Glossary of literary and stylistic terms
Aesthetic function – Greek aistheticos, perceptive; aisthanesthai, to feel, or to perceive. Connected with the appreciation or criticism of the beautiful. Aesthetics is the philosophy of fine arts. (CLT)
Alliteration (L. ad “to +lit(t)era “letter”) – a phonetic stylistic device; a repetition of the same consonant at the beginning of neighboring words or accented syllables. (ELT)
Allusion (L. alludere “to allude”) - a hint at something, presumably known to the reader, frequently from literature, history, bible or mythology. (ELT)
Anadiplosis (Gr. “doubling”) – a repetition of the last word or any prominent word in a sentence or clause at the beginning of the next, with an adjunct idea. See framing, repetition. (ELT)
Analogy - Greek analogia, proportion. The process of reasoning from parallel cases (in its logical sense). In the literary way, it is the description of something known in order to suggest in certain respects something unknown. An analogue is a word or thing bearing analogy to, or resembling, another. (CLT)
Anaphora (Gr. Anaphora “‘carrying back”) - a phonetic stylistic device; the repetition of words or phrases at the beginning of successive clauses, sentences or lines. (ELT)
Anticlimax (Gr. Anti “against” + climax “ladder”) – slackening of tension in a sentence or longer piece of writing wherein the ideas fall off in dignity, or become less important at the close. (ELT)
Antithesis (Gr.) – an opposition or contrast of ideas expressed by parallelism of strongly contrasted words placed at the beginning and at the end of a single sentence or clause, or in the corresponding position in two or more sentences or clauses. A. is often based on the use of antonyms and is aimed at emphasizing contrasting features. (ELT)
Antonomasia (Gr. “naming instead”) – 1. A figure of speech close to metonymy, which substitutes an epithet, or descriptive phrase, or official title for a proper name. 2. The use of a proper name to express a general idea. (ELT)
Aposiopesis (Gr. Aposoipan “to be quite silent”). The sudden breaking off in speech, without completing a thought, as if the speaker was unable or unwilling to state what was in the mind. (ELT)
Archaism (Gr. Arcaios “ancient”) – Ancient or obsolete word, or style, or idiom gone out of current use. (ELT)
Archetype - Greek archetupon, pattern, model. The original pattern, from which copies are made; a prototype. In his Contributions to Analytical Psychology, Jung, the psychologist makes a distinction between collective consciousness (the acceptable dogmas and ‘isms’ of religion, race and class), and those predetermined patterns and archetypes in the collective unconscious. These archetypes are inherited in the human mind from the typical experiences of our ancestors – birth, death, love, family life, struggle.
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These experiences, to give unity to a diversity of effects, are expressed in myths, dreams, literature. Writers use archetypal themes, and archetypal images. (CLT)
Assonance (L. assonare “to respond”). A phonetic stylistic device; agreement of vowel sounds (sometimes combined with likeness in consonants). (ELT)
Asyndeton (Gr. A ‘not’ + syndetos “bound together”). The deliberate avoidance of conjunctions. (ELT)
Chronotop – the interrelation of time and space in the text of the emotive prose. (RT)
Climax (gradation) – (Gr. klimax “ladder”) – a figure in which a number of propositions or ideas are set forth in a series in which each rises above the preceding in force. (ELT)
Climax – The highest point of an action in a story; culmination preceding the denouement. (ELT)
Cohesion – tendency to unite from Latin cohaesus, stuck together (CE)
Colloquialisms – words that occupy an intermediate position between literary and non-literary stylistic layers and are used in conversational type of everyday speech. (awfully sorry, a pretty little thing, etc.). Latin colloquium, from colloqui, to speak together. Pertaining to words peculiar to the vocabulary of everyday talk. (CLT, ELT)
Composition – The arrangement and the disposition of all the forms of the subject matter presentation make up the composition of the literary text. (ELT)
Concept – an idea, esp. an abstract idea, a theoretical construct within some theory from Latin conceptum, something received or conceived. (CE)
Connotation - Latin connotare, to mark together. Connotation is the implication of something more than the accepted or primary meaning; it refers to the qualities, attributes, and characteristics implied or suggested by the word. From its plain meaning and its sound the word may have associations, images, echoes, impressions. Poetry in particular makes full use of connotations, and creates wider ripples of meaning in the mind of the responsive reader. (CLT)
