Critical Terms Applied to Fiction, Poetry, Drama for Eng 200
Most of these terms have been derived from Harmon's and Holman's A Handbook to Literature. You need to familiarize yourself with this terminology and be prepared to provide definitions on the final. For optimal retention and applicability, study the terms as we cover the genres. You are also responsible for the major terminology associated with critical approaches in Barry, Fussell's poetic terms, and terms coming up in class discussion and on handouts.Ę
Fiction
Action
Allegory
Allusion
Ambiguity
Ambivalence
Antagonist
Anticlimax
Antihero
Apocrypha
Archetype
Atmosphere
Bildungsroman
Canon
Character
Characterization
Colloquialism
Conflict
DonnŽe
Epiphany
Fable
Fantasy
Foil
Foreshadowing
Formal Satire
Irony
Intertextuality
Juxtaposition
Leitmotif
Metafiction
Metaphor
Mimesis
Motif
Myth
Narrator
Novella
Oxymoron
Parable
Paradox
Parody
Personification
Plot
Point of View
Preface
Protagonist
Realism
Romance
Satire
Stream of Consciousness
Symbol
Theme
Poetry
Accent
Alexandrine
Alliteration
Anapest
Anagram
Anaphora
Apostrophe
Assonance
Ballad
Ballad Stanza
Beginning Rhyme
Blank Verse
Blason
Cacaphony
Cadence
Caesura
Canto
Carpe Diem
Chiasmus
Closed Couplet
Conceit
Connotation
Consonance
Context
Couplet
Dactyl
Decasyllabic
Denotation
Dissonance
Distich
Douzain
Dramatic Monologue
Elegy
Elision
End Rhyme
End-stopped Lines
English Sonnet
Enjambement
Epic
Epigram
Epithet
Eye Rhyme
Falling Rhythm
Feminine Rhyme
Foot
Free Verse
Half Rhyme
Heroic Couplet
Hexameter
Horatian Ode
Hovering Stress
Hyperbole
Iamb
Iambic Pentameter
Imagery
Interlocking Rhyme
Internal Rhyme
Irregular Ode
Italian Sonnet
Litotes
Lyric
Masculine Rhyme
Metonomy
Metrics
Near Rhyme
Nonce Form
Occasional Verse
Octave
Octet
Octosyllabic Verse
Ode
Onomatopoeia
Panegyric
Pastoral
Poetics
Poet Laureate
Prelude
Prosopopoeia
Pun
Pyrrhic
Quatrain
Refrain
Rhyme Scheme
Rhythm
Scansion
Sestet
Simile
Slant Rhyme
Spondee
Stanza
Stress
Strophe
Synecdoche
Tautology
Tetrameter
Tercet
Tone
Topos
Trochee
Versification
Villanelle
Volta
Drama
Absurd, Theater of the
Anachronism
Aside
Burlesque
Catharsis
Choral Character
Chorus
Classical Tragedy
Climax
Comedy
Comedy of Manners
Complication
Crisis
DŽnouement
Dialogue
Dramatic Irony
Exposition
Falling Action
Farce
Farce-Comedy
Hamartia
High Comedy
Hubris
Melodrama
Peripety
Point of Attack
Quarto
Reported Action
Represented Action
Rising Action
Soliloquy
Stock Characters
Subplot
Tragedy
Tragic Irony
Tragicomedy
Unities (Aristotleâs)