A Handbook to Literature (4th Edition) by C. Hugh Holman [1985]

A fhndbook to Literature

AHandbook bLlterature fourth edition by C.Hugh Holman Kenan Professorof English University of North Carolinaat ChapelHill

Based on the Original Edition by William Flint Thrall and Addison Hibbard

ITT Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis

copyright @ 19ffi, l97z by The Bobbs-Merrill company, Inc. Copyright @ 7936, 1960by The Odyssey press, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America.

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information or retrieval systern, without written permission from the publisher: ITT Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishi.g Company, Inc. 4300 West 62nd Street Indianapolis, Indian a 46268

Fourth Edition Sixth Printing-198s Library of congress cataloging in Publication Data Holman, Clarence Hugh, lglL A handbook to literature. 1. Literature-Dictionaries. 2. English literature-Outlines, syllabi, etc. 3. American literature-Outlines, syllabi, etc. I. Title. PN 47.H6 1980 803 79-70061 ISBN A-672-61,477-4 ISBN A-672-61M1,-3 pbk.

Interior design by Sally Lifland Cover design by Richard Listenberger

Corrterrts Preface To the user of This Handbook Handbook to Literature Outline of Literary History, English and American App.ndices: Winners of Major Literary Pttzes and Awards

ll ll ll

vu ix 1

ll

471

ll

527

Preftece a The present edition of A Handbookto Literature is to all practical PurPoses in published edition original the of idea the to faithful remains It new work. of scholarship lgi6by William Flint Thrall and Addison Hibb ard,but the world undergraduate, and graduate and criticism and the needs of students, both the past have undergone so many changes of substance and of fashion during and Dean Thrall Professor of intentions the r"*" t; that forty-thr"" !.ars from their Hib-bard requires a work markedly different in many respects unchanged is that article single no original book. The present edition contains who are from the original. Ii is, I hope, geared to present-day litera_rystudents, greater much a It places interests. their in histoiical than critical much more greatly been has it and emphasis on critical terms and newer critical schools, expanded in size. which I The original edition contained 750 entries. The revised edition, I prepared which edition, third The entries. 1 contained ,025 in1960, prepared over 7,564 in 1972, contained 7,360 entries. The present edition contains 204 new than more The edition. original entries-more than double that of the terms various and phenomenology, semiotics, terms, including structuralism, the past during change ofcritical rapidity the reflect criticism, film to related seven years. earlier However, I would like to emphasize again what I have twice said of by down laid as structure, fundamental ut'ta plan basic the revisions-that to adaptation their that made and solidly firmly ro wer" Hibbard, Thrall and task' simple relatively a the demands of literary students in our time has been the I have received aid from many different sources. Teachers using communicatgenerously have and errors and omissions noted Handbookhave have reported ed them to the publishers and to me. All the errors which they ideal for author's the since but and many of tne omissions have been remedied, incorporated have I user, individual the of that as a book is not quite the same length these suggesti,ons selectively. The inclusion or exclusion of a topic, !h_" topic of at which a topic has been discussed, and the particular asPects -the and fact of errors the all as all represent my decision, which ur" "*imined constructive with helped have people, many judgment are mine. Far too Two people, ,rrg!"rtions for me to be able to acknowledge them here. and hoilever, have contributed so much to this edition by their suggestions are They them. to criticism that I wish to give special acknowledgement professor Walter p. Bowmar,, o] the English Department of State University of the College at Brockport, New York, and Professor Robert Hoffman, philoJophy Depaitment of York College of the City University of New York. of a Mi debts are many and far beyotrd my ability to recall. In the making And a place. find conversations and reading, study, work such as this, all one's reminded when I think of the many sources uporl which I have drawn, I am

