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ACTION:The events in a literary work. Action should not be confused with the more comprehensive term, PLOT. The

action in Hamlet, for example, simply beins with the uards! visitation by the "host and ends with the carryin out of the

dead Hamlet.

ALLEGORY:A literary work where the #$TT%&", 'HA(A'T$(# or A'T%O& make sense on a literal level, but also

convey an abstract level of meanin, which is usually reliious or political in nature. )nlike *$TAPHO(# and

#+*OL#, an alleorical settin, character or action is one-dimensional it stands for only one thin. Parables, fables and

satires are all forms of alleory. /or example, the 'HA(A'T$( 'hristian in 0ohn unyan!s alleory Pilrim!s

Proress stands for the human soul1 the animals in Aesop!s fables stand for moral virtues and vices such as persistence and

reed1 and the animals in "eore Orwell!s satiric novel Animal /arm stand for political ideoloies.

ALLUSION:A brief reference in a literary work to a person, place, thin or passae in another literary work, usually forthe purpose of associatin the TO&$ or TH$*$ of the one work with the other. The many allusions in T.#. $liot!s

poem The 2asteland, for example, refer to the ible and *ilton!s Paradise Lost.

CHARACTER, CHARACTERIZATION:A character is a person 3or, in the case of such works as Aesop!s fables, a non-

human with a human personality4 in a literary work. 'haracter can also refer to the particular, uni5ue traits of a person in a

literary work. 'haracteri6ation is the way in which an author presents and defines characters. A 7flat character7 is one who

is minimally described, stereotypical or who has only one purpose 3e.., your basic blood-suckin 'ount 8racula4, while a

7round character7 is one who is presented in reater depth and detail 3e.., the troubled, sympathetic rad Pitt vampire in

Anne (ice!s %nterview with the 9ampire41 a character who does not undero any chane is called a 7static character7 3e..,

Tiny Tim in 'harles 8ickens! 7A 'hristmas 'arol74, while a character who underoes some sort of trans-formation is called

a 7dynamic character7 3e.., #crooe in the same work4.

CONFLICT:The strule between opposin forces--e.., 'HA(A'T$(#, nations or ideas--that provides the centralA'T%O& and interest in any literary PLOT. The strule between the 'apulet and *ontaue families in (omeo and

0uliet is a classic example of conflict.

CONTEXT:Anythin beyond the specific words of a literary work that may be relevant to understandin the meanin.

'ontexts may be economic, social, cultural, historical, literary, bioraphical, etc. The political context of the rule of

$li6abeth and 0ames, the reliious context of 'alivinism, the social context of homosexual relations and cross-dressin and

the literary context of (enaissance literature, for example, all have sinificant implications for understandin the words of

#hakespeare.

FORM:The external appearance or structure of a literary work. An example of a literary work in short story form is

&athanial Hawthorne!s 7+oun "oodman rown71 ballads, sonnets, sestinas and haikus are examples of poetic forms.

IMAGERY:The use of pictures, description, or fiures of speech such as #%*%L$# and *$TAPHO(# to visuali6e amood, idea or 'HA(A'T$(. %maery may involve all the senses, but usually involves the sense of siht. The imaery of

2illiam 'arlos 2illiams! poetry, for example, tends to involve the appearances of everyday, ordinary ob:ects like a 7red

wheel ; barrow ; la6ed with rain ; water . . . .7

INTERPRETATION:The eneral explanation of the meanin of a literary work. %nterpretation may take into account any

of the other terms in this lossary, especially TH$*$. 2hen applied to poetry, interpretation may also be called

7explication.7 The most familiar example of interpretation is literary criticism.

IRONY:An intentional contradiction between what somethin appears to mean and what it really means. %rony is normally

conveyed throuh contradictions between either what is said and what is meant or appearance and reality. There are many

forms of irony1 verbal irony, the most familiar form, involves speakin words which say somethin 5uite unlike what is

meant 3e.., % :ust loveto write papers4.

METAPHOR:A comparison of two different thins which states that the two are actually the same thin, often throuh a

form of the verb 7to be.7 The metaphor 7lack Poets ; Are ; The Trumpets of lack 2arriors,7 for example, is used by

$theride

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