning point in a narrative. After the climax has occurred, the characters in the story can never return to the status quo, or the state of affairs before the narrative complications took place. Narratives can have more than one climax, depending upon the complexity of the structure.
5. falling action
Term used in Freytag's Pyramid to describe events after the climax has taken place that drive the narrative toward the resolution.
6. resolution or conclusion
Term that describes the final state of affairs in a narrative--a new stable state; the resolution is the end to the story. Some narratives resist a resolution and remain open ended.
subplot:
a plot that is intertwined with the main plot but receives less time and attention. Usually a subplot is related in some way to the main plot--for example,
it might provide a parallel, contrast, or commentary. A subplot may have some or all of the plot elements described above.
flashback:
a scene that interrupts the present action of a narrative to depict some earlier event that occurred before the story's opening.
foreshadowing:
use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in the narrative.
digression:
introduction of a different topic that interrupts the flow of a narrative; typically the narrative is rejoined after a digression.
frame narrative:
A literary technique where one narrative is nested within another. The frame narrative is often provides the occasion for telling the nested narrative
and is frequently connected thematically to the inner story.
turn:
moment in a narrative where the meaning changes significantly. The term "turn" can be used in texts that do not have a fully-formed plot but do have
a narrative element.
Character
character
Person represented in a narrative who is interpreted by the reader (or meant to be interpreted by the reader) as having moral, physical, emotional, and other human qualities. The character takes part in the plot action.
flat character:
This term was first introduced by writer E.M. Forster in his book Aspects of the Novel, and it refers to a character
who can be simply described and who does not undergo change throughout the narrative. Contrary to popular belief, the term "flat" is not a negative or derogatory description.
round character:
This term was first introduced by writer E.M. Forster in his book Aspects of the Novel, and it refers
to a character who is complex. As Forster described it: "The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way."
protagonist:
a main character in a narrative; the story may center around this character or be told from the point of view of
this character. There may be more than one protagonist in a work. Usually, the protagonist is a dynamic character, a character who
changes throughout the story, but this is not always true.
antagonist:
a character in a narrative who opposes the aims or goals of the protagonist or creates obstacles
to the accomplishment of the plot. An antagonist is sometimes a foil of the protagonist.
minor character:
a character in a text who has a support role. Often minor characters can be described through their relationships to protagonist characters.
epiphany:
a sudden moment of self-realization. Characters who experience an epiphany are round characters.
Point of View
narrator:
The voice in work of fiction who guides the reader's perspective. A narrator may be a character in a work or a distinct representation.
The term narrator is conventionally used with works of fiction.
speaker:
The voice of a poem. The speaker is the author's representation of a guiding presence to lead the reader
through a work or present a specific point of view towards the topic, and may be separate from characters in the poem or one of the characters in a poem.
voice:
the distinctive traits of the narrator of a text; the verbal quality of narration.
point of view:
the technique of narration that describes how the reader will be shown the story. There are several types of narrative points of view:
first person narrator:
the narrator is a character in the story and uses pronouns like "I" and "me." The reader experiences the story from this character's
point of view, and all information is filtered through this character's experience and interpretation.
third person narrator:
an unidentified narrator who is apart from the story and refers to the characters with pronouns like "he," "she," and "they."
third person omniscient narrator:
the narrator is not a part of the action of the story but knows everything about the story. An omniscient narrator
can provide the reader with actions from many locations and different times as well as the thoughts and feelings of any of the characters.
Sometimes a narrator of this sort is intrusive meaning that they use various techniques to influence the reader's interpretation
of events and characters, such as interrupting the narrative to provide an opinion on the action or withholding information from the reader.
third person limited narrator
this narrator is not part of the story, but tells the story from a limited perspective--often from the view point of
a specific character or limited number of focal characters. This type of narrator can also be intrusive.
focal character
a character who is followed by a third person limited narrator.
intrusive narrator
a narrator who actively comments on the events in the story with the purpose of shaping the interpretation of
the reader. Either type of third person narrator may be intrusive.
objective narrator
a narrator who does not explicitly report characters' thoughts and feelings but focuses mainly on actions.
