Reading & Literature Content

Beatniks; Confessional poetry

Experimental forms of literature are honored; represented by both honoring the past and celebrating popular lit.

American Lit: 1660-1760

Dark & picturesque scenery, startling & melodramatic narrative devices; overall atmosphere of mystery & dread

The repetition of a line or phrase of a poem at regular intervals, particularly at the end of each stanza

The overall feeling created by the author's use of words; how the author feels

A figure of speech in which a part represents the whole

American Lit: 1625-1660

A reference to a familiar person, place, thing, or event within a work of literature

Silly, often stereotyped characters are involved in far-fetched scenarios

Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth; Donne's songs, sonnets, and elegies; Bacon's Reports

A 19-line poem of five tercets with ABA scheme and a final quatrain of ABAA

A long speech made in a play while no other characters speak; usually the speaker is alone on stage

Novels composed of idealized events far removed from everyday life; gothic and medieval subgenres

A stanza made up of two rhyming lines

Resolution or conclusion of a story

A rhythmical pattern in verse that is made up of stressed and unstressed syllables

Three syllables, unstressed unstressed stressed (u, u, ') i.e. "underSTAND"

Word or phrase that substitutes for an offensive or suggestive one

A figure of speech in which one word is substituted for another which it is closely associated i.e. "Hollywood" for L.A.

A subtle or implicit comparison is made between two unlike things

Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing; Marlowe and Spenser

Emphasized a focus on naturalism; serious subjects treated with maximum realism;

A comparison that explains the connection between objects/ideas that appear to be different

British Literature 1785-1832

Philosophy valuing individualism, experimentation, idealism, nature, and spirituality

Literature that tries to represent life as it really is

Specific type of metaphor that compares two very different things, but with more complexity and clearer juxtaposition

Beowulf; hymns and elegies

Animals, ideas, and things are represented as having human traits in a literal sense

Any text has more than one interpretation; any interpretive reading can only go to a certain point

A short story or folktale, frequently w/ animals, that contains a moral lesson usually expressed in the end

Examines economic and social class structures; who has power & money; what happens as a result of these differences;

Rogue main character living by his or her wits and is told in a string of loosely connected events

Repetition of same vowel sounds in words close to one another

A genre that uses magic and other supernatural forces as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting

Joining of opposites; things that are out of place or absurd

Sonnet that opens with an octave that states a proposition and ends with a sestet that states the solution

British Literature 1660-1785

Two syllables, unstressed stressed (u, ') i.e. "da DUM"

New Testament; monk writings on the Crusades; Diet of Worms; Machiavelli's The Prince

Attribution of human feelings or responses to inanimate things or animals

Shift away from Victorian values; Utopian and science fiction

Examines Western ethnocentrism, colonization, and imperialism; rejects underrepresented people as "others"

The relationship between texts, especially works of literature

A lyric or poem on a serious subject, written in dignified language

Golden age of Russian poetry; shift towards realism

Society is viewed as patriarchal; consider gender/orientation and power relations/roles of characters

This era in British lit. (1830-1901) represents a reflection on major transformations and a shift away from romanticism

A narrative technique in which the main story is composed primarily for organizing a set of shorter stories

6 stanzas of 6 lines and a final triplet; same 6 words at the line ends in 6 different sequences that follow a pattern

Ancient epics; religious scriptures and texts; codified laws; early philosophy

Use of words to suggest sounds

A style of writing that portrays the inner thoughts of a character; may not have regard for language/grammar standards

Enlightenment

Animals, ideas, and things are represented as having human traits in a figurative sense

A feeling the text evokes in the reader

Three syllables, stressed unstressed unstressed (', u, u) i.e. "HAPpiness"

Focuses on experiences of characters who can't find any inherent purpose in life; ultimately meaningless actions, events

Criticisms or interpretations of a work of literature should not be influenced by the author's background/beliefs

A turn from the general audience to address a specific group of persons or personified abstractions

A 14-line poem, usually written in iambic parameter, with a varied rhyme scheme

The art and science of text interpretation

American Lit: 1760-1787

Paradise Lost; Herbert; Carew's elegy for John Donne

Canterbury Tales; morality play Everyman; lyric poetry

A philosophy that values human freedom and personal responsibility; existence means to act independently

An author's choice of words based on their clarity, conciseness, effectiveness, and authenticity

Reliance on familiar character types and narrative structures

Character, plot, image, theme, or setting that appears in literature across cultures and is repeated over time

American Lit: 1828-1836

A poem that depicts life in an idyllic, idealized way

Naturalism, post-modernism

Aesthetic (feelings, thoughts) and efferent (elicit facts of the text) responses to text

A contradictory statement that makes sense

A sonnet that includes three quatrains and a couplet

Juxtaposition of one sensory image with another that appeals to an unrelated sense i.e. "region where the sun is silent"

An expression in which the specific language means something different from the literal meaning

Main character seeking to find something/achieve a goal; overcomes obstacles and becomes wiser over the journey

A metrical foot consisting of two syllables, both of which are stressed (',') i.e. "cowboy" or "baseball"

The flaw that leads to the downfall of a tragic hero; from the Greek word hybris, meaning "excessive pride"

A descriptive phrase or word frequently used to characterize a person or thing

A poem in which a character speaks to listeners whose response is not known, and who may or may not be present

Text is viewed as existing independently, & a close reading of the text reveals meaning; no outside knowledge/inference

Repetition of final consonant sound in words containing different vowels

Harlem Renaissance; Naturalism; Surrealism

A pun/play on words that results when two words become mixed up in the speaker's mind

Language that intentionally distorts or disguises meaning

Repetition of initial consonant sounds in words

Represents an idea or generalization about life; includes strong lesson or moral

The multiple use of a word, phrase, or idea for emphasis or rhythmic effect

A rhetorical term for the repetition of a word or a phrase at the beginning of several clauses

Fireside Poets; Realism; Transcendentalism

A comparison of two unlike things, usually including the word like or as

Criticism that poets struggle against the earlier influences of previous generations of poets

A wise saying, usually short and witty

Text is viewed as an expression of the feelings, thoughts, and desires of the author

Hobbe's Leviathan; Milton's The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates

Two syllables, stressed unstressed (', u) i.e. "MAScot"

Records events or situations as they have been remembered, often through the subjective views of the characters