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.