英美文学名词解释.pdfVIP

Literary terms for Semester II 1. APOSTROPHE A figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something nonhuman is addressed directly. George Gordon, Lord Byron uses apostrophe in Childe Harolds Pilgrimage when he addresses the ocean: Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean-roll! 2. CARICATURE The use of exaggeration or distortion to make figure appear comic or ridiculous. A physical characteristic, an eccentricity, a personality trait, or an act may be exaggerated. Thomas Gradgrind, in Charles Dickens Hard Times, is such figure. 3. DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE A kind of narrative poem in which one character speaks to one or more listeners whose replies are not given in the poem. The occasion is usually a crucial one in the speakers life, and the dramatic monologue reveals the speakers personality as well as the incident that is the subject of the poem. An example of a dramatic monologue is My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. 4. EPIPHANY A moment of illumination, usually occurring at or near the end of -work. In James Joyces story Araby , the epiphany occurs when the narrator realizes, with sudden clarity, that his dream of visiting the splendid baz r has resulted only in frustration and disillusion. 5. FLASHBACK A scene in short story, novel, play, or narrative poem that interrupts the action to show an event that happened earlier. Most narratives present events in chronological order —that is, as they occur in time. Sometimes, however, writer interrupts this natural sequence of events and flashes back to tell the reader what happened earlier in the story or in a characters life. Often a flashback takes the form of a characters recollection. 6. FORESHADOWING The use of hints or clues in a narrative to sugg