Critical Terms Of English Literature…

In this Article I would try my best to explain critical terms related to English Literature, that is very much important to know. So let’s have a look.

1▪︎ Allegory- Prose or verse in which the objects, events or people are presented symbolically, so that the story convey the meaning other than the actual incident or character described in that. It is mostly used to teach a moral lesson.

Example- Fables and Parables, John Bunyan’s ‘The Pilgrims Progress’.

2▪︎ Alliteration- It is the occurance of the same sound at the beginning of the closely connected words.

Example- wanted wear- w sound is repeating,

First for- f sound is repeating,

Though that- th sound is repeating. (The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost)

3▪︎ Antithesis- A literary technique in which opposite or strongly contrasting statements are balanced against each other for emphasis.

Example- Numerous examples can be found in Pope’s ‘The Rape Of The Lock’.

4▪︎ Apostrophe- In addition to being a Punctuation mark, an Apostrophe is a Figure of Speech in which some absent or lifeless object is addressed, as if present and capable of understanding.

Example- Oh Love! Where are you?

Oh death! Come soon.

5▪︎ Assonance- It is the repetition of Vowel sound, such as the sound of ‘a’ and ‘o’ in quick succession such ‘though as far as the passing there’ and ‘somewhere ages and ages hence’.

6▪︎ Autobiography- It is an account of a person life , written by that person. Autobiography is usually so loosely defined as to include diaries, and even letters, as well as more formal narrative chronicles.

7▪︎ Ballad- This is a form of verse, adapted for singing or recitation, which presents a dramatic or exciting episodes in simple narrative form. In almost every country, the folk ballad is one of the earliest forms of literature.

Example- The Oxford Book Of Ballads by ‘Sir Arthur Quiller — Couch’.

8▪︎ Beast Epic- A very popular medieval literary form, that consist of a series of linked stories grouped around animal characters, and often presenting satirical comment on contemporary life by attributing human qualities to beast characters.

Example- George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’.

9▪︎ Bibliography- A list of books, articles etc. about a particular person or subject. OR A study of the history of book publication- Writing, illustrating, printing, binding and publishing.

10▪︎ Biography- The history of a life of a particular person which is written by someone else.

Example- George Cavendish wrote ‘Life of wolsey’.

11▪︎ Characterization- The portrayal of a person- his actions, manner of thought, personality and traits in a written format. The ability to create and depict fictional characters so that the readers perceives them as living beings is very much essential to the dramatist or novelist.

Example- James Joyce’s Ulysses.

12▪︎ Chorus- In ancient Greece, the group of dancers and singers who participated in religious festivals and dramatic performances; the songs sung by the chorus. However, later the chorus became Subordinate, offering comments between the acts.

Example- In Shakespeare’s King Henry V, the Chorus comments on the action, explains scene changes and asks the audience for the sympathetic attitude.

13▪︎ Comedy- This is a form of drama that is intended to amuse and that ends happily. However, the border line between comedy and other dramatic forms cannot be sharply defined, as there is much overlapping of techniques, and different forms are frequently combined. In medieval times, the word comedy was applied to non-dramatic literary compositions marked by a happy ending.

Example- Dante’s Divine Comedy.

14▪︎ Couplet- Two lines of verse with similar end rhymes. Formally, the Couplet is a two-line stanza form with both grammatical structure and idea complete within itself. The form has gone through numerous adaptations, the most famous of which is heroic verse.

15▪︎ Diary- A day-by-day chronicle of events; a journal; usually, a personal and more or less intimate record of events and thoughts kept by an individual. More recently, the diary has become a conscious literary form, used particularly by travellers, statesmen, politicians etc., to detail the important daily events in which they have been involved.

16▪︎ Diction- The use of words in verbal or written discourse. A simple list of words makes up a Vocabulary; the accurate, careful use of these words makes good diction.

17▪︎ Domestic Tragedy- Tragedy based on the lives of everyday, contemporary people. Here the principal characteristics are of high rank, domestic tragedy was slow to gain critical recognition.

Example- Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesmen.

18▪︎ Drama- A work written to be performed by actors on a stage. Most dramatic works can be classified as tragedy or comedy. Drama originated in Ancient Greece, developing from religious ceremonies.

Example- Elizabethan Drama, Medieval Drama, Melodrama.

19▪︎ Dramatic Irony- The dramatic Irony lies in the contrast between the meaning intended by the speaker and the added significance of which the audience is aware. Occasionally, the term dramatic irony is applied to non-dramatic narrative.

