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UNIT 1 - LITERARY TERMS Click here for the Terms Worksheet
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Drama - Comedy, Romantic Comedy, Tragedy, Tragicomedy, Playwright, Closet drama
Fiction - Novel, Novella, Short Story
Poetry - Epic Poetry, Dramatic Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Satire
Advanced Additional Terms
Drama - High Comedy, Low Comedy, Farce, Comedy of Manners, Stock Characters, Classic Tragedy, Revenge
Tragedy, Domestic Tragedy, Theatre of the Absurd
Fiction - Bildungsroman, Historical Novel, Epistolary Novel
Poetry - Dramatic Monologue, Epigram
DRAMA
Drama - Literary work with dialogue written in verse and/or prose and spoken by actors playing characters
experiencing conflict and tension. The English word drama comes from the Greek word "dran," meaning "to do."
Comedy - (Stage) Play with a happy ending. The stage comedies in ancient and Renaissance times did not
always contain humor, the staple of the modern stage and film comedy, but they did end happily. By contrast, a
stage tragedy always ends unhappily.
Tragedy - dramatic genre that presents the heroic or moral struggle of an individual, culminating in his or her ultimate
Romantic Comedy - a humorous movie, play, or novel about a love story that ends happily for the protagonist.
defeat.
Tragicomedy - drama that contains elements of tragedy and comedy, which reach a tragic climax but then
lighten to a happy conclusion.
Playwright - A writer of plays
Closet Drama - A drama written to be read rather than acted on a stage. An example is Samson Agonistes, by
John Milton, a 1671 tragedy about the final days of the biblical hero Samson.
High Comedy - Comedy that relies on wit and subtle irony or sarcasm. High comedy usually focuses on the everyday
Low Comedy - Comedy that relies on slapstick and horseplay. It often focuses on the everyday life of lower
life of upper classes. It is generally verbal rather than physical.
classes. Low comedy is generally physical rather than verbal.
Farce - Type of comedy that relies on exaggeration, horseplay, and unrealistic or improbable situations to
provoke laughter. In a farce, plotting takes precedence over characterization.
Comedy of Manners - Comedy that ridicules the manners (way of life, social customs, etc.) of a certain segment
of society. An example is Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer in which Goldsmith pokes fun at the English
upper class. The play uses farce (including many mix-ups) to ridicule the class-consciousness of 18th Century
Englishmen.

2. Stock Characters - (stereotype) - Character in a literary work or film who thinks or acts according to certain
unvarying patterns simply because of his or her racial, ethnic, religious, or social background. A stereotype is
usually an image that society projects or imposes on every member of a group as a result of prejudice or faulty
information. Examples of stereotypes are the Irish drunk, the Italian mobster, the dishonest car salesman, the
plain-Jane librarian, the shyster lawyer, the Machiavellian politician, and the dumb blonde.
Classic Tragedy (Greek) - Verse drama written in elevated language in which a noble protagonist falls to ruin
during a struggle caused by a flaw in his character or an error in his rulings or judgments. Following are the
characteristics of a Sophocles tragedy: (1) It is based on events that already took place and with which the
audience is familiar. (2) The protagonist is a person of noble stature. (3) The protagonist has a weakness and,
because of it, becomes isolated and suffers a downfall. (4) Because the protagonist's fall is not entirely his or her
own fault, the audience may end up pitying him or her. (5) The fallen protagonist gains self-knowledge. He has a
deeper insight into himself and understands his weakness. (6) The audience undergoes catharsis, a purging of
emotions, after experiencing pity, fear, shock and other strong feelings. The people go away feeling better. (7)
The drama usually unfolds in one place in a short period of time, usually about a day.
Revenge Tragedy - form of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama in which revenge provides the mainspring of the
action. It is usually characterized by bloody deeds, intrigue, and high melodrama. Revenge tragedy was
pioneered by English dramatist Thomas Kyd with The Spanish Tragedy (1589?); other playwrights who used
the form are William Shakespeare in Titus Andronicus (1594?) and Cyril Tourneur in The Revenger's Tragedy
(1607). Its influence is also apparent in tragedies such as Shakespeare's Hamlet (1601?) and Macbeth (1606?).
Domestic Tragedy - a play in which the tragic protagonists are ordinary middle-class or lower-class individuals.
Theatre of the Absurd - term used to identify a body of plays written primarily in France from the mid-1940s
through the 1950s. These works usually employ illogical situations, unconventional dialogue, and minimal plots
to express the apparent absurdity of human existence. French thinkers such as Albert Camus and Jean Paul
Sartre used the term absurd in the 1940s in recognition of their inability to find any rational explanation for
human life. The term described what they understood as the fundamentally meaningless situation of humans in
a confusing, hostile, and indifferent world.
FICTION
Fiction - literary works of imagination: novels and stories that describe imaginary people and events
Novel - long work of written fiction. Most novels involve many characters and tell a complex story by placing the
characters in a number of different situations. Because novels are long—generally 200 pages or more—
novelists can tell more richly detailed tales than can authors of briefer literary forms such as the short story.
Novella - a fictional prose work that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel
Short Story - fictional work depicting one character’s inner conflict or conflict with others, usually having one
thematic focus. Short stories generally produce a single, focused emotional and intellectual response in the
reader.
Bildungsroman - novel about somebody's important and influential years: a novel about the early years of
somebody's life, exploring the development of his or her character and personality
Historical Novel - Work of fiction centered around a real world event.
Epistolary Novel - a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters although diary entries,
newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used.

3. POETRY
Poetry - form of literature, spoken or written, that emphasizes rhythm, other intricate patterns of sound and
imagery, and the many possible ways that words can suggest meaning. The word itself derives from a Greek
word, poesis, meaning “making” or “creating.” Whereas ordinary speech and writing, called prose, are organized
in sentences and paragraphs, poetry in its simplest definition is organized in units called lines as well as in
sentences, and often in stanzas, which are the paragraphs of poetry.
Epic Poetry - Long poem in a lofty style about the exploits of heroic figures. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, as well
as the Old English poem Beowulf, are examples of epics.
Dramatic Poetry - in which the writer creates the voice of an invented character or characters.
Lyric Poetry - the most varied and widespread kind, is that in which an individual speaker expresses what he or
she feels, perceives, and thinks.
Satire - in literature, prose or verse that employs wit in the form of irony, innuendo, or ridicule to expose human
wickedness and folly.
Dramatic Monologue - a poem that is spoken by a FICTIONAL NARRATOR who is clearly different from the
author in age, situation, or gender. It is set at some significant point in the speaker's life, and it is often
addressed to another character, whose presence is implied by what the speaker says. The major purpose of a
dramatic monologue is for the speaker to reveal, often unwittingly, significant aspects of his or her qualities,
values, and experiences, which are inferred by the reader.
Epigram - in literature, a terse, pointed, frequently witty observation, often in verse. Ancient Greek epigrams
were inscriptions on tombs or statues.