Basic Literary Terms - II

Georgian:

          It is applied to the reigns of the four successive Georges (1714-1830) and to the reign of George V (1910-1936).

Graveyard poets: 

         A term applied to eighteenth century poets who wrote meditative poems, usually set in a graveyard, on the theme of human mortality and in moods which range from elegiac pensiveness to profound gloom.

Hyperbole: 

          The figure of speech called hyperbole is bold overstatement, or extravagant exaggeration of fact, used either for serious or comic effect.

Imagery:

          It applies range all the way from the “mental pictures” which, it is claimed, are experienced by the reader of a poem, to the totality of the elements which make up a poem.

Intentional Fallacy:

          It identifies what is held to be the error of interpreting or evaluating a work by reference to the intention-the design or plan-of the author in writing the work.

Jacobean Age: 

          The reign of James I 1603-1625, this followed the Elizabethan age. This was the period in prose writings of Bacon, Donne’s sermons, Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy and the King James translation of Bible.

Lai: 

          It is a term applied to a variety of poems by medieval French writers in the latter 12^th and 13^th centuries.

Light Verse:

          It uses the ordinary speaking voice and a relaxed manner to treat its subjects gaily, or comically, or whimsically, or with good natured satire.