Literary Terms That Begin With "H"

Hendecasyllabic Verse

eleven syllable verse.

Hypallage

epithet is moved from the proximate ti the less proximate of a group of nouns.

Howler

error in innocence ending with embarrassment.

Hyperbole

exaggeration.

Humanism

exalts the human element as opposed to supernatural/divine.

Hapax Legomenon

form or word that occurs only once.

Hamartia

fortune of hero are reversed.

Heroic Quatrain

four lines of iambic pentameter rhyming abab.

House Style

general writing/printing belonging to a publisher.

Hemistich

half-line.

Heterostrophic

having 2 different metrical systems

Heaping Figure

heaping up of epithets, as in Joyce's Ulysses: "a broad shouldered deep chested strong limbed frank eyed red haired freely freckled shaggy bearded widemouthed large nosed long headed deep voiced bare kneed brawny handed hairy legged ruddy faced sinewy-armed hero."

Humoresque

humorous piece.

Heroic Couplet

iambic pentameter lines rhymed in pairs.

Heroic Line

iambic pentameter used in epic or heroic poetry.

Hermeticism

idea of pure expressiveness.

Half Rhyme

imperfect rhyme. Result of consonance.

Homeric

indicative or similar to Homer.

Hedge Club

informal group of transcendentalists living in Boston.

Hermeneutics

interpretation of religious texts, now theory of interpretation.

Hypergraphia

irresistible or uncontrollable urge to write.

Headline

large title in newspaper.

Homodyne

lexical and rhythmic units coincide.

Heterodyne

lexical units and rhyme do not combine.

Hexameter

line of 6 feet.

Hypercatalectic

line with extra syllable at the end.

Heroic Drama

major characters undergo many trials and tribulations, but save the day or overcome obstacles in the end.

Hoax

mischievous trickery to expose folly.

Heteroglossia

more than one voice in a given work.

Hermogenism

no essential connection between signified and signifier.

Headnote

note placed at the top of a page.

Hollywood Novel

novel in Hollywood or about the film industry

Historical Novel

novel that reconstructs a past age.

Hornpipe

obsolete wind instrument.

Homeoarchy

occurrence of the same or similar unstressed syllables preceding rhyming stressed syllables.

Hudibrastic Verse

octosyllabic couplet.

Heterosis

one form of a word is substituted by another.

Heteromerous Rhyme

one word rhymes with two other words.

Homily

oral religious instruction.

Handbook

originally small book, now manual.

Hiatus

pause or break between two vowel sounds.

Headliner

performer whose name is listed as a part of a headline on a bill.

Harlequinade

play featuring buffoon.

Heroic Verse

poetry composed of heroic couplets.

Homeric Eptithet

preceding phrase that is always used when word is mentioned.

Hubris

pride.

Hieratic Style

priestly.

Hornbook

primer common in 15-16 cent England.

High Comedy

pure and serious comedy.

Hermeneutic Circle

reader cannot understand anything of a text until it is fully understood.

Hymn

religious emotion poem sung by a chorus.

Hyperbaton

reordering of a sentence.

Harlem Renissance

roaring twenties cultural movement based on African American heritage.

Hieronymy

sacred naming to things.

Haplology

same as Haplography.

Homeoteleuton

same or similar ending words together.

Horation Satire

satire in which voice is indulgent, tolerant, amused and witty.

Homeoptoton

series of words in the same grammatical form.

Historical Fiction

setting not in the time it was written,

Heptastich

seven lined stanza.

Horation Ode

single stanzaic form of poetry.

Hexapla

sixfold text arranged in parallel columns for comparison.

Historical Criticism

social, cultural and historical bg of a work.

Holograph

something completely handwritten by the author.

Hexastich

stanza of 6 lines.

Habbie

stanzas used in Scottish poetry.

Homostrophic

structurally identical strophes.

Higher Criticism

study of biblical texts in the 19th cent.

Hymnody

study of hymns.

Heopeoia

sums up several qualities of an entity.

House

theatre or playhouse.

Humours

theory of four main body liquids.

Head

top of sheet, leaf page.

Hobson-Jobson

transporting something foreign into a native article.

Hommage

tribute.

Hovering Stress

two adjacent syllables sharing the Ictus.

Hendiadys

two apparent separate ideas combined.

Headless Line

unstressed syllable being dropped.

Harangue

vehement speech designed to arouse strong emotion.

Heteronym

word spelled just like another but meaning and sounding different.

Hagiography

writing about saints.

Haplography

writing something once when it should be written twice.

Humor

1/2 major types of writing that invoke laughter.

New Humanism

1910-1930 movement in US>

Haiku

5, 7, 5 syllables. Spiritual insight.

Heptameter

7 foot line.

Heroic Stanza

= heroic quatrain

Hebraism

The attitude that subordinates all other ideals to those of obedient conduct and ethical purpose.

Hegelianism

The monist, idealist philosophy of Hegel in which the dialectic of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis is used as an analytic tool in order to approach a higher unity or a new thesis.

Handlist

abbreviated collection list.

Hardback

anything paperback.

Horae

book of offices for canonical hours

Hero or Heroine

central character in a work.

Historicism

concepts and relationships between works of literature and the time they were written in.

Heresy of Paraphrase

connected to intentional fallacy and affective fallacy. When reading a poem, trend was to paraphrase poem into prose. NC said not to do this; this means you're not doing any careful/close reading of the poem. We become more competent readers by learning what all the figures are and how to appreciate poetics.

Holy Grail

cup from which Christ last drank from.

Hedonism

doctrine of pleasure is the chief good of human beings.

History Play

drama that is not in the time period written or preformed.

Hartford Wits

Connecticut writers.

Hellenism

Greek spirit, celebration, intellect and beauty.