Preface

||

viii

again of Washington Irvjng's statement : "My brain is filled, therefore, with all kinds of odds and ends. In travell ing, these heterogeneous matters have become shak"l ,P in my mind, as the- artiiles are apt to be in an ill-packed travellitg trunk; so that when I attempt to draw forth i fact,I cannot determine whether I have read, heard, or dreimt it.,, To my own teachers, both undergraduate and graduate, I owe much of what is in this book. To my students at the Universily of North Carolina this edition owes perhaps as much as it owes to any ,o.rr." , forover the years they have shown me what they needed, and their critical intelligence has shaped and sharpengd my efforts to satisfy these needs. To my lolleagues on the English faculty of the Univer sity, my debts have also blur", very great. Two people associated with the work in earlier forms deserve special praise' Mrs. Frances W. Hellweg, through her faith in the Handbookover the years and her suPPort of it and of my work on it, has been an indispensable element in the continued life and success of the book. Ernest Strauss went far beyond the call of duty editing the manuscript of the Third Edition, and _in through his meticulouschecking o?facts and data and his thorough knowledg" of literature of publishing, made the basis for this Fourth Edition sounder lttd and better than it could have possibly been without him. I am again indebted to Mrs. Dinah S. Lloyd for her usual excellent assistance in the PreParation of the manuscript of ihis Fourth Edition. For the assistance, encouraSement, and patience of my wife in this , as in all things, only my debt exceeds my gratitude.

C. HucH HouraaN

To the User of This Handbook In the Handbook proper an atternpt is made to include in alphabetical order comparatively brief explanations of the words and phrases which are peculiar to the study of English and American literature and which a reader or a student may wish to have defined, explained, or illustrated. The listings are not exhaustive nor are the comments complete; those terms which may cause the reader or the student difficulty are listed, and about them the basic things which the student or reader of writings in English may need to know are given. A single alphabetical listing is made, with cross references at the proper places in the listing. Whenever it has been possible in the practical limits of the book, the essential information on a given term appears under that term in its alphabetical place'in the Handbook.ln the body of an article, a term used in a sense which is defined in its proper place in the Handbook is printed in suan LETTERS. The term being defined and sometimes its synonyms are printed cApIrAL in italic letters, If other articles in the Handbook will enrich the student's understandin g of a particular entry, the statement "See ANAppRopRrArE enucre" is made at the end of the entry. For example, the entry on Complication uses the terms pl-or/REsoLUTIoN/ DRAMATTC srRUcruRE/ RrsrNG AcrroN/Acr/ and TRAGEDy, all of which are defined in the Handbook; therefore, each of them appears in sMALLcApnAL a fact indicati.g that entries on them may be consulted if one of them is LErrERs, not clear to the user o] the Handbook. On the other hand, the entry concludes with the statement, "See DRAMATTc srRUcruRE,ACr," which means that these entries contain supplementary material which will enrich the user's understanding of complication The word complicationis itself italicized since it is the term being defined.

tx

Abbey Theatre: A name often associatedwith the drama of The lrusHLnnnenv Rrvrver.The AbbeyTheatrewas an outgrowth of an earlier grouP, the Irish Literary Theatre, founded by W.B. Yeatsand Lady Gregory in 1899,which becamethe Irish National Theatre Societyin 1902.In 7904,on a subsidy from Mrs. A. E. F. Hornirnan, the company moved to the AbbeyTheatrein Dublin, from which it took its name. It continued, producing plays with a markedly nationalemphasis,until the theaterburned in 1951.W. B. Yeatswas directorof the AbbeyTheatreuntil his death in 7939,Among the major playwrights of the company were Yeats, Lady Gregory, J. M. Synge, Sean O'Casey, ]arnes Stevens, and Lord Dunsany. See Cnnc RENetssANcE. the initial lettersof whose successivelines form the Abecedarius: An AcRosrrc alphabet. Strictly speaking, each word in a line should begin with the same letter, although this difficult task is seldom attempted. See AcRosrlc. Abridgment: A shortenedversion of a work, but one that attempts to present rREcts. syNopsn, EprroME/ the essential elements of the longer work. SeeABsrRAcr, Absolute: A term applied to anything that is totally independent of influences, limitations, controls, or modifiers. In grammar, it refers to a word, such as "perfect," which cannot be compared or qualified, or to a phrase or clausethat is free of the customarysyntacticalrelationships to other parts of the it implies inviolable standards by which a work of art sentence. In cnmcrsM, Anabsolutistcritic holds that there are fundamental and measured. be should immutable values which determine moral and aesthetic worth. which makes a brief summ ary of the principal Abstract: A severeABRTDGMENT ideas or arguments advanced in a much longer work. Abstracfsof scholarly articlesand dissertationsare widely produced today. When languageis being referred to, the term abstracfis opposed to coNcnrru;it indicates words or statements that separateattributes from their physical or material embodiments. When art is being referred to, the term means nonrePresentationalor poErRy, TERMS. ABsrRAcr dissociated from theme or concrete meaning. SeeAsrRACr Abstract Poetry: A term used by Dame Edith Sitwell to describe poetry analogous in its use of sounds to abstract painting in its use of colors and shapei. In abstract painti^g the meaning results from the arrangement of colors and shapes without the representation of objects; in abstractpoetry, words are chosennot for their customarymeaningsbut for the effect produced thus frequently sacrifici^g senseto aural and RHvTHMS, by tonal qualities,RHyMEST effects.