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Context - Latin contextus, from contexere, to weave together. Those parts of a work of literature which precede and follow a given word, phrase or passage. Such words or phrases,to be properly understood or judged, should be read in their context. (CLT)
Contrast - Late Latin contrastare, to stand against. The juxtaposition of images or thoughts to show striking differences. (CLT)
Denotation - Latin denotare, to set a mark on, to point out, specify, designate. The meaning of a term excluding the feelings of the writer; the literal and factual meaning of a word. In logic, the aggregate of objects that may be included under a word, compared with connotation. (CLT)
Denouement (catastrophe) – The unwinding of the action; the events in a story or play immediately following the climax and bringing the action to an end. (ELT)
Description – The presentation of the atmosphere, the scenery and the like of the literary work. Latin describere to write down, copy. In a literary work, description presents the chief qualities of time and place, and creates the setting of the story. (CLT)
Detail (poetic) – The part selected to represent the whole, both typifying and individualizing the image. A detail may be directly observed and directly expressed feature or an image or represented in an association with some other phenomenon. (ELT)
Dialect – Words and expressions used by peasants and others in certain regions of the country: baccy (tobacco), unbeknown (unknown), winder (window), etc. Greek dialectos, from dialegesthai, to discourse. The language of a particular district or class. (ELT,CLT)
Dialogue – The speech of two or more characters addressed to each other. Greek dialogos, a conversation; dialegesthai, to discourse. A conversation between several people. A literary work in the form of a conversation; when joined to action the dialogue becomes a drama. The recent use of the word dialogue denotes an exchange of views and ideas between people or parties of different oinions, e.g. Roman Catholics and Protestants. (CLT)
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Drama - Greek drama, a deed, action on the stage, from dran, to do, act. Latin dramatis personae, characters of the play. Stage-play. The composition and presentation of plays. (CLT)
Dramatic (interior) monologue – The speech of the narrator as his own protagonist or the character speaking to himself when he is alone but addressing the audience in his imagination. (ELT, ССРЯ)
Ellipsis - Greek elleipsis; elleipen, to fall short, deficiency. The omission in a sentence of one or more words, which would be needed to express the sense completely. (CLT)
Emotive connotation – An overtone or an additional component of meaning expressing the speaker’s attitude, his feelings and emotions. (AR)
Epiphora – repetition of the final word or word-group. E.g. “I wake up and I am alone, and I walk round Warlley and I am alone, and I talk with people and I am alone” (J.Braine). (AR)
Epithet – Greek epitheton, attributed, added; epi, on, tithenai, to place. An adjective expressing a quality or attribute considered characteristic of a person or thing. An appellation or a descriptive term. (CLT)
Exposition (setting) – Latin exposition-(em), a showing forth. Giving the necessary information about the characters and the situation at the beginning of a play or novel. (CLT)
Fairy tales – Stories of mythical beings, such as fairies, gnomes, pixies, elves, or goblins. Such tales are found in the folklore of many countries and were handed down by word of mouth. (CLT)
Figure of speech – Any of the devices of figurative language, ranging from expression of the imagination to deviation from ordinary usage for the sake of ornament. Quite a number of figures of speech are based on the principle of recurrence. Recurrent may be elements of different linguistic layers: lexical, syntactic, morphological, phonetic. Some figures of speech emerge as a result of simultaneous interaction of several principles of poetic expression, i.e. the principle of contrast and recurrence; recurrence+ analogy; recurrence+ incomplete representation. (CLT, AR)
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Falling action – the part of a play or a novel, which follows the climax. (CLT)
Folklore – Old English folc, Middle English folk, people.The beliefs, tales, legends, songs, sayings of a people handed down by a word of mouth. It includes the traditional customs, ceremonies and ways of life; and the study of them. The term was first introduced by W.J.Thoms in the Athenaeum in 1846. (CLT)
Folk tale - Old English folk, Middle English folk, people. A popular story handed down by oral tradition or written form from much earlier days. This term covers a wide range material from myths to fairy-tales. (CLT)
Framing (ring repetition) – A kind of repetition in which the opening word is repeated at the end of a sense-group or a sentence (in prose), or at the end of a line or stanza (in verse). Framing is of special significance in poetry, where it often adds to the general musical effect: “Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean – roll!” (Byron). (CLT)