Either type of third person narrator can be objective.
implied reader or implied auditor
a reader or listener explicitly referred to by a narrator of a story who has discernable characteristics.
dramatic dialogue:
genre of poetry where there is an interchange of speech by characters rather than a distinct speaker. This type of poem does not have first or third person point of view.
Disocurse Analysis and Theory
Discourse Analysis
discourse:
General term for spoken or written communication. More specifically, discourse can be thought of as the cultural conversation about a topic within a discourse community.
discourse community:
A group of individuals that shares a common understanding based on systematic principles of communication and/or vocabulary within a specific discursive situation.
Discourse communities have traditionally been based on geography and a common language, such as English or French, but discourse communities can also be more specific
groups who share certain experiences and specialized vocabulary specific to their activities: e.g., video game players, members of a class in school, soldiers in the armed forces, etc.
dominant discourse:
The prevailing view about a certain topic within a discourse community.
competing discourse:
Discursive situation where there is no dominant view and two or more opinions/ideas about a topic compete for dominance.
subversive discourse:
Type of discourse that represents a non-dominant position on a topic in a discourse community. A subversive discourse actively works to destabilize the dominant discourse.
Gender Theory Terms
sex:
Term that refers to the biological characteristics of a human being, such as male and female secondary sex characteristics that appear during puberty.
gender:
Term for the socially constructed ideas about characteristics of femininity and masculinity. These ideas are culture-specific and change over time.
They often are expressed as commonly-accepted stereotypes, such as the commonplace ideas in American culture that women are more nurturing and men more goal-oriented. Concepts of gender also include ideas about behaviors and aptitudes as well as ideas about appropriate physical appearance for each gender.
patriarchy:
A system of government or social organization where the eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line. In modern systems of
government, this term is also used to mean that positions of power are held my men and women are disempowered or excluded.
a main idea in a literary work. Works may have more than one theme, and the theme can range from general
(e.g. "love") to more specific (e.g. "unrequited love that causes pain").
tone
the emotional register of a work or that a work takes towards its theme.
diction
choice of words. Diction can be described as informal or colloquial or formal, as well has having a
large range of other features. Tone is determined largely through diction.
denotation
a word's direct, literal meaning--often thought of as the dictionary definition of a word.
connotation
what is suggested by a word when it is used in a specific context, such as within a literary text. The connotative meaning of a word is apart from its denotation.
imagery:
Imagery may be defined as the representation through language of sense experience (seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling, and tasting). The word image perhaps most often suggests a mental picture, something seen in the mind's eye - and visual imagery is the most frequently occurring kind of imagery in text. But an image may also represent a sound; a smell; a taste; a tactile experience; and an internal sensation (adapted from Paul P. Ruben, Elements of Poetry). Note that imagery can be present in all genres.
ambiguity:
a word or phrase that can be interpreted in more than one way (that makes sense) in the given context. Ambiguity may be intentional or unintentional.
irony:
a contradiction or difference between appearance or expectation and reality. This could apply to the difference between what a character/narrator says and what is meant, between an expectation of what will happen and what actually happens, or between what appears to be true and what actually is true.
allusion:
a brief reference within a literary text to another literary text. The reference might be a name of a character, short reference to an event from the plot of another text, etc. An allusive reference creates some kind of connection between the two literary works; the work referred to provides some kind of insight about the referring text.
hyperbole:
extreme exaggeration used to draw attention and sometimes to comment (negatively) on an idea.
litotes:
extreme understatement used to draw attention; often coupled with irony.
repetition:
The use of repeated words, phrases, or sounds to draw attention to certain elements of a text. There are many types of repetition, and it is one of the most powerful ways to direct emphasis.
alliteration:
repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words in a sequence of nearby words.
assonance:
repetition of vowel sounds in a seqeunce of words with different endings.
antithesis:
two opposing ideas or figures. Antithesis can be used as a descriptive technique or as a means of organizing and emphasizing ideas by using contrast.
foil:
type of antithesis that describes the use of a minor character to mirror specific traits of a major character for emphasis.
paradox:
A seemingly self-contradictory statement, which is nonetheless shown to be (sometimes in a surprising way) true.
