HEROIC COUPLET:
Iambic pentameter lines rhymed in pairs, usually end-stopped in the neoclassic
period; couplet forms a stanza; marked use of caesura; highly grammatical structure
(symmetry and antithesis); Alexandrine (six iambic feet, often the third line
rhymed with heroic couplet (tercet).
PERIPHRASIS:
An indirect, abstract, roundabout method of stating ideas; the application to
writing of the, old conviction that "the longest way round" is the "'shortest
way home." A circumlocution (e.g., finny tribe = fish).
SATIRE:
Satire comes from the Latin satura, which means full, a mixture full of
different things. It ridicules things an author disapproves of. The ridicule can
assume a wide range of tone--from caustic (Juvenalian) to light, playful
teasing and mockery (Horatian). While the emphasis of satire is on follies,
vice, weakness, abuses, and deviations, there is always some standard of normality
present. The contrast of such values is what makes satire; its central focus is
the target vs. the norm (standard). The standard may only be implicit.
In its selection of targets and norms, the satiric ranges from poles of topicality
and universality. The speaker is not necessarily to be identified with the author
of the satire. He can be; however, the speaker can be a fictional character represented
dramatically. The speaker either can be the spokesman of the norm, or can be possessed
with qualities of the target. Most satires have an identifiable dramatic speaker.
WIT:
Quickness and liveliness of mind, inventiveness, a readiness to perceive resemblances
between things apparently unlike--and so to enliven literary discourse with appropriate
images, similes, and metaphors. Often associated with fancy or imagination, wit
was thought to be irregular and extravagant unless curbed and disciplined by judgment.
An excess of imagination was considered dangerous to sanity and in literature
to lead away from nature. Dryden called for a reasonable and decorous wit. He
believed that the only literature that is true is that which remains true to universal
human experience, and for it to do so, wayward wit or fancy must be firmly guided.