See ABSrRAcr,ABsrRAcr TERMS.

AbstractTerms

ll

2

Abstract Terms: Terms which represent ideas, concepts, or qualities, as rERMs, which represent specific objects or entities. AssrRACr opposed to coNcRErE implies the formulation of an idea, concept, or quality by a Process of abitraction, by which the mind selects characteristics common to the members of a group and builds a conception which applies to not one thing but all things on the other hand, usually have rnarked by that same qualify. ConcnrrETERMS, definite spatial or temporal coordinates, although they may have varying degrees of specificity. For example, "beatJty" is an abstract term, "girl," a rERM . Abstract general coNcnrrErERM,and "Helen of. Troy," a sPecific cor.rcRErE either referents, have observable not that do as words ierms may be described specific or general. Note the special use of the term in ensrnacrpoErRy,where this meaning is intend ed. Abstract terms tend to describe ideas, concePts, attitudes, attributes, and qualities isolated from their embodiment in specific objects or classes of objects. There are, of course, levels or degrees of abstractness, and than specific terms, for classes of things are more ABSTRAcT rERMS most 6ENERAL have a conceptual dimension not present in specific objects. In a strict sense/ however, abstract terms refer to intellectual rather than spatial or temporal entities. Their appeal is usually nonsensory. Although they sometimes carry a "peace," instance, "honot," heavy freight of undefined emotion-for "patriotism" (see coNNorenor.r)-they are more usually lacking in the is PeRSoMFIcATIoN TERMS. heightened emotional response evoked by coNCRETE frequently used to invest abstract terms with greater emotional force, as in Milton's line "Laughter holding both his sides," or Thomas Gray's Can Honor's voice provoke the silent dust, Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death? See

coNcRETE TERMs, ABSTRACT.

Absurd, The: A term applied in contempor ary literature and criticism to the sense that modern human beings exist in a universe where they are cut off from their original religious and metaphysical roots and live in meaningless isolation in an alien world. Although the literature of the absurd employs many its philosophical base is a form of and suRREALrsM, of the devices of EXrRESSToNTsM which views human beings as movi^g from the nothingness from ExsrENrrALrsM which they came to the nothingness in which they will end through an existence marked by anguish and absurdity. They live in a world uCrere there is no way to establish a significant relationship between themselves and their environment. Extreme forms of illogic, inconsistency, and nightmarish FANTAsY mark the literature expressing this concept. The idea of the absurd has been or rHE)and in the NovEL,where (see ABSURD, THEATER powerfully expressed in onarraa joseph Heller, Thomas Pynchon, Gunter Grass, and Kurt Vonnegut, |r. have ANrI-NovEL. oF rHE, ANrr-HERo/ THEATER practiced it with distinction. See ABsuRD, that presents a view of the absurdity Absurd, Theater of the: A kind of pnerraa of usual or rational devices and the abandoning the by of the human condition

3

ll

Accent

use of nonrealisticform. It expounds an existentialideology and views its task asessentiallymetaphysical.Conceivedin perplexityand spiritual anguish, the theaterof theabsurdportrays not a seriesof connectedincidents telling a story but a pattern of images presenting people as bewildered beings in an incomprehensibleuniverse. The first true example of the theaterof the absurd was EugdneIonesco'sTheBaIdSoprano(1950).The term was invented by the Americancritic Martin Esslin.The most widely acclaimedplay of the school is Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot(7953).Other playwrights in the school, which flourished in Europe and America in the 1950'sand 1960's,include Jean Gen€t,Arthur Adamov, Edward Albee, Arthur Kopit, and Harold Pinter. See ABSURD/ THE; BLACK HUMOR.

