What is Metaphor One of the best ways to understand the nature of something is to compare it against something else whose attributes are known. Authors frequently use comparisons in their writing to help to express what they mean in terms...
What is Irony Irony is a tough concept for many students of literature to understand. This is partly because the definition of what is and what is not ironic has been clouded by incorrect usage of the term over the years....
What is Imagery How boring would writing be without descriptive phrases and adjectives? Sentences would be reduced to reading like elementary school primers. Authors make their works more interesting and vivid by using descriptive terms and phrases to enhance their prose...
What is Idiom So what does idiom mean? Idiom is an expression peculiar to a particular language and culture. If the expression translated literally, the meaning is distorted or completely lost. As idioms are used quite often, some companies produce dictionaries...
What is Grotesque How to define grotesque in literature? Grotesque is a mean of artistic expressiveness, which unites the simple and the complex, the high and the low, the comic and the tragic in a bizarre, stunning the imagination way. The...
What is Genre? According to the specifics of the content and forms of depicting, artistic works are divided into five genres – prose, poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction. The first attempts to comprehend literary genres date back to the antiquity. Types...
What is Hyperbole So what does hyperbole mean? The hyperbole is perhaps one of the most widely recognized forms of figurative language and one that permeates everyday life through the advertising and entertainment industries. Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration for...
Free Verse Poem Definition and Meaning It’s not difficult to define free verse as it has some specific features. The free verse is partially or completely devoid of structure: stanza, rhyme, rhythm. However, it contains the characteristics of the poem: phrases...
What is Fable? There are a lot of different genres and one of them is fable. So what does fable mean? Fable story as a genre of literature is based on folklore traditions. It combines signs of a fairy tale about...
What is Drama What is the meaning of drama in literature? Drama is a literature genre which combines epic and lyric ways of depicting. The basis of the dramatic work is a conflict, its content is revealed through the play of...