Formal Features (poetry)
enjambment:
in poetry, the abrupt break of a grammatical structure by a line break.
rhyme:
matching speech sounds at the end of words (in English). For example, follow and hollow. Rhyme is a very noticeable type of repetition that is commonly used in poetry.
rhyme scheme:
the pattern of end rhymes over the course of an entire poem; often denoted by lower-case letters, where a letter is assigned to each distinct rhyme.
couplet:
two consecutive lines of verse linked by rhyme and meter.
rhythm:
The beat or stresses in written or spoken language. In poetry, the rhythm is often intentionally structured in a certain meter.
meter:
Organized pattern of rhythmic stresses in approximately equivalent units. A specific meter is one of the characteristics of poetry. A common meter in English poetry is iambic pentameter.
foot:
"the metrical unit by which a line of poetry is measured; it usually consists of one stressed or accented ( ' ) and one or two unstressed or unaccented syllables ( - )" (from Paul P. Ruben, Elements of Poetry).
iamb:
a foot of poetry that is composed of one unstressed and one stressed syllable ( - ' ). It is one of the most common poetic feet used in English.
pentameter:
a line of poetry with five feet. Iambic pentameter--a line of poetry with 5 iambs, is a common type of line in Renaissance sonnets.
blank verse
metered lines of verse that use a specific meter, in English, blank verse is often in
iambic pentameter. Sometimes also called "heroic verse" or "heroic meter" because it is often
used for translations of epics and Renaissance era dramas.
Figurative Language
figurative language:
representational language that creates a comparison or relationship between two things (for example, between an abstract concept and a concrete image that represents it) in order to make a concept more familiar or accessible to the reader. Specific types of figurative language are not limited to but include symbol, metaphor, and simile.
symbol:
an object, image, or character that stands for something more than itself.
metaphor:
a figure of speech that draws a comparison between two things. The vehicle of comparison is substituted for the tenor (the original object)--that is, two things are put in to relation to one another through an assertion that one is the other.
simile:
A comparison that uses "like" or "as" to establish the relationship between two things.
metonymy:
using the name of one thing to refer to another associated thing. For example, red tape is used to stand for frustrating procedures of government bureaucracy.
synecdoche:
type of metonymy in which the part represents the whole. For example, "a great set of wheels" is a colloquial phrase where "wheels" stands in for a car.
personification:
Representing an animal, inanimate object, or abstraction (e.g. death) with human characteristics.
Formal Features--Drama
drama or dramatic work
Genre of literature characterized by the interchange of direct speech by one, and more commonly, two or more characters. A drama is meant to be acted rather than merely read.
act:
largest unit of meaning in a drama or dramatic work, usually made up of one or more scenes . There are several typical types of organizations involving acts:
the one act play is akin to a short story; all the development and action takes place in the short space of a single act. Three act plays and five act plays are typical
for longer works. Though it is conventional to divide plays this way, it is not mandatory to have an act structure.
scene:
the smallest unit of meaning in a dramatic work, typically bounded by the entrance of characters at the beginning and their exit at the end. Usually, one or more scenes make up an act.
cast of characters:
List at the beginning of a drama that names the characters and gives a brief description of their relationships to each other or their function in the work.
dialogue:
the direct speech of different characters in a dramatic work.
stage directions:
text in the written form of a drama that indicates to the director, actors, and reader additional information about various aspects of the scene.
Stage directions may provide instructions about setting (physical location, time of day, etc) as well as provide instructions for actors about how
specific lines should be said. Stage directions are usually indicated with square brackets and italic text.
