From the author team of the discipline's most widely used literature anthology, this accessible and instructive guide introduces students to the language of literary study. Featuring an engaging and accessible writing style, this supplemental reference manual for the introductory student has over 400 entries and serves to demystify literature and the terms, techniques, and analysis tools that literary scholars use. NEW TO THIS EDITION: Over 25 additional entries, covering more contemporary terms (blogging, etc). Selected illustrations throughout.

A New Handbook of Literary Terms offers a lively, informative guide to words and concepts that every student of literature needs to know. Mikics’s definitions are essayistic, witty, learned, and always a pleasure to read. They sketch the derivation and history of each term, including especially lucid explanations of verse forms and providing a firm sense of literary periods and movements from classicism to postmodernism. The Handbook also supplies a helpful map to the intricate and at times confusing terrain of literary theory at the beginning of the twenty-first century: the author has designated a series of terms, from New Criticism to queer theory, that serves as a concise but thorough introduction to recent developments in literary study. Mikics’s Handbook is ideal for classroom use at all levels, from freshman to graduate. Instructors can assign individual entries, many of which are well-shaped essays in their own right. Useful bibliographical suggestions are given at the end of most entries. The Handbook’s enjoyable style and thoughtful perspective will encourage students to browse and learn more. Every reader of literature will want to own this compact, delightfully written guide.

An essential handbook for literary studies The Princeton Handbook of Poetic Terms—drawn from the latest edition of the acclaimed Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics—provides an authoritative guide to the most important terms in the study of poetry and literature. Featuring 226 fully revised and updated entries, including 100 that are new to this edition, the book offers clear and insightful definitions and discussions of critical concepts, genres, forms, movements, and poetic elements, followed by invaluable, up-to-date bibliographies that guide users to further reading and research. Because the entries are carefully selected and adapted from the Princeton Encyclopedia, the Handbook has unrivalled breadth and depth for a book of its kind, in a convenient, portable size. Fully indexed for the first time and complete with an introduction by the editors, this is an essential volume for all literature students, teachers, and researchers, as well as other readers and writers. Drawn from the latest edition of the acclaimed Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics Provides 226 fully updated and authoritative entries, including 100 new to this edition, written by an international team of leading scholars Features entries on critical concepts (canon, mimesis, prosody, syntax); genres, forms, and movements (ballad, blank verse, confessional poetry, ode); and terms (apostrophe, hypotaxis and parataxis, meter, tone) Includes an introduction, bibliographies, cross-references, and a full index

Literary terms are the building blocks of literature. Give students a firm grasp of them with this well thought out handbook that features an in-depth look at 29 literary terms. Each lesson follows an easy-to-use format: a definition of the term is followed by a discussion using two excellent examples in prose or poetry. Questions promote and ensure understanding. A writing exercise for each term provides an opportunity for application. Gives students the knowledge and experience to interpret literature with confidence Grades 9-12. Meets National Council of Teachers of English/International Reading Association Standards for the English Language Arts. 58 Pages of Activity Sheets Complete Answer Key Complete definition, description, examples, and exercises for the following literary terms: Allegory Alliteration Allusion Analogy Assonance Atmosphere Ballad Characterization Couplet Figurative Language Foreshadowing Imagery Inversion Irony Metaphor Meter Onomatopoeia Personification Plot (Exposition, Conflict, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution) Point of View Refrain Rhyme Rhythm Simile Sonnet Style Symbolism Theme Tone

The much-anticipated second edition of The Book of Literary Terms features new examples and terms to enhance Turco’s classic guide that students and scholars have relied on over the years as a definitive resource for the definitions of the major terms, forms, and styles of literature. Chapters covering fiction, drama, nonfiction, and literary criticism and scholarship offer readers a comprehensive guide to all forms of prose and their many sub-genres. From “Utopian novel,” “videotape,” and “yellow journalism” to “kabuki play,” “Personalism,” and “Poststructuralism,” this book is a valuable reference offering an extensive world of knowledge. Every teacher, student, critic, and general lover of literature should be sure to add The Book of Literary Terms to their library.