Literature and Writing: English Vocabulary List

(a book, play, text, etc.) made shorter than the original by omitting some details

"The audio is abridged."

"The audio book is abridged so some parts of the original story are missing."

(of a story, play, image, etc.) using characters or events in a symbolic sense that represent a concept, quality, etc.

"The story is allegorical."

"The story is allegorical and each character represents a different idea or concept."

a poem or other piece of writing in which certain letters of each line, usually the initial letters, spell out a word or phrase

"Write acrostic poem."

"Students learned how to write an acrostic poem using the letters of their own names yesterday."

humorous and poorly written poetry

"Bad doggerel poem."

"The poem was nothing but bad doggerel with poor rhyme and rhythm yesterday."

a song or poem expressing sadness, especially in the memory of a dead person or a bitter event in the past

"He wrote an elegy."

"The poet composed an elegy for his lost friend."

a Japanese poem with three unrhymed lines that have five, seven and five syllables each

"He wrote a haiku."

"A haiku traditionally consists of three lines with a syllable pattern of five"

a drawing, speech, or text aiming to criticize something or someone in a humorous manner

"Political lampoon published."

"The newspaper published a sharp political lampoon criticizing the government decision last week."

a lyric poem, written in varied or irregular metrical form, for a particular object, person, or concept

"She wrote an ode poem."

"The poet wrote a beautiful ode to celebrate the beauty of the natural world."

a piece of writing, music, etc. that imitates the style of someone else in a humorous way

"It is a funny parody."

"The comedy show performed a hilarious parody of a famous action movie that made the audience laugh for a long time."

a verse of Italian origin that has 14 lines, usually in an iambic pentameter and a prescribed rhyme scheme

"Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets about love"

"A sonnet is a short poem with fourteen lines and a specific rhyme scheme."

a person who writes pieces of poetry and stories

"The bard recited poems about ancient heroes."

"The bard traveled from town to town singing epic poems and telling stories of heroes and battles."

a series of lines in a poem, usually with recurring rhyme scheme and meter

"This stanza has four lines."

"Each stanza of the poem contains four lines with an alternating rhyme pattern."

any of the sections into which a long poem is divided

"Long canto describes."

"The long canto in the epic poem describes the hero's journey in detail."

an elaborate or far-fetched poetic image or comparison between very dissimilar things, used in literature

"The poem used a clever conceit."

"The poet's conceit compared the passing of time to a river that never stops flowing."

the continuation of a line of poetry into another couplet or stanza without a break

"Use enjambement technique."

"The poet likes to use enjambement to create flowing rhythm in his verses every time."

a section of additional material that is usually added at the end of a book

"Add contract addendum."

"The lawyer prepared an addendum to the contract to include new conditions last week."

villainous character who strongly opposes another person or thing

"The antagonist opposes the protagonist."

"An antagonist is the principal opponent of the protagonist"

a short promotional description of a book, motion picture, etc. published on the cover of a book or in an advertisement

"The blurb on the book cover was exciting."

"A blurb is a short promotional summary or excerpt of praise printed on a book jacket"

marks and notes written in the margins of a book or document

"Interesting marginalia in book."

"The old book had fascinating marginalia written by previous readers in the margins."

a list of technical terms or jargons of a particular field or text, provided in alphabetical order with an explanation for each one

"The glossary defines difficult words."

"The textbook includes a glossary at the end that explains all the difficult technical terms used in each chapter."

an error in a written or printed document

"Publish newspaper erratum."

"The newspaper had to publish an erratum to correct the mistake in yesterday's article immediately."

an ancient book, written by hand, especially of scriptures, classics, etc.

"A codex is an old handwritten book."

"The ancient codex was made of wooden pages covered with wax and bound together with leather straps to preserve important texts."

the greatest literary or artistic piece that an author or artist has created

"The novel was considered the author's magnum opus."

"The author considered his final novel to be his magnum opus the greatest achievement of his entire writing life."

a work of fiction with an intermediate length, which could be considered a short novel

"Short novella wrote."

"She wrote a beautiful short novella about love and loss during the war last year."

an apparent mistake or inconsistency in the narrative of a book, motion picture, etc.

"Big plot hole."

"The movie had a big plot hole that made the story confusing for many viewers last week."

the fact of having an excessive number of words that results in being tedious

"The prolixity of his speech made everyone in the room very sleepy."

"The audience grew restless because of the prolixity of the professor's two-hour lecture."

to use satire in order to criticize or ridicule a system, person, etc.

"The show satirizes modern politics cleverly."

"The popular television show often satirizes political figures and current events by exaggerating their flaws and making fun of them."

shocking or sensational, especially in a gruesome or vulgar way

"The story was lurid."

"The newspaper published a lurid account of the crime, focusing on sensational and gruesome details."

(of speech or writing) using a serious and elevated style that makes it tedious and complicated

"His writing is turgid."

"The professor's turgid prose made it difficult for the students to grasp the main concepts."

an absurd or comically exaggerated replication of a literary or dramatic work

"A burlesque of Hamlet."

"The burlesque show was full of humor"

a long poem in narrative form giving an account of the extraordinary deeds and adventures of a nation's heroes or legends

"He read an epic poem."

"The epic chronicled the heroic journey of the warrior king and his legendary companions."

a song, musical piece, poem, etc. that expresses the feeling of sorrow and sadness after a loss or death

"A lament for the dead."

"The mournful lament expressed the profound sorrow felt by the community after the tragedy."

any holy poem, song, or hymn, especially the ones in the Book of Psalms, used in Christian and Jewish worship

"Sing beautiful psalm."

"The choir sang a beautiful psalm during the religious ceremony yesterday morning."

bombastic or meaningless language

"His speech was full of rhetoric."

"The politician's promises were dismissed as mere rhetoric, lacking any concrete plans for action."

the systematic study of metrical structures and sounds in poetry

"Study poetic prosody."

"We study prosody to understand rhythm and sound patterns in poetry every week."

a separate part at the end of a book that gives further information

"The appendix was useful."

"The appendix gave extra tables and notes at the end of the report."

generally accepted rules or principles, especially those that are considered as fundamental in a field of art or philosophy

"The canon includes approved religious texts."

"The canon of classical literature includes works that are considered the most important from ancient Greece and Rome."

a subject, idea, or phrase that is repeatedly used in a literary work

"The motif appears many times."

"The recurring motif of darkness throughout the novel creates a mysterious atmosphere."

a brief section added at the end of a literary work, providing closure, commentary, or resolution

"The epilogue told what happened after the story ended."

"The epilogue of the book takes place ten years after the main story ends and shows what happened to all of the main characters."