english.cam.ac.uk

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Definitions (71)

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allegory


the saying of one thing and meaning another. Sometimes this trope works by an extended metaphor ('the ship of state foundered on the rocks of inflation, only to be salvaged by the tugs of monetar [..]
Source: english.cam.ac.uk

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caesura


A pause or breathing-place about the middle of a metrical line, generally indicated by a pause in the sense. The word derives from a Latin word meaning 'cut or slice', so the effect can be q [..]
Source: english.cam.ac.uk

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dactyl


A metrical foot consisting of three syllables, in which the first is stressed and the last two are unstressed.
Source: english.cam.ac.uk

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personification


the attribution to a non-animate thing of human attributes. The thing personified is often an abstract concept (e.g. 'Lust'). Personification is related to allegory, insofar as personificati [..]
Source: english.cam.ac.uk

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accentual verse


Verse in which the metre depends upon counting a fixed number of stresses (which are also known as 'accents') in a line, but which does not take account of unstressed syllables. The majority [..]
Source: english.cam.ac.uk

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accentual-syllabic verse


The normal system of verse composition in England since the fourteen century, in which the metre depends upon counting both the number of stresses and the total number of syllables in any give line. A [..]
Source: english.cam.ac.uk

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alexandrine


a line of six iambic feet, often used to mark a conclusion in a work which is in heroic couplets: Alexander Pope in his Essay on Criticism (1709) satirised this technique (which he was not above using [..]
Source: english.cam.ac.uk

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alliteration


The repetition of the same consonants (usually the initial sounds of words or of stressed syllables) at the start of several words or syllables in sequence or in close proximity to each other. In Angl [..]
Source: english.cam.ac.uk

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anapaest


A metrical foot consisting of three syllables. The first two are unstressed and the last is stressed: 'di di dum'.
Source: english.cam.ac.uk

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anaphora


Repitition of the same word or words at the beginning of consecutive syntactic units.
Source: english.cam.ac.uk


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