No Rhyme, No Reason

Speaker
voice/character who speaks; also known as the narator

Addressee
character who is spoken to/who listens

Statement
what the speaker says to the addressee

Rhythm
effect created through regular distribution of stressed and unstressed syllables

Caesura
pause or break in the middle of a line

End-stopped line
line that completes a syntactic unit, mostly ending with a punctuation

Run-on line
line that contains part of a syntactic unit, to be completed in the following

Rhyme
identity of sound from the last stressed vowel, to the end of words or phrases

Alliteration
identity of sound at the beginning of words

Assonance
identity of sound in the middle of words

Symbol
something that stands for or points to something else

Metaphor
way of speaking about something as if it were something else

Metonymy
indirect way of referring to something by naming something else closely related to it, e.g. as container and content, or genus and species

Sonnet
fourteen-line poem in rhymed iambic pentameter

Onomatopoeia
similarity between sound and meaning

Motif
element that occurs in many different texts

Simile
explicit comparison

Hyperbole
poetic exaggeration

Personification
a way of talking about something non-human as if it were a person; also known as prosopopoeia

Literacy, Literally

Genre = a type or kind of literature.

Fiction = narrative prose literature.
Poetry = metrical literature.
Drama = representational literature.

Fiction

Short story = written to be read at a single sitting.
Novella = written to be read in several sittings.
Novel = written to be read in multiple sittings.

Poetry

Lyric poetry =  expresses thoughts or feelings.
Narrative poetry = the narrator is a storyteller.
Dramatic poetry = the narrator interacts with others.

Drama

Comedy = from disorder to order, ends happily.
Tragedy = from order to disorder, ending badly.
Tragicomedy = mixes tragedy and comedy.

LITERATURE
lit-er-a-ture | [noun]
∎ Written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit.
2.
∎ Books and writings published on a particular subject.
3.
∎ Leaflets and other printed matter used to advertise products or give advice.

LITERARY
lit-er-ar-y | [adjective]
∎ Concerning the writing, study, or content of literature, especially of the kind valued for quality of form.
∎∎ “Orwell’s are among the great literary works of the twentienth century”

LITERAL
lit-er-al | [adjective]
∎ Taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or exaggeration.
2.
∎ (of a translation) representing the exact words of the original text.
∎∎ “A literal translation from the Arabic”
∎∎∎ synonyms: word-for-word, verbatim, line-for-line, letter-for-letter
3.
∎ (of a person or performance) lacking imagination; prosaic.
∎∎ “his interpretation was rather too literal”
∎∎∎ synonyms: literal-minded, factual
∎∎∎∎ antonyms: whimsical

 

Poetic Modus Operandi

Some modes or types of poetic style… the full list is indefinite.

Argumentative mode
Speaker expresses an opinion or disagrees with another one

Confessional mode
Speaker expresses private or secret thoughts or emotions

Descriptive mode
Speaker details a scene, usually in the present tense

Dialogic mode
Two or more voices take turns in speaking

Didactic mode
Speaker informs or advises the addressee or addressees

Discursive mode
Speaker discusses a topic in the manner of an essay

Dramatic mode
Speaker interacts with others in a well-defined situation

Elegiac mode
Speaker regrets the loss of something or someone

Eulogic mode
Speaker praises something or someone

Expository mode
Speaker illustrates or explains something

Lyric mode
Speaker expresses thoughts or emotions

Narrative mode
Speaker tells a story, usually in the past tense

Persuasive mode
Speaker tries to convince the addressee or addressees

Polemic mode
Speaker criticises something or someone explicitly

Satiric mode
Speaker criticises something or someone implicitly