Functional style – A system of expressive means and vocabulary, answering the needs of a certain sphere of human activity. (ELT, CCРЯ)
Genre – French, from Latin gener -, stem of genus, birth. Kind, style. A literary type, such as epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy. From the fifteenth century to the eighteenth, the various genres showed marked differences, which were acceptedby the writers of the time. (CLT)
Hyperbole - Greek huperbole, overshooting; from huperballain, to throw beyond, to exceed; huper, over, ballein, to throw. Exaggeration, for the purpose of emphasis. (CLT)
Idea (message) – the underlying thought and emotional attitude transmitted to the reader by the whole poetic structure of the literary text. (AR) Latin mittere, missum “ to send”. The main idea of a piece of art. A literary work carries the message not in a straightforward way but through the characters, events and the author’s conceptions. (AR, CLT)
Image – a mental picture or association of ideas evoked in a literary work, esp. in poetry. (CE)
Imagery (tropes) -Figurative language intended to evoke a picture or idea in the mind of the reader; figures of speech collectively. (ELT) Latin imago, image; imitari, to imitate. (CLT)
Imitation style – A style based on a sparing use of obsolete and archaic words and constructions and the avoidance of anything obviously modern to convey the flavour of the epoch. (AR)
Implication – a certain undercurrent of meaning revealing the author’s attitude, the author’s message realized in word connotations. (AR)
Incomplete representation - an aesthetic principle of re-creating an object or phenomenon of reality by selecting out of infinity of features pertaining to the object only those which are most characteristic. (AR)
Intertextuality - is the interrelation of the texts of the present and preceding cultures (citations, reminiscences, fragments and formulas of realia, idioms, etc.) (GLT); the interrelation of the author, the text and the reader’s thesaurus or the vocabulary of texts familiar to the reader. (Толочин, 1996, КМД)
Introduction – Latin introducere, from ducere, to lead. An essay, sometimes a poem, which prepares the way for a literary work, “stating what it is to contain, and how it should be executed in the most perfect manner” (Johnson, CLT)
Invariant – an entity or quality that is unaltered by a particular transformation of coordinates. (CE)
Jargon – Old French jargon, warbling of birds, chatter, talk. Unintelligible words; barbarisms or debased language. A way of speech full of unfamiliar terms; the vocabulary of science, profession, or art. (CLT) Jagonisms (cantisms). Words used within certain social and professional groups. (AR)
Lacuna. Latin, lacuna, a ditch, a pool. In a metaphorical sense, a gap, a deficiency. A hiatus, a blank or defect in a manuscript or book. (CLT)
Leit-motif, -iv (G. leit- “ leading” + motiv “motive”) – лейтмотив. The word was coined as a musical term, but is often used with a non-musical significance. It is applied to the theme associated throughout a literary composition with a certain person, situation or sentiment. (ELT)
Literary (poetic) time – time conditioned by the laws of the narrative and the work’s content. (ELT)
Litotes - Greek litos, plain, meager. An ironically moderate form of speech. Sometimes a rhetorical understatement, in which a negative is substituted for the positive remark. ‘A citizen of no mean city’ for ‘a great city’. (CLT)
Local colour - Writing in which the scene set in a particular locality plays an unusually important part. The use of local colour in the English novel developed in the nineteenth century. The Brontes set their novels in Yorkshire; George Eliot placed hers in Warwickshire. (CLT)
Lyric (poetry) – Greek luricos, singing to the lyre; a lyric poet.Originally a song intended to be sung and accompanied on the lyre. The meaning has been enlarged to include any short poem directly expressing the poet’s own thoughts and emotions. The ballad, ode, elegy, and sonnet are special forms of the lyric. (CLT)
Metaphor (metaphoric) – Greek metaphora, transference; meta, over, pherein, to carry. The application of a name or a descriptive term to an object to which it is not literally applicable. An implied comparison. It is based on the idea of the similarity in dissimilars. (CLT)
Metonymy - Greek metonumia, expressing change, name-change. The substitution of the name of an attribute of a thing for the name of the thing itself, as crown for king, city for inhabitants, Shakespeare for Shakespeare’s plays. (CLT)
Narration (narrative) – (L. narrare “ to tell”) – A form in which a story is told by relating events in a sequence of time. (ELT)
Onomatopoeia – (Gr. onomatopoiia “word-making”) A phonetic stylistic device; the use of words in which the sound is suggestive of the object or action designated: buzz, cuckoo, bang, hiss. E.g. “And now there came chock-chock of wooden hammers.” (ELT)
