Dr. Joanne E. Gates
Literary Terms Lists
Jacksonville State University
English Department
TERMS YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO WORK WITH:
[Some of these are less relevant to Literature or Shakespeare studies, but this list is a good review of terms you should have mastered in EH 102.]
POETIC TERMS
alliteration, assonance, consonance
allusion
analogy
apostrophe
carpe diem
aubade
blank verse
connotation, denotation
counterpoint (antithesis),
parallelism
couplet, octave, quatrain, stanza
double rhyme, feminine rhyme,
internal rhyme, end rhyme
masculine rhyme
enjambment (run on line),
end-stopped line
Shakespearean Sonnet
figurative language
diction (in drama and poetry)
foot, meter, scansion, stress,
trimeter, pentameter
iambic meter, rhythm
hyperbole, understatement
imagery
personification
symbol (also open symbol)
inversion, irony
metaphor (also extended metaphor)
metonymy, simile, synecdoche
onomatopoeia
pun
paradox, oxymoron
rhyme scheme
theme, tone
DRAMATIC TERMS
dramatic convention
aside, soliloquy
catharsis, tragedy
(especially Aristotle's definition;
also Senecan tragedy)
chorus, or choric character
stichomythia
climax, denouement
deus ex machina
in media res
dramatic irony
epic theatre, realistic drama
flat, stock character
confidant, developing, foil character
exposition
plot
comedy, farce
melodrama
metadrama, metatheatrical
Shakespearean Romance, tragicomedy
playwrightFILM TERMS:
Boom / Crane shot
Cut / Cutaway
Continuity
Dissolve
Dolly shot
Extreme close-up
Fade
Hand held
Pan
Pit shot (camera underneath action, looking up)
Point of View
Re-focus shot / Soft focus
Slow motion
"Three-shot"
Voice-over
ZoomFor some authorized web resources for identification and definition of terms, start at the department's list of links, http://www.jsu.edu/depart/english/engother.htm#gen
Dr. Gates e mail: jgates@jsucc.jsu.edu.