Reference Section
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REFERENCE SECTION Literary Terms Handbook . R1 Reading Handbook . R20 Vocabulary Development . R20 Comprehension Strategies . R21 Literary Response . R23 Analysis and Evaluation . R24 Foldables™ . R26 Writing Handbook . R30 The Writing Process . R30 Using the Traits of Strong Writing . R33 Writing Modes . R35 Research Paper Writing . R36 Business Writing . R42 Language Handbook . R46 Grammar Glossary . R46 Mechanics . R53 Spelling . R58 Test-Taking Skills Handbook . .R61 Glossary/Glosario . R64 Academic Word List . R82 Index of Skills . R85 Index of Authors and Titles . R100 Index of Art and Artists . R104 Acknowledgments . R108 R000 EMTOC-845482.indd 2 2/5/07 4:06:34 PM LITERARY TERMS HANDBOOK A Anapest A metrical foot of three syllables in which two unstressed syllables are followed by a stressed one (˘˘). Act A major unit of a drama, or play. Modern dramas In the following line from Siegfried Sassoon’s “Does It generally have one, two, or three acts. Older dramas, Matter?” the feet are divided by slashes: including Shakespeare’s, often have five acts. Acts may ˘ ˘ ˘ ˘ ˘ ˘ be divided into one or more scenes. You can drink / and forget / and be glad. See also DRAMA, SCENE. See also FOOT, METER, SCANSION. Allegory A literary work in which all or most of the Anecdote A brief account of an interesting happening. characters, settings, and events stand for ideas, qualities, Essayists often use anecdotes to support their opinions, or figures beyond themselves. The overall purpose of an clarify their ideas, get the reader’s attention, or entertain. allegory is to teach a moral lesson. Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Biographers often include anecdotes to illustrate points Progress is an allegory in which Vanity Fair represents the about their subjects. Boswell’s The Life of Samuel world and the Celestial City symbolizes heaven. Johnson contains an anecdote about the first time See pages 154, 533. Boswell was introduced to Johnson by Thomas Davies. See also SYMBOL. Antagonist A person or a force that opposes the pro- Alliteration The repetition of consonant sounds, gener- tagonist, or central character, in a story or drama. The ally at the beginnings of words. Alliteration can be used reader is generally meant not to sympathize with the to emphasize words, reinforce meaning, or create a musi- antagonist. In Beowulf, Grendel is an antagonist. cal effect. Note the repeated s and d sounds in the fol- See also CONFLICT, PROTAGONIST. lowing line from Hopkins’s “Pied Beauty”: With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim; Anthropomorphism The assignment of human charac- teristics to gods, animals, or inanimate objects. It is a key See pages 276, 800, 936. element in fables, where the main characters are often See also SOUND DEVICES. animals. The sheep in Janet Frame’s “Two Sheep” have Allusion A reference to a well-known character, place, or human characteristics. situation from history, music, art, or another work of literature. See page 1319. Discovering the meaning of an allusion can often be essential See also FABLE. to the understanding of a work. W. H. Auden alludes to the Greek myth of Icarus in his poem “Musée des Beaux Arts.” Aphorism A short, pointed statement that expresses a wise or clever observation about human experience, such See pages 520, 600, 733. as Pope’s saying from An Essay on Criticism: Ambiguity The state of having more than one mean- We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; ing. The richness of literary language lies in its ability to Our wiser sons, no doubt, will think us so. evoke multiple layers of meaning. See also EPIGRAM. See also CONNOTATION. Apostrophe A figure of speech in which a speaker Analogy A comparison that shows similarities between addresses an inanimate object, an idea, or an absent per- two things that are otherwise dissimilar. A writer may use son. In Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind,” an analogy to explain something unfamiliar by compar- the speaker addresses the wind. ing it to something familiar. Shakespeare pokes fun at See page 271. analogies in “Sonnet 130,” claiming, “My mistress’ eyes See also PERSONIFICATION. are nothing like the sun.” Archetype A symbol, a character, an image, or a story See also METAPHOR, SIMILE. pattern that recurs frequently in literature and evokes strong LITERARY TERMS HANDBOOK R1 R001-R019 EM-845482.indd 1 7/10/06 8:17:11 AM responses, often based on unconscious memory. The story following purposes: to persuade, to inform, to explain, of a hero who embarks on a dangerous quest is a recur- to entertain, or to describe. John Bunyan wrote The ring story in literature and film. Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain Pilgrim’s Progress to provide moral instruction. and the Green Knight embarks on an archetypal journey. See pages 154, 280, 288, 573, 609, 854, 1098. See pages 173, 205. See also DICTION, STYLE, THEME. See also SYMBOL. Autobiography The story of a person’s life written by Argument A type of persuasive writing in which logic that person. Autobiographies can give insights into the or reason is used to try to influence a reader’s ideas or author’s view of himself or herself and of the society in actions. In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary which he or she lived. The Book of Margery Kempe is the Wollstonecraft presents a powerful argument for the edu- autobiography of a medieval woman. cation of women. Argument can also refer to a prose See page 146. summary or synopsis of what is in a story or play. This See also BIOGRAPHY, DIARY, MEMOIR, NONFICTION. type of argument appears at the beginning of Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. LITERARY TERMSLITERARY HANDBOOK B See pages 124, 352, 425, 456, 603, 726, 1150. See also PERSUASION. Ballad A narrative song or poem. Folk ballads, which usually recount an exciting or dramatic episode, were Aside In a play, a character’s comment that is directed to passed down by word of mouth for generations before the audience or another character but is not heard by any being written down. Literary ballads are written in imita- other characters on the stage. Asides, which are rare in tion of folk ballads but have a known author. Coleridge’s modern drama, reveal what a character is thinking or feel- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a literary ballad. ing. An example occurs in Act 1, scene 4, of Shakespeare’s “Bonny Barbara Allan” is a folk ballad. Macbeth. See pages 208–209, 210, 827. King. My worthy Cawdor! See also FOLKLORE, NARRATIVE POETRY, ORAL TRADITION. Macbeth. [Aside.] The Prince of Cumberland! Ballad stanza A quatrain, or four-line stanza, in which That is a step the first and third lines have four stressed syllables, and On which I must fall down, or else o’erleap. the second and fourth lines have three stressed syllables. See also SOLILOQUY. Only the second and fourth lines rhyme. Although the basic foot in this stanza is the iamb (˘), there tend to be Assonance The repetition of the same or similar vowel many irregularities, as in this stanza from “Get Up and sounds in stressed syllables that end with different conso- Bar the Door.” nant sounds. For example, the long i sound is repeated in the opening line from Ben Jonson’s “On My First Son”: It fell about the Martinmas time, Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; . And a gay time it was then, See pages 931, 1201. When our goodwife got puddings to make, See also SOUND DEVICES. And she’s boiled them in the pan. Atmosphere The dominant emotional feeling of a See pages 210, 827. literary work that contributes to the mood. Orwell’s See also QUATRAIN, SCANSION. description of the natives’ dislike of him in “Shooting an Elephant” builds an atmosphere of suspense and Bias An inclination toward a certain opinion or position foreboding. on a topic, possibly stemming from prejudice. See page 316. See pages 1173, 1193. See also MOOD. See also NONFICTION. Author’s purpose An author’s intent in writing a liter- Biography An account of a person’s life written by ary work. Authors typically write for one or more of the someone other than the subject. Biographies have been R2 LITERARY TERMS HANDBOOK R001-R019 EM-845482.indd 2 7/10/06 8:17:36 AM written of many of the writers in this book. Boswell’s The eloquent language. Love is a popular theme. Herrick, TERMSLITERARY HANDBOOK Life of Samuel Johnson is a famous example. Suckling, and Lovelace were Cavalier poets. See page 660. See pages 452–453. See also AUTOBIOGRAPHY, DIARY, JOURNAL, MEMOIR. Character A person portrayed in a literary work. A main Blank verse Poetry or lines of dramatic verse written character is central to the story and is typically fully devel- in unrhymed iambic pentameter. Each line has five feet, oped. A minor character displays few personality traits with each foot made up of an unstressed syllable fol- and is used to help develop the story. Characters who lowed by a stressed syllable. Because blank verse may show varied and sometimes contradictory traits, such as attempt to imitate spoken English, every line need not be Rosemary in Katherine Mansfield’s “A Cup of Tea,” are perfectly regular. Most of Shakespeare’s characters speak called round. Characters who reveal only one personality in blank verse—as Macbeth does, for example, when he trait, such as the narrator’s mother in V. S. Naipaul’s “B. addresses the floating dagger in Act 2, scene 1: Wordsworth,” are called flat. A stereotype, or stock char- ˘ ˘ ˘ ˘ ˘ And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood, acter, is typically flat.