Conventions of Drama
aside:
technique used in drama where one character of a group on stage will address the audience directly. The other stage characters remain unaware of the
audience. This technique can be used to generate sympathy or between the audience and a character.
soliloquy:
A technique used in drama where a single character on stage speaks about his or her inner thoughts or feelings. The character is not aware of the
audience while giving the speech, but his meant to be speaking to him or herself. The most famous soliloquy in English drama is Hamlet's "To be, or not to be..."
speech in Act III Scene 1 of Shakespeare's play.
back story:
information provided about a character through dialogue, usually with other characters, in the course of a drama. A character's back story can be
provided at any point in a play.
stichomythia
rapid alternation of single (or short) lines of dialogue by two characters, often indicating
a heightened state of emotion.
unity of place
convention of ancient dramas of using a single physical setting--typically outside a palace or
dwelling--for an entire play. This convention is sometimes adopted in later periods to achieve
a specific effect.
unity of time
convention of ancient dramas of containing the action of an entire play in a single day--
typically sunrise to sunset, with continuous action. This convention is sometimes adopted
in later periods to achieve specific temporal effects.
catharsis
theory of ancient drama that suggests the act of watching intense emotion on stage
helps the audience experience and purge these emotions as part of the drama experience.
In a tragedy, the emotions triggered are pity and fear.
Performance
visual framing:
the visual perspective of the camera or staging of performace that are used to contextualize specific
scenes or elements of a dramatic performance.
conceptual framing:
the ideas, descriptions, even specific diction used to describe and contextualize a theme
or discourse.
blocking:
position of actors on stage in relation to the setting and the audience.
delivery:
the way an actor speaks lines. Delivery includes emotional elements of speaking lines, volume of voice,
and non-verbal communications.
a brief reference within a literary text to another literary text. The reference
might be a name of a character, short reference to an event from the plot of another
text, etc. An allusive reference creates some kind of connection between the two
literary works; the work referred to provides some kind of insight about the referring text.
adaptation
Broadly speaking, the practice of presenting a literary work in another form or
using narrarative, character, and other elements of a text as the basis for a new work.
An adaptation is still recognizable as a form of the original even if it is significantly
different. Differences between the adaptation and the original often register changes
to the cultural context between the original and the new work.
fidelity criticism
form of evaluating adaptations that compares a new work to the original work looking
for similarities and differences.
cultural theory
form of evaluating adaptations for cultural discourse and cultural context
that are represented in or influence the original and the new work--for example,
analyzing for dominant, competing, and subversive discourses would be looking at
the texts from a cultural theory perspective.
Literary Theory and Criticism
literary theory:
philosophy of understanding texts. Often, literary theories are connected to other disciplines, such as psychology, economics, or linguistics; also, theories may be connected to broader social movements, such as feminism. Theories, therefore, can often stand on their own.
patriarchy: (review)
A system of government or social organization where the eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line. In modern systems of
government, this term is also used to mean that positions of power are held my men and women are disempowered or excluded.
intersectionality:
The interconnected nature of social classifications such as race, class, and gender, particularly in terms of creating overlapping and interdependent systems
of discrimination or disadvantage.
literary criticism:
application of one or more literary theories or tools of literary theory to specific texts.
thesis:
main idea of an argument.
subpoints:
claims that support the thesis of an argument.
inductive:
a method of argumentation or reasoning where specific details and facts are presented first in order to lead to a general argument or thesis.
deductive:
a method of argumentation or reasoning where a general argument or thesis is provided at the outset and then specific facts and details are used to support this thesis.
review of criticism:
section of a critical article that reviews other criticism that is relevant to the current discussion. In some disciplines, this is also called a "review of literature."
primary source:
In literary criticism, the original literary text being studied is a primary source. This differs from other disciplines where a primary source may include original research studies, ethnographic observations, etc.
secondary source:
In literary criticism, any other materials, such as critical articles, historical resources, relevant theoretical texts, that are used in conjunction with a primary source (or sources) to construct an argument.
close reading:
A method of textual analysis that comes from the theoretical school of New Criticism. A close
reading attends to the details of the text such as figurative language. This type of analysis is the basic building block of
literary criticism and can be used to launch contextual readings of texts that consider other aspects of the work's production.
rhetoric:
art of persuasion, and the ability to choose the most appropriate argument to suit the audience and situation.
logos:
logical component of an argument.
ethos:
credibility of the speaker/writer of an argument and the strategies used to cultivate credibility.
pathos:
emotional appeals in an argument and the strategies used to target a specific audience.
kiaros:
the occasion for an argument, including time, place, and other contextual details