Academic Drama: Plays written and performed in schools and colleges in the Acs. See scHoot.PLAYS. ELzesETHAN Academies: Associations of liter ary , artistic , ot scientific persons brought together for the ad'0ancement of culture and learning within their special fields of interests. The term is derived from "the olive grove of Academe" where Plato taught at Athens. One general purpose of the literary academies has been, to quote the expressed purpose of l'Acaddmie francaise (originated ca. 7629), "to labor with all care and diligence to give certain rules to our language and to render it pure, eloquent, and capable of treating the arts and sciences." A secondary objective has often been that of immortalizing great writers, though the success with which great writers have been recogntzed by such organizations is relatively small. In addition to the French Academy and the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, the following are important: The Royal Academy of Arts founded in L768 (Engla^d); the Real Acepuvrvor Anrs AND Academia Espanola founded in 1773 (Spain); and the AvERTcAN Lnrrnnsfounded in 7904. More like the original academy of Plato was the famous "Platonic Academy" led by Marsilio Ficino, at Florence, Italy, in the late fifteenth century, which disseminated the doctrines of Neo-Platonism.

Acatalectic: Metrically complete; applied to a line that carries out fully the SeeCATALEXIS. basic metrical pattern of the ponr'a. Accenh In traditional English MErRrcs,the emphasis given a syllable in pronunciation. Perhaps no aspect of pnosopvhas been the subject of greater disagreement than that dealing with the nature of accenf;it is considered to be a matter of force, of timbre , of duration, of loudness, of pitch, and of various combinations of these. Customarily, however, it is used to describe some aspect of emphasis, as opposed to duration or euANrrry. A distinction is sometimes made befween accentas the normal emphasis upon a syllable and srREssas the emphasis upon a word required by the rnrrren. accent usually implies contrasU that is, a patterned In vERsrFrcArroN succession of opposites, in this case, accented and unaccented syllables. In

Accentual-SyllabicVerse

ll

4

traditional terminology rcrus is the name applied to the sTRESS itself, ensrsthe name applied to the stressed syllable, and rHESrsthe name applied to the unstressed syllable. It should be noted, however, that the Greek usage, predati^g this Latin usage, applied rHESrsto the stressed and ARSrsto the unstressed syllables. There are three basic types of accenf in English: woRDAccENr,or the norrnal placement of srnsssupon the syllables of a word; RHEToRTcAL AccENr,in which the placement of srnsssis determined by the rneaning of the sentence; and METRTcAL AccENr,in which the placement of srnrssis determined by the metrical pattern of the line. If the METRIcAL AccENrdoes violence to the woRDAccEnnthe resulting alteration in pronunciation is called wRENCHED AccENr,a phenomenon common in the folk BALLAD.See euANTrry,METRrcs/ scANSroN, srRESS. Accentual-Syllabic Verse: Vunsrthat is dependent for the establishment of its RFryrHM both on the number of syllables to the line and on the pattern of accented and unaccented syllables. The basic METERS in English porrRyare accentual-syllabic, Foor. See METER/ Accismus: A form of rRoNy, a pretended refusal that is insincere or hypocritical. Caesar's refusal of the crown, &s it is reported by Casca in Shakespeare's lulius Caesar(Act I, Scene ii), is an example of accismus,as is Richard's disavowal of his kingly qualities in Shakespeare's Richnrd III (Act III, Scene vii). Acronym: A word formed by combini.g the initial letters or syllables of a series of words to form a name, as "tadat," which was formed from "rAdio, detecting and ranging." An acronym is a type of ecnosrrc. Acrostic: A composition, usually vERSE though sometimes pRosE,arranged in such a way that it spells names or phrases or sentences when certain letters are selected according to an orderly sequence. It was used by early Greek and Latin writers as well as by the monks of the Middle Ages. Though creditable verse has appeared in this form, acrostics are likely to be tricks of versifying. An acrostic in which the initial letters form the word is called a true acrostic;one in which the final letters form the word is called a rurrsrrcH.An example of a true acrostic-telestichpresented through a rupprsfollows: 1. By Apollo was my first made . 2. A shoernaker's tool. 3. An Italian patriot . 4. Atropical fruit. Answer: Lamb and Elia as shown in the wording: 1.L 2. A 3. M 4. B

yr w azzin anan

E L I A

An acrostic in which the middle letters form the word is called a MESosrrcH; one in which the first letter of the first line, the second letter of the second line, the

