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Definitions (76)
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catachresis
A misuse of words, i.e. to use a word violating its normal or proper sense. This can be an error, as when students confuse ‘Hippocratic’ and ‘hypocritical’, but in literary language it can be intentional and to powerful effect.
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eulogy
A poem or discourse in praise of a dead person.
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[for m-z click here.] [to search glossary
© The Literary Encyclopedia and The Literary Dictionary Company Limited. This document may be reproduced for free distribution in teaching contexts provided this copyright notice is left in place and The Literary Encyclopedia is acknowledged as its source. This glossary provides a quick check-list of common poetic terms. The same or more extended e [..]
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aestheticism
A literary movement in the nineteenth century of those who believed in “art for art’s sake” in opposition to the utilitarian doctrine that everything must be morally or practically useful. Key figures of the aesthetic movement were Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde.
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alexandrine
A line of iambic hexameter (i.e. twelve syllables divided into six feet of iambic stress pattern). The Alexandrine being a long line, it is often divided in the middle by a pause or caesura into two symmetrical halves called hemistiches. Pope’s Essay on Criticism offers this exemplary comment on the Alexandrine: “A needless Alexan [..]
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allegory
A pattern of reference in the work which evokes a parallel action of abstract ideas. Usually allegory uses recognisable types, symbols and narrative patterns to indicate that the meaning of the text is to be found not in the represented world but in a body of traditional thought, or in an extra-literary context.
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alliteration
Also called “initial rhyme”, alliteration is a rhyme-pattern produced inside the poetic line by repeating sounds at the beginning of words. For example, “With old woes new wail my dear time’s waste” Shakespeare, Sonnet 30.
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allusion
A brief or implicit reference to something outside the text.
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amphibrach
A metrical foot of three syllables: one weak, one strong, and one weak.
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anacrusis
The insertion of one or more unstressed syllables at the beginning of a line where the poetical metre would normally demand a stressed syllable.
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