Oxymoron – (Gr. oxys “sharp” + moros “ foolish”. A figure of speech consisting in the use of an epithet or attributive phrase in contradiction to the noun it defines. Ex.: Speaking silence, dumb confession… (Burns)
Parable – Greek parabole, comparison, putting beside; from paraballein, to throw beside. A short, simple story setting forth a moral lesson. The Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, parables of Christ, are, perhaps, the most famous examples. (CLT)
Paradox – Greek paradoxos, contrary to received opinion or expectation. A statement which, though it seems to be self-contradictory, contains a basis of truth. A statement conflicting with received opinion or belief. A paradox often provokes the reader to consider the particular point afresh, as when Shakespeare says, “Cowards die many times before their deaths”. (CLT)
Paragraph – (Gr. para “beside” + grapheio “I write”) A distinct part of writing, consisting of one or several sentences; a portion or section which relates to a particular point and is generally distinguished by a break in the lines. (CLT)
Parallelism - (Gr. parallelos “going beside”). A syntactic stylistic device; specific similarity of construction of adjacent word groups equivalent, complimentary, or antithetic in sense, esp. for rhetorical effect or rhythm. (ELT)
Periphrasis – (Gr. peri “all round” + phrazein “to speak” A figure of speech; the use of a longer phrasing with descriptive epithets, abstract general terms, etc., in place of a possible shorter and plainer form of expression, aimed at representing the author’s idea in a roundabout way. (ELT)
Personification – (L. persona “person”). A figure of speech whereby an inanimate object or idea is given human characteristics. (ELT)
Plot (plot structure) – French complot, conspiracy. In Aspects of the Novel, E. M. Forster says: A story is a narrative of events arranged in time sequence… A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. (CLT)
Poeticisms – words used exclusively in poetry and the like. Many of these words are archaic or obsolete, such as whilsome (sometimes), aught (anything), ne (no, not), haply (may be), etc. (AR)
Poetic structure – the cohesion of the two layers, i.e. of the strictly verbal and the supraverbal constitutes what is known as the poetic structure of the literary text. (AR)
Polysyndeton – (Gr. poly “many” + syndetos “ connected”). Repetition of conjunction in close succession, as of one connecting homogeneous parts, or clauses, or sentences; opposed to asyndeton. E.g. “And in the sky the stars are met, and on the wave a deeper blue, and on the leaf a browner hue, and in the heaven that clear obscure…” (Byron) (ELT)
Precis – (Fr. “precise”). A compressed and condensed statement of the substance of long series of communications or of a narrative. (ELT)
Professionalisms – Characteristic words and phrases used within the sphere of a particular profession. In fiction P. are used in to mark the speech of a character with certain peculiarities. They are used mostly figuratively, hence they should not be confused with technical words. E.g. “Will she stay the course?” about Fleur in The White Monkey, using the expression referring to horse - racing. (ELT, ССРЯ)
Pun (paronomasia, a play on words) – (It. Puntiglio “ fine point”). The humorous or ludicrous use of a word in more than one sense; a play on words. E.g. “ When I am dead, I hope it may be said: “His sins were scarlet, but his books were read”. Here the pun is based on two homophones, read and red. (ELT)
Realia – real-life facts and material used in teaching. [C20 from neuter plural of Late Latin realis; see real ]. (CE)
Recurrence - repetition, events, things happening frequently, regularly. (OALDCE)
Repetition (reiteration) – Latin repetere, to try again, from petere, to seek. One of the basic devices of art. It is used in musical composition, painting, poetry, and prose. Repetition sets up a tide of expectation, helps to give unity to a work of art. In poetry, devices based on repetition are the refrain, the repetend, alliteration, assonance, rhythm, and the metrical pattern. (CLT)
Reported (represented) speech - the form of utterance, which conveys the actual words or thoughts of the character through the mouth of the writer but retains the peculiarities of the speaker’s mode of expression. (Galperin, 1977)
Rhythm – Greek rhythmos, Latin rhythmus, measured motion, rhythm, cognate with rhein, to flow. Rhyme is identity of sound between two words extending from the last fully accented vowel to the end of the word, as in fair, chair, or smite, write, or ending, bending. (CLT)
Rising action with complications (story) – the part of the plot, which represents the beginning of the collision (conflict) and the collision itself. (AR) The development of the story, and the obstacles and dangers that the participants encounter. (ATA)
