Literary Glossary

A story or argument that brings folly to light through the use of sarcasm and wit.

The location of a story’s action.

A comparison of two seemingly dissimilar things using "like" or "as."

An account of a slave’s experience, usually told as a memoir, biography, or oral history.

A prominent playwright and poet (1564-1616) generally considered to be one of the finest contributors to literature in the English language.

Popularized by the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch, who established the custom of presenting a problem, situation, or incident in the octave, followed by a resolution in the sestet. In Petrarch's work, these were usually problems, situations, and incidents arising from his love for the unattainable Laura. When English poets began imitating Petrarch's sonnets in the early 16th century, they continued this thematic focus on the pleasures and frustrations of love. But English poets eventually developed a more flexible sonnet form which could be divided into octave and sestet, in the manner of Petrarch, or into three quatrain-length variations on a theme followed by an epigrammatic couplet. More information about the Petrarchan and English sonnet forms (and other varients) is provided in "Poetic Form: Sonnet" via the EDSITEment-reviewed Academy of American Poets.

For practice with the two popular forms, use the EDSITEment Parts of a Sonnet worksheet to test your knowledge [PDF - Acrobat reader required].

A literary technique in which the character’s thoughts are revealed in a free-associative manner intended to replicate as closely as possibly the free range of an individual’s thought process.