English ⇄ thesaurus

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Terms for subject Literature (1001 entries)

metanoia	, metanoia, changing (one's) mind	glassm­an
Thomas Stearns (TS Eliot) Eliot	- American poet and playwright (1888 -1965) He is considered by many as one of the most significant English-language poets of the twentieth centaury.
Second Vice President	2VP
Third Vice President	3VP
Golden Age of Greece	500 - 300 BC. A time known for its art, philosophy, architecture and literature.
Saul Bellow	A Canadian and American writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature (in 1976) and the Pulitzer prize.
Aristotle	A Greek philosopher who lived from 384 BC to 322 BC. Aristotle wrote on numerous subjects including poetry, physics, music, politics and biology. He was the student of Plato. Alongside Plato and Socrates, Aristotle is considered an important figure to the founding of Western knowledge.
haiku	A Japanese poem where the form consists of a single three-line stanza of seventeen syllables. The first line contains five syllables, the second contains seven, whilst the last has, again, five syllables. The short poem encapsulates the spirit of the poet's mood. Haikus often lose their meaning in translation.
carpe diem	A Latin term coined by the poet Horace, which means 'seize the day'. The phrase suggests that as life is short one must grasp present pleasures. This motif is used in literature, and was especially popular with the Elizabethan lyric poets.
revenge play	A Renaissance genre of drama, where the plot revolves around the protagonist's attempt to avenge a previous wrong, by killing the perpetrator of the deed. There is usually much bloodshed and violence. Shakespeare's Hamlet has been identified as a revenge play.
foot	A basic unit of meter, comprising of a set number of strong stresses and light stresses.
jig	A bawdy song and dance in Renaissance drama that was performed by a clown, or other actors, at the end of a play.
purgatory	A belief in a place where the souls of those dying in a state of sin may remain while being purged of sin. Now often used to signify a state of suffering.
Germanic	A branch of Indo-European languages.
eschatology	A branch of theology dealing with Judgement Day and the Second Coming.
pamphlet	A brief booklet, typically discussing an issue of the time and about which the writer feels strongly. In the past the benefit of a pamphlet was that it was fairly simple to generate: it was therefore particularly favoured by underground writers and revolutionaries as a mode of communication. Jonathan Swift’s A modest Proposal is a well-known example of a pamphlet.
fable	A brief narrative illustrating human tendencies through the depiction of animal characters. Unlike the parables, fables often feature talking animals or animated objects as the principal characters. The interaction of these animals or objects exposes truths about human nature.
lyric	A brief poem with repeating stanzas often set to music.
proverb	A brief, succinct, saying that sums up an extensively accepted truth, for instance 'too many cooks spoil the broth'.
invocation of the Muse	A call or request for inspiration from the nine Muses, usually at the beginning of works from the Greek or Roman tradition.