Comprising some 4000 terms, defined and illustrated, "Gradus" calls upon the resources of linguistics, poetics, semiotics, socio-criticism, rhetoric, pragmatics, combining them in ways which enable readers quickly to comprehend the codes and conventions which together make up 'literarity.'

The best-selling Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (formerly the Concise dictionary) provides clear, concise, and often witty definitions of the most troublesome literary terms from abjection to zeugma. It is an essential reference tool for students of literature in any language. It is now available in a new and expanded edition and includes increased coverage of new terms from modern critical and theoretical movements, such as feminism, and schools of American poetry, Spanish verse forms, life writing, and crime fiction. It includes extensive coverage of traditional drama, versification, rhetoric, and literary history, as well as updated and extended advice on recommended further reading and a pronunciation guide to more than 200 terms. New to this edition are recommended entry-level web links updated via the Dictionary of Literary Terms companion website.

This book, first published in 1987, differs from many other ‘dictionaries of criticism’ in concentrating less on time-honoured rhetorical terms and more on conceptually flexible, powerful terms. Each entry consists of not simply a dictionary definition but an essay exploring the history and full significance of the term, and its possibilities in critical discourse. This title is an ideal basic reference text for literature students of all levels.

The Dictionary of Arabic Literary Terms covers the most important literary terms relevant to classical and modern Arabic literature. Its 300+ entries include technical terms and rhetorical devices, themes and motifs, concepts, historical eras, literary schools and movements, forms and genres, figures and institutions. Defining terms such as 'root-play', highlighting schools such as the Mahjar poets, and exploring concepts such as 'imaginary evocation', the dictionary introduces its readers to the specificities of the Arabic literary tradition. The dictionary is intended to meet the needs of the growing number of students studying Arabic in the English-speaking world, whose studies include Arabic literature from an early stage. This reference resource equips them to understand the nuances and complexities of the texts they encounter. It is an invaluable reference work for students of Arabic literature.

This Glossary was written as a companion volume to Anderson's Ancient Rhetorical Theory and Paul. It is of course far more than a glossary in the strict sense of that word, providing the reader with a brief overview of the varied use of a given term in the works of the rhetorical theorists from Anaximenes (end of the 4th century BC) through to Quintilian (end of the first century AD). For this time period an attempt has been made to provide the reader with an exhaustive list of referencess to the primary texts. The Glossary is primarily intended as an aid to those attempting to use and apply Greek rhetorical methods of argumentation (excluding the theoretical stasis terminology), figures and tropes to literature of the Hellenistic and early Imperial period. That is, however, not to say that use of this glossary may not be handy for those wishing to utilise later sources. Whilst the Glossary also includes reference to later sources where these illuminate concepts functioning within the target period, the use of this work in conjunction with the reading of late rhetorical sources should aid the reader in determining where theoretical or terminological development is taking place, and where the sources are clearly relying upon traditional concepts. The Glossary is not intended to replace the study of primary rhetorical texts, but to facilitate this study by providing a brief overview and by pointing the reader to appropriate passages in various works which may then be further consulted.

Essential Literary Terms offers clear, concise definitions over 220 must-know literary terms for introductory students.