Alphabetical List of Entries

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abjection

abridgement

absurd, the

academic drama

acatalectic

accent

accentual-syllabic verse

accentual verse

acephalous

Acmeism

acrostic

act

actant

adage

adaptation

adventure story

adynaton

Aestheticism

aesthetics

affective

afflatus

agitprop

agon

alazon

alba

Alcaics

aleatory

Alexandrianism

alexandrine

alienation effect

allegory

alliteration

alliterative metre

alliterative revival

allusion

alterity

ambiguity

American Renaissance

amoebean verses

amphibrach

amphimacer

amplification

anachronism

anachrony

anacoluthon

Anacreontics

anacrusis

anadiplosis

anagnorisis

anagogical

analects

analepsis

analogy

anapaest

anaphora

anaptyxis

anatomy

Angry Young Men

Angst

antagonist

antanaclasis

anthem

anthology

anticlimax

anti-hero

anti-masque

antimetabole

anti-novel

antiphon

antiphrasis

anti-Stratfordian

antistrophe

antithesis

antonomasia

anxiety of influence

aperçu

aphorism

apocalyptic

apocrypha

Apollonian and Dionysian

apologue

apology

apophthegm

aporia

aposiopesis

apostrophe

apparatus

arbitrary

Arcadia

archaism

archetype

architectonics

argument

Aristotelian

art for art’s sake

arte mayor

arte menor

Arthurian literature

Asclepiad

aside

assonance

asteismus

asyndeton

Attic style

aubade

Aufklärung

Augustan Age

aureate diction

autobiografiction

autobiography

automatic writing

auto sacramental

autotelic

auxesis

avant-garde

ballad

ballade

ballad metre

barcarole

bard

bardolatry

baroque

bathos

beast fable

Beat writers

belatedness

belles-lettres

bestiary

bibliography

Bildungsroman

binary opposition

biography

black comedy

Black Mountain poets

blank verse

blazon

block form

Bloomsbury group

bluestocking

bob and wheel

bodice-ripper

bombast

bouts-rimés

bovarysme

bowdlerize

brachylogia

braggadocio

Brechtian

bricolage

broadside

broken rhyme

bucolic poetry

burden

burlesque

Burns stanza

Byronic

cacoethes scribendi

cacophony

cadence

caesura

Cambridge school

camp

campus novel

canon

cantar

cantiga

canto

canzone

carnivalization

carol

Caroline

carpe diem

catachresis

catalectic

catalogue verse

catastrophe

catharsis

cauda

causerie

Cavalier poets

Celtic Revival

cénacle

cento

chanson

chanson de geste

chant royal

chapbook

character

characterization

Chaucerian stanza

cheville

chiasmus

Chicago critics

chick lit

chivalric romance

choral character

choriamb

chorus

chrestomathy

chronicle

chronicle novel

chronicle play

chronotope

Ciceronian

cinquain

circumlocution

city comedy

claque

classic

classicism

clausula

clerihew

climax

closed couplet

close reading

closet drama

closure

coda

code

codex

cohesion

coinage

collage

collation

collective unconscious

colloquialism

colophon

colportage

comédie larmoyante

comedy

comedy of humours

comedy of manners

comic relief

coming-of-age novel

commedia dell’ arte

common measure

commonplace book

companion poem

comparative literature

competence

complaint

conceit

conceptismo

concettismo

concordance

concrete poetry

confessional poetry

confidant(e)