Simile – (L. similes “like”). A figure of speech, which draws a comparison between two different things in one or more aspects; an imaginative comparison. (ELT)
Slang (slangy word) – Words and phrases in common colloquial use, in some or all of their senses being outside of the literary language, but continually forcing their way into it. It is opposed to standard English. S. is often humorous, witty and adds to the picturesqueness of the language. (ELT)
Soliloquy – (L. solus “alone” + loqui “to speak”) Thinking aloud on the stage; speech recited by a character in a play regardless of the presence of other characters. (ELT)
Sonnet – (It. Sonetto) A poem of 14 verses confined to a single theme and closely connected metrically by an interlocking scheme. The lines of a S. are grouped either into an octave and a sestet, or into three quatrains and a couplet. (ELT)
Stream-of-consciousness technique – is a technique for revealing thoughts and feelings flowing, in perpetual soliloquy, through the mind of the character. (ELT)
Style – Latin stilos, a pointed instrument for writing on waxed tablets; also, way of writing. The effective use of language, especially in prose, whether to make statements or to rouse emotions. (F.L. Lucas, CLT, ССРЯ)
Stylistic reference is the usage of words preferably used in a certain functional style and conditioned by the respective sphere of activity. (AR, ССРЯ)
Supraverbal (poetic) layer of the literary text comprises plot, theme, composition, genre, style, images, which, nevertheless, entirely revealed in verbal sequences. (AR)
Surface (plot) layer - is the theme of a literary work, which allows of a schematic formulation, such as: “this is a story of race discrimination in the USA” and the like. (AR)
Suspense (retardation) – (L. suspended). A device to produce a state of uncertainty, usually with anxiety or expectation. The deliberate sustaining of anticipation by means of postponement; the retarding of the satisfaction of knowing how it all comes out. (ELT)
Synecdoche – (Gr. synecdoche). A figure of speech, alike to metonymy, by which a part is put for the whole, or the whole for a part, or an individual for a class, or an indefinite number for a definite one, or singular for plural. (ELT)
Synonym – (Gr. synonymos “ synonymous”). One or two words or more words or phrases having the same or nearly the same essential meaning, but suitable to different contexts. (ELT)
Synopsis - Greek sunopsis, sun, with, together, opsis, a view. A collective or general view of any subject; a summary. (CLT)
Tale – Anglo-Saxon talu, speech, number. A fictitious narrative, told in prose or verse. It is often simple in theme, skillful in presentation. The term, usually synonymous with short story, can refer to a novel for example: A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. (CLT)
Theme - Greek thema, proposition, from tithenai, to put. The subject, on which one speaks; the term is more often used to indicate its central idea. (CLT)
Trope - Greek tropos, turn, way; trepo, turn. The figurative, elaborate use of word. The tem is applied to metaphor, simile, personification and hyperbole. Tropes could be employed in forms of irony. (CLT)
Understatement (meiosis) - Greek meiosis, lessening. The use of understatement to give the impression that a thing is less in size and importance than it really is. Often applied in the negative form illustrated under litotes. It is commonly used in colloquial English. “That was some opera”. (CLT)
Vulgarism - Latin vulgaris, from vulgus, the common people. A vulgar, unrefined way of speech closely connected with slang and colloquialism. (CLT)
Zeugma - Greek zeugma, band, bond, from zeugnumi, I yoke. A figure of speech by which a verb or an adjective is applied to two nouns, though strictly appropriate to only one of them. (CLT) Use of a word in the same grammatical relation to two adjacent words in the context: one metaphorical and the other literal in sense. E.g. “And the boys took their places and their books” (Dickens). (ELT)
Bibliography
AR – Sosnovskaya V.B. Analytical Reading, Moscow “Higher School” Publishing House, 1974.
ССРЯ - Кожина М.Н. Стилистический словарь русского языка [Электронный ресурс].
CE – Collins Cobuild Essential Dictionary, London, 1996.
CLT – Scott A. F. Current Literary Terms. A Concise Dictionary of their Origin and Use, London, 1965.
ELT – Мосткова С.Я., Смыкалова Л.А., Чернявская С.П. English Literary Terms, – Изд-во «Просвещение», 1967.
Galperin I.R. Stylistics. Moscow “Higher School”, 1977.
OALDCE – Hornby A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Russian Language Publishers, Moscow, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1982
RT – Барковская Н.В. Терминологический минимум и рекомендации для самостоятельной работы по курсу «Введение в литературоведение», Екатеринбург, 1999
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