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Glossary of literary terms

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The following is a list of literary terms; that is, those words used in discussion, classification, criticism, and analysis of poetry, novels and picture books.

See also: Glossary of poetry terms, Literary criticism, Literary theory
File:P literature.svg This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Contents

A[]

Abecedarius | Academic drama | Acatalectic | Accent | Accentual verse | Accentual-syllabic verse | Acrostic | Aisling | Allegory | Alliteration | Allusion | Anachronism | Anacrusis | Anadiplosis | Anagnorisis | Analects | Analepsis | Analogue | Analogy | Anapaest: Anapest | Anaphora | Anastrophe | Anecdote | Annal | Annotation | Antagonist | Antanaclasis | Antepenult | Anthology | Anticlimax | Anti-hero | Anti-masque | Anti-romance | Antimetabole | Antinovel | Antistrophe | Antithesis | Antonym | Aphorism | Apocope | Apocrypha | Apollonian and Dionysian | Apologue | Apologetics | Apology: Apologetics | Apothegm | Aposiopesis | Apostrophe

B[]

File:RochesterBestiaryFolio007rLeopard.jpg

"The Leopard" from the 13th-century bestiary "Rochester Bestiary."

C[]

D[]

  • Dactyl
  • Dada
  • Dale's classification of rhymes
  • Dandyism
  • DébatTemplate:Disambiguation needed
  • Death poem
  • Death of the novel
  • Debut novel
  • Decadence
  • Decasyllabic verse
  • Decorum
  • Denotation
  • Dénouement
  • Description
  • Descriptive linguistics
  • Detective story
  • Deus ex machina
  • Deuteragonist
  • Dialect
  • Diacope
  • Dialogue
  • Dibrach
  • Dicks
  • Diction
  • Didactic
  • Digest
  • Digression
  • Dime novel
  • Diameter
  • Dipody
  • Dirge
  • Discourse
  • Dissociation of sensibility
  • Dissonance
  • Distich
  • Distributed Stress
  • Dithyramb
  • Diverbium
  • Divine afflatus
  • Doggerel
  • Dolce stil nuove
  • Domestic tragedy
  • Donnée
  • Doppelgänger
  • DoubleTemplate:Disambiguation needed
  • Double rhyme
  • Drama
  • Drama of sensibility
  • Dramatic character
  • Dramatic irony
  • Dramatic lyric
  • Dramatic monologue
  • Dramatic proverb
  • Dramatis personae
  • Dramaturgy
  • Dream allegory
  • Dream vision
  • Droll
  • Dumb show
  • Duodecimo
  • Duologue
  • Duple meter/duple rhythm
  • Dystopia
  • Dynamic Character

E[]

F[]

G[]

File:CarminaBurana wheel.jpg

From the 13th-century Carmina Burana, a collection of love and vagabond songs in Goliardic verse from Benediktbeurn Monastery.

  • Gallows humor
  • Gamebooks
  • GatheringTemplate:Disambiguation needed
  • Genetic fallacy
  • Genius and talent
  • Genre
  • Georgian poetry
  • Georgics
  • Gesta
  • Gloss
  • Gnomic verse
  • Golden line
  • Goliardic verse
  • Gongorism
  • Gonzo journalism
  • Gothic novel
  • Grand Guignol
  • Graveyard poetry
  • Graveyard school
  • Greek tragedy
  • Grub Street
  • Grundyism
  • Guignol

H[]

I[]

J[]

  • Jacobean era
  • Jeremiad
  • Journal
  • Judicial criticism
  • Juncture
  • Juggernaut
  • Juvenalian satire
  • Juxtaposition

K[]

  • Kabuki
  • Kafkaesque
  • Katharsis
  • Kenning
  • Kigo
  • "King's English"
  • Kireji
  • Kitsch
  • Künstlerroman

L[]

M[]

N[]

O[]

P[]

Q[]

R[]

S[]

T[]

Tone: very vague critical term usually designating the mood or atmosphere of a work, although in some more restricted uses it refers to the author's attitude to the reader (e.g. formal, intimate, pompous) or to the subject-matter (e.g. ironic, light, solemn, satiric, sentimental). Example:

Theme: salient abstract idea that emerges from a literary work's treatment of its subject-matter; or a topic recurring in a number of literary works.

Example: While the subject of a work is described concretely in terms of its action (e.g. 'the adventures of a newcomer in the big city'), its theme or themes will be described in more abstract terms (e.g. love, war, revenge, betrayal, fate, etc.).

U[]

  • Ubi sunt
  • Underground culture
  • Underground press
  • Understatement
  • Unities
  • Unity
  • Universality (disambiguation)
  • University Wits
  • Unobtainium
  • Utopia
  • Utopian and dystopian fiction
  • Unreliable narrator

V[]

W[]

  • Wardour Street English
  • Weak ending
  • Weak foot
  • Well-made play
  • Wellerism
  • Western fiction
  • Wimmering
  • Wit
  • Word accent
  • Wrenched accent
  • Watermark

References[]

  • M. H. Abrams. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Thomson-Wadsworth, 2005. ISBN 1-4130-0456-3.
  • Chris Baldick. The Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford Univ. Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-860883-7.
  • Chris Baldick. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford Univ. Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-280118-X.
  • Edwin Barton & G. A. Hudson. Contemporary Guide To Literary Terms. Houghton-Mifflin, 2003. ISBN 0-618-34162-5.
  • Mark Bauerlein. Literary Criticism: An Autopsy. Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8122-1625-3.
  • Karl Beckson & Arthur Ganz. Literary Terms: A Dictionary. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989. ISBN 0-374-52177-8.
  • Peter Childs. The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms. Routledge, 2005. ISBN 0-415-34017-9.
  • J. A. Cuddon. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Penguin Books, 2000. ISBN 0-14-051363-9 .
  • Dana Gioia. The Longman Dictionary of Literary Terms: Vocabulary for the Informed Reader. Longman, 2005. ISBN 0-321-33194-X.
  • Sharon Hamilton. Essential Literary Terms: A Brief Norton Guide with Exercises. W. W. Norton, 2006. ISBN 0-393-92837-3.
  • William Harmon. A Handbook to Literature. Prentice Hall, 2005. ISBN 0-13-134442-0.
  • X. J. Kennedy, et al. Handbook of Literary Terms: Literature, Language, Theory. Longman, 2004. ISBN 0-321-20207-4.
  • V. B. Leitch. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. W. W. Norton, 2001. ISBN 0-393-97429-4.
  • Frank Lentricchia & Thomas McLaughlin. Critical Terms for Literary Study. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1995. ISBN 0-226-47203-5.
  • David Mikics. A New Handbook of Literary Terms. Yale Univ. Press, 2007. ISBN 0-300-10636-X.
  • Ross Murfin & S. M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. ISBN 0-312-25910-7.
  • John Peck & Martin Coyle. Literary Terms and Criticism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. ISBN 0-333-96258-3.
  • Edward Quinn. A Dictionary of Literary And Thematic Terms. Checkmark Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8160-6244-7.
  • Lewis Turco. The Book of Literary Terms: The Genres of Fiction, Drama, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, and Scholarship. Univ. Press of New England, 1999. ISBN 0-87451-955-1.

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