Terminology : Artistic, Literary Terms
Allegory—A literary piece in narrative put in figurative language intended to point a moral e.g., Bunyan’s “Piligrim Progress.”
Alliteration—The repetition of the same initial letter in every succeeding word; as, “Full fathom five thy father lies” (Shakespeare; The Tempest)
Anthem—A national song.
Anti-climax—A sudden descent in thought and expression.
Aphorism—A maxim or a concise sentence containing precept of important truth.
Autobiography—An account of one’s life written by oneself.
Ballad—A short narrative poem, adopted for reciting and singing.
Ballet—A combination of four arts; dancing, music, painting and drama each of which is of equal importance.
Belles letters—Choicest literature.
Biography—The history or the life of a person written-by somebody other than by the person concerned himself.
Blue Books—British Parliamentary Reports.
Blank-Verse—Poem without rhyme.
Blue Stocking—A term used to describe a lady affecting literary tastes.
Burlesque—A literary composition tending to excite laughter by caricature or extravagant contrast.
Calligraphy—Beautiful writing.
Caricature—Representation of something in a ridiculous or exaggerated style, especially in Pictures.
Catastrophe—Denotes the last stage of a tragedy.
Classic—A work of the highest class or rank in literature or art.
Classicism—The term is characterized by a sense of form, balance and proportion. It looks to the Greek and Roman authors for inspiration.
Comedy—A play dealing with comic and happy side of life.
Cubism—It is a form of modern art introduced by Picasso, Spanish painter in which human being are presented in geometrical figures.
Dirge—A mourning song.
Elegy—A song of mourning, Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard” is an example of elegy.
Epic—A narrative poem of some heroic deed e.g., ‘The Paradise Lost’. ‘The Ramcharitmanas.’
Epigram—A short saying full of wit.
Epilogue—A poem of speech at the end of a play.
Esperanto—A universal language invented by Dr. Ludwig Zamenh of Warsaw in 1887. This speech is constructed from roots common to the chief European languages.
Euphemism—An affected style of writing.
Free Verse—Poem without regular metre and rhyme.
Farce—A dramatic work merely to arouse laughter.
Fresco Painting—A method of painting in water-colour laid on a wall or ceiling before the plaster is dry.
Green Room—The place where to the actors and actresses retire when off stage.
Hymn—Song in praise of God.
Hyperbole—A figure of speech in which things are spoken of exaggeratedly to produce literary effect.
Hieroglyphics—The earliest pictures of symbolic expressions and art supposed to have been introduced by the ancient Egyptians.
Idyll—A short poem describing some happy, simple, rural pastoral scenes.
Ikebana—Japanese style of flower arrangement.
Innuendo—An oblique expression hinting at something but not openly stating it.
Jingoism—Ostentatious way of expressing excessive patriotism.
Lampoon—A piece of satire against a person.
Lyric—Originally a poem that could be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre; but now it is used in a general sense meaning a poem embodying one united emotion of the poet.
Malapropism—Derives its name from a character of Mrs. Malaprop in Sheridan’s ‘Rivals’. She misused word which sounded alike.
Melody—Musical arrangement of words.
Melodrama—Sensational dramatic piece with violent appeals to emotions.
Metaphor—A figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two different objects by omitting words of comparison like ‘like’ ‘as’, “Life is a tale told by an idiot.”
Naturalism—Adherence to nature in art and literature.
Nome de plume (pen name)—An assumed name under which a person writes to hide his identity; e.g. Alpha of the Plough, the pen name of A.G. Gardiner.
Ode—Poem meant to be sung to the accompaniment of dance.
Orthography—Art of correct spelling.
Parody—Imitation in a humorous way of a poem or writing.
Philology—Science of languages.
Plagiarism—Act of stealing from the writings of others. Shakespeare is supposed to be one of the greatest plagiarists and yet he was the greatest original writer.
Poet Laureate—Poet of the Royal household, now spoken of a poet recognised officially as a national poet.
Pornography—Writing, painting or photography describing sex in such a manner as to arouse baser passions and excite impressionable minds.
Prosody—Science of versification.
Realism—A term used with reference to a form of literature depicting actual life and representing universal human passions.
Romance—A branch of literature in which element of wonder or imagination predominates.
Romanticism—The term is characterised by the qualities of remoteness, resolution, disillusionment, passion, divine unrest, melancholy, idealization and all embracing power of the imagination. It is suggestive of strangeness and adventure—never satisfied aspiration after the unknown or unattainable.
Renaissance—Revival of ancient art and learning in Europe in 15th century.
Satire—A composition written in satiric vein aiming at ridiculing and eliminating evil customs from the society or individuals.
Simile—Comparison bringing out similarity between two different things otherwise dissimilar.
Sonnet—A lyric poem of fourteen lines with particular rhyming scheme.
Spoonerism—Ludicrous involuntary transposition of sounds of spoken words such as “Snowing Leopard” for “Loving Shepherd”.
Stop Press—Refers to a special space provided in a newspaper for last minute news when it is just going to be printed.
Yellow Journalism—Any newspaper giving sensational news or features with lavish use of pictures or pseudo-scientific articles is said to be indulging “Yellow Journalism”.
0 Comments