Na, akkor sokak kérésére (ez vonatkozik az elmúlt 10 évre, szóval erősen hiánypótló a dolog) némi irodami betekintés. Első körben persze csak egy kis fool-proof approach, hogy senkinek ne rontsuk el a gyomrát, de majd érkeznek a szépségek sorjában.

Ezzel egyidőben pedig, illetőleg mindezeket népszerűsítendő, ide kívánkozik az egyik legszebb Simon ans Garfunkel dal. Klikk ide.

Critical Terms

allegory: a type of narrative which makes literal sense in its own right but also has a double meaning.

alliteration: the repetition of consonants in words and phrases. Eg. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.

ambiguity: words, phrases or whole texts which have several or unclear meanings.

assonance:the repetition of vowel sounds in words and phrases. Eg. and howls and hollos long and loud.

blank verse: unrhymed poetry written in iambic pentameter.

chorus: a character or group in a play who comments on the action.

comedy: nowadays a work which makes us laugh but used to be a work with a happy ending.

compound words: double-barrelled words made by combining two existing, and often unrelated, words. They are often used to condense description. Eg. sea-dog, white-mossed, wool-clouds, ivy-mantled.

connotation: the suggestion or implication evoked by a word, phrase or statement.

couplet: two lines of poetry together. A rhyming couplet is two lines of poetry together which rhyme.

dialogue: two or more characters speaking to each other.

diction: the vocabulary chosen by a writer.

dramatic irony: the audience of a play is aware of facts that the character(s) are not.

first person: the use of ‘I’ in speech or writing.

form: the shape or pattern in which a poem is written.

free verse: poetry which seems to have no set pattern, stanzas or rhyme scheme.

hyperbole: huge exaggeration or overstatement.

iambic pentameter: a line of poetry made up of ten syllables with alternating light or heavy beats. Eg. Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?

imagery: writing that creates a picture in the mind, usually through the use of comparisons.

irony: saying one thing but meaning the opposite.

juxtaposition:putting two things side by side in order to show a relationship between them.

metaphor: a comparison that says one thing is another thing. Eg. The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas.

metre: a regular rhythm in verse; the measurement of poetry.

mood: the overall feeling generated by a written or spoken piece.

narrative: a story: it can be a novel, short story, poem or spoken.

onomatopoeia: words which describe sounds and also sound like that which they describe. Eg. splash, screech, crash, howl. KLIKK IDE!


oxymoron: the linking together of contradictory or opposite words. Eg. bitter-sweet, mute music.

paradox: the joining together of ideas or concepts which appear to be contradictory but actually make sense in another way.

parody: the style of an author or work is imitated and either matched to a trivial subject or exaggerated for comic purposes.

personification: objects are given human characteristics. Eg. Old Father Time, the wind moaned, England mourns for her dead, the walls have ears.

prose: a piece of continuous writing which is not verse or dialogue.

protagonist: the leading character in a play or novel.

pun: a play on words which sound the same or similar which is usually used for comic effect.

quatrain: four lines of poetry.

rhyme scheme: the distinctive pattern of rhyme in a poem.

rhythm: the movement of language in speech, verse or prose, often with a regular beat.

satire: a work attacks or criticises something by holding it to ridicule.

simile: a comparison which use the words like or as. Eg. He ran like the wind.

sonnet: a poem of fourteen lines written in iambic pentameter

stanza: sections of poetry comprising a group of verse lines.

symbolism: objects which are used to represent something else. Eg. a flag symbolizes its country; in his poem ‘Time’, Shelley uses the sea to represent time.

theme: the central idea or message the writer is trying to put across.

tone: see mood.

tragedy: a work with an unhappy ending. It must be serious and often shows the downfall of a great character.

tragic hero: a protagonist who begins as a great character and is destroyed by a combination of a fatal flaw in his character and the workings of fate.