19th century aestheticism holds that art should be independent of social, political, or moral teaching. Hence the doctrine of l'art pour l'art (see Art for Art's Sake below), a concept derived from the philosopher Immanuel Kant as well as Edgar Allan Poe's argument that the supreme poem is one written for its own sake. Aesthetic [..]

in a work of literature is a reference, explicit or implicit, to a person, place, or event or to another literary work or passage.

In literature and drama, combining the morbid and grotesque with humor and farce to give a disturbing effect and convey the absurdity and cruelty of life.

can be discussed in a number of ways. • The protagonist is the main character, who is not necessarily a hero or a heroine. The antagonist is the opponent; the antagonist may be society, nature, a person, or an aspect of the protagonist. The antihero, a recent type, lacks or seems to lack heroic traits. • A persona is a fictional character. Sometime [..]

1. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong.

1. a. A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi.

A genre of literature. The essay is a short literary composition on a single theme, often presenting the personal opinions of the author. The essay is a very pliable genre, and can even read like a short story; however, an essay is understood to be a work of nonfiction, whereas a short story is understood to be fiction…The essay is often used to ma [..]

The use of language to descriptively represent things, actions, even abstract ideas; an abstraction or condensation of a writer's visual or sensory pictures. Beckson and Ganz, Literary Terms: A Dictionary

A short simple story illustrating a moral lesson. In a parable the story is developed not for its own sake but only in so far as it reinforces the moral, which is always explicit. The parables of Christ, such as those of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, are the most famous of this genre. Beckson and Ganz, Literary Terms:  A Dictionary. Paro [..]

The chronological arrangement of incidents in a narrative Realism Artists and industrialization • what subject matter should be • who the audience should be • what materials, techniques to use Counterpoint to romanticism Focus on “truth” rather than the “fantastic, historical, remote, idealized, [..]