connotation

consonance

conte

content

context

convention

conversation poem

copy-text

coronach

corpus

coterie

country house poem

coup de théâtre

couplet

courtesy book

courtly love

Cowleyan ode

crambo

cretic

crisis

criterion

Critical Theory

criticism

critique

crossed rhyme

crown

crux

culteranismo

cultural materialism

Cultural Studies

cunto

curtain-raiser

curtal sonnet

cut-up

cyberpunk

cycle

cynghanedd

dactyl

Dada

death of the author

débat

decadence

decastich

decasyllabic

décima

deconstruction

decorum

deep structure

defamiliarization

defective foot

deixis

demotic

demotion

denotation

dénouement

detective story

deus ex machina

device

devotional poetry

diachronic

diacritic

diaeresis

dialect

dialectic

dialogic

dialogue

diction

didactic

diegesis

dieresis

différance

digression

dime novel

dimeter

Dionysian

diphthong

dipody

dirge

dirty realism

discours

discourse

discovery

discussion play

disintegration

dissemination

dissociation of sensibility

dissonance

distant reading

distich

dit

dithyramb

divan

dizain

docudrama

documentary

doggerel

dolce stil novo

domestic tragedy

donnée

double dactyl

double entendre

double rhyme

drama

dramatic irony

dramatic monologue

dramatis personae

dramatization

dramaturgy

drame

dream vision

dub poetry

dumb show

duodecimo

duple metre

dystopia

early modern period

eclogue

ecocriticism

écriture

Edda

edition

Edwardian

egotistical sublime

eiron

ekphrasis

elegy

elision

Elizabethan

ellipsis

éloge

embedded

emblem

emendation

encomium

Encyclopédistes

endecasyllabo

end-rhyme

end-stopped

Eng. Lit.