20▪︎ Dramatic Monologue- A poetic soliloquy in which the speaker reveals his own character. Usually, a listener is present who does not speak but plays a part in the development of the poem.

Example- Tennyson’s Ulysses and Rizpah.

21▪︎ Epic- A long narrative poem presenting heroic characters who take part in a series of adventures, usually over an extended period of time.

Example- The Odyssey and the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf are examples of folk epics.

22▪︎ Epistolary Novel- A novel in which a narrative is carried forward by letters written by one or more of the characters. We can say that, it is in the form of letters.

Example- Richardson’s Pamela.

23▪︎ Fable- A brief tale, in either prose or verse, with a moral. Usually, but not always, the characters are animals. The subject matter is considered with supernatural and unusual incidents, often drawn from folklore.

24▪︎ Fiction- Narrative Writing drawn from the imagination or fancy of the author. The term is most frequently associated with novels and short stories, though drama and narrative poetry also include numerous examples of fiction.

25▪︎ Figurative Language- Writing that comedies one or more of the various figures of Speech. The most common figures of Speech are simile, metaphor, hyperbole, apostrophe, irony, personification, symbol, and Onomatopoeia.

26▪︎ Folklore- Folklore includes legends, stories, riddles, nursery rhymes, proverbs, charms, superstitions, and customs dealing with birth, marriage and death.

27▪︎ Hamartia- In tragedy, an error of judgment, made as the result of ignorance or human weakness, that contributes to the downfall of the hero. In the Poetics, Aristotle said that the ideal tragic hero is one whose misfortune is caused ‘not by vice and depravity, but by some error’(hamartia).

28▪︎ Historical Novel- A Novel in which the characters, settings and actions are based on the records of a locality, a nation or a people. Although, history has always been used in fiction, the historical novel as such, did not appear until well into the eighteenth century.

Example- Thackeray’s- Vanity Fair.

29▪︎ Hyperbole- It relates the statement as something better or worse than it really is.

Example- My grandfather is as old as the hills.

* She is as heavy as the Elephant.

30▪︎ Metaphor- Is comparing two different objects or things, that have some common qualities in them.

Example- Life is a dream.

* He is Hitler of our home.

31▪︎ Mime- A play in which the actors use gestures and movements, not words; an actor who plays his part without Speaking. The mime developed during the fifth century B.C. in Italy as a form of comedy in which the events of everyday life were portrayed by dancing, imitative gestures and witty dialogue.

32▪︎ — In prose and poetry, the type of composition used to recount an event or series of events. There are two forms of narration. In Simple Narrative, such as newspaper account, events are usually told in chronological order. Whereas a Narrative with plot is often less chronological.

Example- Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

33▪︎ Novel- A long printed story about imaginary characters and events. The first novel came into being in the early 18th century, after the Utalian word “novella” which was used for stories in the medieval period.

Example- Charles Dicken’s- A Tale of two Cities.

34▪︎ Onomatopoeia- It is the use of the words such as the hiss or murmur that imitates the sound associated with the object. It is often called Figure of sound rather than Figure of Speech.

* The bees hum.

35▪︎ Oxymoron- The word Oxymoron is derived from the Greek word for pointlessly foolish. In it two contradictory opposite terms are combined.

Example- He is regularly irregular.

36▪︎ Parable- An allegorical story, usually containing a moral or lesson. Typically, the characters are human beings, rather than animals (as in fable). Among the best known Parables are those in the New Testament.

Example-The parable of the prodiga son and the parable of the sower.

37▪︎ Personification- It occurs when a writer gives human traits to non- human objects. It is similar to Simile and Metaphor that also uses comparison.

Example- * Love is blind.

* A lie has no legs.

38▪︎ Picaresque Novel- It presents the life of a rogue of low social class who makes his living more through his twits than his industry. The structure is episodic as the picardo undergoes a series of adventures.

Example- Henry Fielding’s “The history of Tom Jones, a Foundling”.

39▪︎ Romanticism- A movement of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that marked the reaction in Literature, philosophy, art, religion and politics against the neoclassicism.

40▪︎ Tragedy and Tragic comedy- A serious play or narrative in which the hero becomes engaged in a conflict, experiences great suffering and is finally defeated and dies.

Tragic Comedy — A play that has a plot suitable to tragedy but which ends happily like a comedy.

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