Literary Terms 1
An exaggerated description of a lover's physical features and attributes.
What is blazon?
A genre focusing on rural living, shepherds, and an idealized countryside.
What is pastoral?
A poem about loss, often honoring the dead.
What is an elegy?
An Old English epic about a young warrior rescuing a mead hall from a creature named Grendel.
What is Beowulf?
A play about young, forbidden love set in Verona, Italy.
What is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare?
A long narrative poem often focusing on the creation of nations and long journeys.
What is an epic?
A specific poetry genre where the author compliments a friend or patron by describing their house/estate.
What is a country house poem?
A compound phrase used to replace a simple noun.
EX: Swan-road = Sea
What is a kenning?
A collection of sonnets about a distant lover and unattainable relationships. Written by Italian poet Francesco Petrarch.
What is Il Canzionere?
A religious epic recounting the fall of Adam and Eve and their banishment from Eden.
What is Paradise Lost by John Milton?
A 14-line poem that can either be Petrarchan or Shakespearean (or Spenserian).
What is a sonnet?
A book often kept by early modern individuals to memorialize quotes, ideas, and anecdotes.
What is a commonplace book?
When a poem or story starts in the middle of an event occurring. Hint: Latin for "in the middle of things"
What is "in medias res?"
One of the Breton Lays by Marie de France. A knight of the Round Table falls in love with a fairy lady.
What is Lanval?
Name a poem by John Donne. These poems typically contain metaphysical conceits and closer, more intimate romantic relationships.
What is "The Flea," "A Valediction," "The Sun Rising," "The Holy Sonnets," "Meditations," etc.
When an author calls on a divine being to provide inspiration for writing. Typically at the beginning of an epic poem.
What is invocation to the muse?
An extended metaphor that uses intellectual concepts and complicated images to compare very different things. Donne employs this in "The Flea."
What is a metaphysical conceit?
A fictional narrative that conveys meaning through symbols or symbolic characters.
EX: In Narnia, Aslan is a [blank] of Christ.
What is an allegory?
A collection of tales following a pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral, the murder site of Thomas Beckett.
What is The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer?
A satirical essay offering a solution to the wealth and class disparity in 18th-century Ireland.
What is "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift?
A genre where the author intends to expose corruption or foolish behavior through censure and insult.
What is satire?
A poem written about the early morning, often welcoming or lamenting its arrival.
What is an aubade?
A detailed poetic comparison maintained over many lines. Typical in epic poetry.
EX: Error's death in The Faerie Queene representing anti-sacramental sentiment.
What is an epic simile?
An essay on the importance of poetry and the connection between writing and divinity.
What is The Defense of Poesy by Philip Sidney?
A country house poem about Philip Sidney's ancestral estate. I can't say the name of the state because that's the name of the poem :(
What is "To Penshurst" by Ben Jonson?