enjambment

Enlightenment, the

énoncé and énonciation

entremés

envelope

envoi

epanalepsis

épater les bourgeois

epic

epic simile

epic theatre

epideictic

epigone

epigram

epigraph

epilogue

epinicion

epiphany

episodic

episteme

epistle

epistolary novel

epistrophe

epitaph

epithalamion

epithet

epizeuxis

epode

eponymous

epos

epyllion

equivoque

erasure

erlebte Rede

ermetismo

erotica

Erziehungsroman

eschatology

espinela

essay

esthetics

estrangement

euphony

euphuism

exclamatio

excursus

exegesis

exemplum

existentialism

exordium

experimentalism

explication

exposition

expressionism

expurgate

extempore

extravaganza

eye rhyme

fable

fabliau

fabula

fabulation

faction

fairy tale

falling rhythm

fancy

fantastic, the

fantasy

farce

Fastnachtspiel

feminine ending

feminine rhyme

feminist criticism

Festschrift

feuilleton

fiaba

ficelle

fiction

figure

fin de siècle

first-person narrative

fit

fixed forms

flashback

flyting

focalization

foil

folio

folklore

folk song

folktale

foot

foregrounding

foreword

form

formalism

formulaic

four-hander

fourteener

frame narrative

Frankfurt School

free indirect style

free verse

Fugitives

function

fustian

Futurism

gaff

galliambics

gazal

Geneva school

genre

genre fiction

Georgian poetry

georgic

ghazal

ghost story

ghost-writer

glosa

gloss

gnomic

Golden Age

Golden-Age detective writing

goliardic verse

Gongorism

Gothic novel

grammatology

Grand Guignol

grand narrative

grapheme

graphic novel

graveyard poetry

greater Romantic lyric

griot

grotesque

Grub Street

gynesis

gynocritics

hagiography

haiku

half-rhyme

hamartia

hapax legomenon

hard-boiled

Harlem Renaissance

Hellenistic

hemistich

hendecasyllabics

hendiadys

heptameter

heptastich

hermeneutic circle

hermeneutics

hermeticism

hero

heroic couplet

heroic drama

heroic poetry

heteroglossia

heterometric

hexameter

hiatus

higher criticism

histoire

historical novel

historicism

history play

hokku

holograph

Homeric

homily

homology

homonym

homophone

homostrophic

Horatian

horizon of expectations

horror story

hubris

Hudibrastic verse

huitain

humanism

humours

hybris

hymn

hypallage

hyperbaton

hyperbole

hypermetrical

hypertext

hypotactic

hysterical realism

iamb

ibid

Ibsenite

icon

ictus

idiolect

idiom

idyll

illocutionary act

imagery

Imaginary, the

imagination

Imagism

imperfect rhyme

implied author

implied reader

impressionism

in medias res

In Memoriam stanza

incantation

incremental repetition

incunabula

indeterminacy

index

Index, the

induction

inflection

inkhorn

inscape

intentional fallacy

interior monologue

interlude

internal rhyme

interpolation

intertextuality

intonation

intrigue

intrusive narrator

invective

inversion

invocation

in-yer-face theatre

ionic

Irish Literary Renaissance

irony

irregular ode

isometric

Italian sonnet

Jacobean

jeremiad

jeu d'esprit

jingle

jongleur

jouissance

Juvenalian

juvenilia

kabuki

katabasis

kenning

kitchen-sink drama

kitsch

Knittelvers

Künstlerroman

lacuna

lad lit

lai

laisse

Lake poets

lament

lampoon

Language poetry

langue

lapidary

Latinate

Latinity

lay

Leavisites

legend

leitmotif

lemma

leonine rhyme

letrilla

lexis

libretto

life writing

light verse

limerick

lipogram

lira

lisible

litany

literal

literariness

literary criticism

literary history

literati

literature

litotes

littérateur

little magazine

liturgical drama

loc. cit.

local color writing

loco-descriptive

logocentrism

log-rolling

long measure

longueur

lost generation

lyric

macaronic verse

Machiavel

machinery

madrigal

magic realism

malapropism

manifesto

mannerism

Märchen

marginalia

Marinism

Martian poets

marvellous, the

Marxist criticism

masculine ending

masculine rhyme

masque

matter of Britain

maxim

measure

medievalism

medium

meiosis

Meistersinger

melodrama

memoir

memoir-novel

Menippean satire

metacriticism

metadrama

metafiction

metalanguage

metalepsis

metaphor

metaphysical poets

metastasis

metatheatre

metathesis

meter

metonymy

metre (US meter)

