ype of literature. A poem, novel, story, or other literary work belongs to a particular genre if it shares at least a few conventions, or standard characteristics, with other works in that genre (eg: works in the Gothic genre often feature supernatural elements, attempts to horrify the reader, and dark, foreboding settings, particularly very old castles or mansions - EAPoe The Fall of the House of Usher ). Other genres include the pastoral poem, epic poem, elegy, tragic drama, and bildungsroman. An understanding of genre is useful because it helps us to see how an author adopts, subverts, or transcends the standard practices that other authors have developed. - An extravagant exaggeration. From the Greek for В«overcastingВ», hyperbole is a figure of speech that is a grossly exaggerated description or statement. In literature, such exaggeration is used for emphasis or vivid descriptions. In drama, hyperbole is quite common, especially in heroic drama.novel - a novel where fictional characters take part in actual historical events and interact with real people from the past. - The new emphasis in the Renaissance on human culture, education and reason, sparked by a revival of interest in classical Greek and Roman literature, culture, and language. Human nature and the dignity of man were exalted and emphasis was placed on the present life as a worthy event in itself (as opposed to the medieval emphasis on the present life merely as preparation for a future life). - A word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell. The use of images serves to intensify the impact of the work. - A literary term referring to how a person, situation, statement, or circumstance is not as it would actually seem. Many times it is the exact opposite of what it appears to be. Irony spices up a literary work by adding unexpected twists and allowing the reader to become more involved with the characters and plot. There are many types of irony, the three most common: 1) verbal irony, 2) dramatic irony, 3) cosmic irony. 1) Verbal irony occurs when either the speaker means something totally different than what he is saying or the audience realizes, because of their knowledge of the particular situation to which the speaker is referring, that the opposite of what a character is saying is true. Verbal irony also occurs when a character says somet hing in jest that, in actuality, is true. 2) Dramatic irony occurs when facts are not known to the characters in a work of literature but are known by the audience. 3) Cosmic irony suggests that some unknown force brings about dire and dreadful events. - A lyric is a song-like poem written mainly to express the feelings of emotions or thought from a particular person, thus separating it from narrative poems. These poems are generally short, averaging roughly twelve to thirty lines, and rarely go beyond sixty lines. These poems express vivid imagination as well as emotion and all flow fairly concisely. Because of this aspect, as well as their steady rhythm, they were often used in song. In fact, most people still see a lyric as anything that is sung along to a musical instrument. It is believed that the lyric began in its earliest stage in Ancient Egypt around 2600 BC in the forms of elegies, odes, or hymns generated out of religious ceremonies. Some of the more note-worthy authors who have used the lyric include W. Blake, W. Wordsworth, J. Keats, and W. Shakespeare - who helped popularize the sonnet, another type of lyric. - A figure of speech wherein a comparison is made between two unlike quantities without the use of the words like or as . - the rhythmic pattern produced when words are arranged so that their stressed and unstressed syllables fall into a more or less regular sequence, resulting in repeated patterns of accent (called feet). - a figure of speech in which a word represents something else which it suggests (eg: in a herd of fifty cows, the herd might be referred to as fifty head of cattle. The word head is the word representing the herd). novel - novel whose driving characteristic is the element of suspense or mystery. Strange, unexplained events, vague threats or terrors, unknown forces or antagonists, all may appear in a mystery novel. Gothic novels and detective novels are often also mystery novels. - A collection of events that tells a story, which may be true or not, placed in a particular order and recounted through either telling or writing. By understanding the term narrative , one begins to understand...
