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Terms for subject Literature (1061 entries)

collection	The gathering together of the work of a single writer, usually a poet, and of a particular time period.
collective noun	A noun such as team or pair that technically is indicative of a collective group of individuals or individual items.
collocation	Words which are usually found together.
colloquialism	A word or phrase employed everyday in plain and relaxed speech, but rarely found in formal writing.
colonialism	The term refers to the habit of powerful civilizations to "colonize" less powerful ones. The process can take many forms, including a literal geographic occupation, outright enslavement.
comedy	A work which is principally designed to amuse and entertain, and where, despite problems during the narrative, all ends well for the characters.
comedy of manners	A type of drama where the social demeanour of a community is humorously depicted.
comedy of the absurd	Drama or performance which is satirical, ridiculous or a parady. Examples can be as diverse as A Midsummer night's dream, a Gilbert and Sullivan such as The Pirates of Penzance or even Monty Python's Flying Circus.
comic opera	An opera with a happy ending that contains spoken dialogue.
Coming of age story	A story with the central theme of growing up or making the transition from childhood to adulthood. It might contain a sexual / emotional awakening or some ritual or rite of passage.
commedia dell'arte	Developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Italy, it was a popular comedy which featured improvisation of standard plots and traditional costumes with masks.
commentary	A term which is often used in examinations or assessments. A commentary is a piece of writing where the candidate gives a close reading of a text, taking into account aspects of style, view point and content.
common meter	Often used in hymns, it is a style of stanza with four iambic lines and a regular rhyming scheme.
Commonwealth literature	Post-colonial literature from countries who are members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
comparative literature	An examination of similarities and differences in pieces of literature.
conceit	A metaphor, often extravagant or fantastic.
conflation	The blending or bringing together of two texts into a whole.
connotation	An indirect implication or suggestion from a word, or string of words, beyond the literal meaning.
consonance	Repetition of the same consonant sounds before and after a different vowel, e.g. clip-clop and leader loader louder. See inexact rhyme, alliteration, assonance.
consonant	Any letter of the alphabet that is not a vowel.