metrics

Middle English

middle generation

Miltonic sonnet

mime

mimesis

minimalism

Minnesänger

minstrel

miracle play

mise-en-abyme

mise en scène

misery memoir

misprision

mixed metaphor

mnemonic

mock epic

mock-heroic

mode

modernism

modernismo

monodrama

monody

monograph

monologic

monologue

monometer

monorhyme

morality play

morpheme

morphology

mosaic rhyme

motif

Movement, the

multi-accentuality

muse

mystery play

myth

myth criticism

mythopoeia

mythos

narratee

narration

narrative

narratology

narrator

naturalism

negative capability

négritude

nemesis

neoclassicism

neologism

Neoplatonism

neo-realism

neuronovel

New Apocalypse

New Comedy

New Criticism

New Formalism

new historicism

New Humanism

New Journalism

New Woman writing

New York Intellectuals

New York school

Newgate novel

noir

nom de plume

nonce word

nonsense verse

nouveau roman, le

nouvelle

novel

novelette

novella

Novelle

numbers

nursery rhyme

obiter dicta

objective correlative

Objectivism

occasional verse

occupatio

octameter

octastich

octave

octavo

octosyllabic

ode

OED

oeuvre

off-Broadway

Old Comedy

Old English

omniscient narrator

Onegin stanza

onomatopoeia

op. cit

open form

opuscule

oral tradition

oratory

orature

organic form

Ossianism

ostranenie

ottava rima

Oulipian

oxymoron

paean

paeon

pageant

palaeography

palimpsest

palindrome

palinode

panegyric

pantomime

pantoum

parable

paradigm

paradox

paralipsis

paraliterature

parallelism

paraphrase

pararhyme

paratactic

paratext

parison

Parnassians

parody

parole

paronomasia

passim

passion play

passus

pastiche

pastoral

pastourelle

pathetic fallacy

pathos

patronage

pattern poetry

penny dreadful

pentameter

pentastich

performative

periodical

periodic sentence

peripeteia

periphrasis

perlocutionary act

peroration

persona

personification

Petrarchan

phenomenology

philistine

philology

philosophes

phoneme

phonetics

phonocentrism

phonology

Phosphorists

picaresque novel

Pindaric

pirated

plagiarism

Platonism

Pléiade, Ia

pleonasm

ploce

plot

plurisignation

poetaster

poète maudit

poetic diction

poetic drama

poetic justice

poetic licence

poeticism

poetics

poetry

point of view

polemic

police procedural

polyphonic

polyptoton

polysemy

polysyndeton

pornography

portmanteau word

postcolonial literature

postmodernism

post-structuralism

pot-boiler

poulter’s measure

practical criticism

Prague School

préciosité, la

précis

Pre-Raphaelites

preromanticism

prescriptive

primitivism

problem play

proem

Projectivism

prolepsis

proletcult

prologue

promotion

prompt-book

propagandism

props

proscenium arch

prose

prose poem

prosody

prosopopoeia

protagonist

prothalamion

proverb

psalm

pseudepigrapha

pseudo-statement

psychoanalytic criticism

psychobiography

psychomachy

pulp fiction

pun

purple patch

pyrrhic

pythiambics

quantitative verse

quarto

quatrain

Queer theory

quintain

quintilla

raisonneur

readerly

reader-response criticism

realism

recension

reception theory

recessive accent

récit

recognition

recto

redaction

redondilla

reductionism

referent

reflectionism

refrain

register

Renaissance

repartee

repertory

repetend

Restoration comedy

revenge tragedy

reverdie

reversal

revision

revisionist

revue

Rezeptionsästhetik

rhapsody

rhetoric

rhetorical figure

rhetorical question

rhyme

rhyme royal

rhyme scheme

rhythm

riddle

rime riche

rising rhythm

rispetto

rococo

rodomontade

rogatio

roman à clef

roman à thèse

roman à tiroirs

romance

romancero

roman-feuilleton

roman-fleuve

romantic comedy

romantic irony

Romanticism

rondeau

rondel

roundel

roundelay

rubáiyát

rune

Russian Formalism

saga

salon

samizdat

Sapphics

satire

satyr play

scansion

scatology

scenario

scene

scène à faire

Schauerroman

scheme

scholasticism

school drama

science fiction

Scottish Chaucerians

Scottish Renaissance

screenplay

scriptible

Secentismo

seguidilla

self-reflexive

semantics

seme

semiology

semiotic, the

semiotics

Senecan tragedy

sensation novel

sensibility

sententia

sentimental comedy

sentimental novel

septenary

septet

serialized

sestet

sestina

sex’n’shopping novel

Shakespearean sonnet

Shavian

short measure

short story

sibilance

sigmatism

sign

signified

signifier

sijo

silver-fork novel

simile

sjuzet

skald

skaz

Skeltonics

sketch

slant rhyme

slave narrative

socialist realism

sociology of literature

Socratic

solecism

soliloquy

sonnet

soubrette

Spasmodic School

speech act theory

Spenserian stanza

spondee

Spoonerism

sprung rhythm

squib

stanza

stave

stichic

stichomythia

stilnovisti

stock character

stock response

story

strambotto

stream of consciousness

stress

strong-stress metre

strophe

structuralism

Sturm und Drang

style

stylistics

subgenre

sublime, the

subplot

substitution

subtext

succès d’estime

Surrealism

syllabic verse

syllepsis

syllogism

symbol

Symbolic, the

Symbolists

synaeresis

synaesthesia

synchronic

syncope

synecdoche

synizesis

synonym

synopsis

syntagm

syntax

syuzhet

tableau

Tagelied

tail-rhyme stanza

tall tale

tanka

tenor

tercet

terza rima

tetralogy

tetrameter

text

textual criticism

textuality

texture

theatre in the round

theatre of cruelty

theatre of the absurd

theme

Theory

thesis

third-person narrative

threnody

thriller

tone

topographical poetry

topos

touchstone

tract

tradition

tragedy

tragedy of blood

tragic flaw

tragic irony

tragicomedy

transcendental signified

Transcendentalism

transferred epithet

trauma theory

travelogue

travesty

treatise

trilogy

trimeter

triolet

triple metre

triple rhyme

triplet

trochee

trope

troubadour

trouvère

truncation

turn

two-hander

type

typography

typology

ubi sunt

Ultraísmo

uncanny, the

undecidable

unexpurgated

unities, the

university wits

univocal

unreliable narrator

Urtext

ut pictura poesis

utopia

variorum edition

Varronian satire

vatic

vaudeville

vehicle

Verfremdungseffekt

verisimilitude

verismo

vernacular

vers de société

vers libre

verse

verse form

verse paragraph

versification

verso

verso piano

verso tronco

Vice, the

Victorian

vignette

villain

villanelle

virelay

voice

volta

Vorticism

vraisemblance

vulgate

weak ending

well-made play

Weltanschauung

Weltliteratur

Weltschmerz

Wertherism

West End

wit

wrenched accent

writerly

Yale school

Zeitgeist

zeugma