5

ll

Adonic Verse

third letter of the third line, etc., form the word is called a crossacrostic,of which Poe's "A Valentine" is an example. An acrosticin which the initial letters form Perhaps the best known of all acrosticsis the the alphabet is called an ABEcEDARrus. word cABAL,formed from the first letters of the names of the unpopular ministry of Charles II, composed of Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdal6. This Wpe of acrostic rs called an AcRor{yM. The major parts of the Greek pr,Ayswere Ach A major division of a DRAMA. distinguished by the appearance of the cHoRUS,and they generally fell, as Aristotle implies, into five parts. The Latin tragedies of Seneca were divided Acr, English dramatists began using into five acts, and when, in the EuzanrrHAN act divisions they followed their Roman models, as did other modern European dramatists. In varyi^g degrees the fwe-acf structure corresponded to cLrMAX, FALLTNG coMpl,rcArroN, the five main divisions of dramatic action: ExposrrroN, Freytag wrote of the " act of introductio n," tlne " Act ofthe AcrroN,and cArAsrRopHE. ascent," the "act of the climax," the "act of the descent," and the "Act of the catastrophe" ; but such a correspondence, especially in Elizabethan plays, is by no means always apparent. The five-act structure was followed until the late nineteenth cenfury when, under the influence of Ibsen, the fourth and fifth acts were combined. In the twentieth century, the standard form for serious drama has been three acts, for vrusrcAlcoMEDyand coMrc opERAusually two; but great or scENES, variation is used, with serious plays frequently divided into EprsoDES without act-division. Late in the nineteenth century a shorter form, the oNE-Acr pLAy/ developed. See DRAMATTc srRUcruRE/ Fnrnac's rvRAMID. Action: In any work of RcnoN, the series of events that constitute the pr,or, what the characters sd! r do, think, or in some cases fail to do. In the crudest poEM/or a NovELis the answer to sense, the action ofa pLAy/a sHoRrsroRy/a NARRATvE the question "What happened?" See plor. Adage: A pRovERB or wise saying made familiar by long use. Examples: "No bees, no honey" (Erasmus, Adagia); "A stitch in time saves nine." SeepRovERB. Adaptation: The rewriting of a work from its original form to fit it for another medium; also the new form of such a rewritten work. A NovELmay be " adapted" for the stage or motion pictures or television; a pLAymay be rewritten as a novel; the new form of such a modification is called an "adaptatian." The term implies an attempt to retain the characters, actions, and as much as possible of the language and tone of the original, and thus adaptation drtfers significantly from the reworking of a souRcE. Adonic Verse: A verse form associated with Greek and Latin pRosoDyand os -.vvl--, denoting that usrrn which consists of a DAcryLand a spoNDEE, or rRocHEE, os rvv | --, probably so called after the Adonia, the festival of Adonis.

Adventure

Story (or Film)

ll

6

Adventure Story (or Film): A sronv in which esrrorv-always exterior, usually physical, and frequently violent-is the predominant material of the work, being stressed above cHARAcrERrzArroN, MorrvArroN,or THEME. SuspsNsn is engendered by the question, "What will happen next?" rather than "Why?" or "To whom?" In a broader sense, as HenVJames insisted in "The Art of Fictioni' everything in ncuoN can be thought of as an adventure; he said, "It is an adventure-an irnmense one-for me to write this little article." In FrLM cRrrrcrsM a recognizable subgenre of the adaenture film is the outdoo radaenture film, of which the WesrERNis the most popular form. Adversarius: The cHARAcrEn in a FoRMAL sArrRE who is addressed by the punsoNa of the sATIRE and who functions to elicit and to shape that speaker's remarks or comments. Arbuthnot is adaersariusto Pope in "The Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot." Such a character serves to create a dramatic situation within which the pnnsoNA may speak or plays a role similar to that of a srRArcHr sATIRE MANin a MTNSTREL ;:r*: Aesthetic Distance: A term used by critics to describe the effect produced when an emotion or an experience, whether autobiographical or not, is so objectified by the proper use of ronr'athat it can be understood as being objectively reabzed and independent of the immediate personal experience of its maker. The term is also used to describe the reader's awareness that art and reality are separate. In this sense it is sometimes called "psychic distance. " It is closely related to Keats'wEGarnrE cApABrrrrv and T. S. Eliot's oBlEcrrvE coRRELArryE. See OBIECTTVTTY.

Aestheticism: A late nineteenth-century literary movement that rested on the credo of "ARr FoRARrssAKE. " Its roots reached back to the poErRy of |ohn Keats, Theophile Gautier's preface to Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) in which he claimed that art has no utility, Ed gar Allan Poe's theory of "the poEMper se" and his rejection of the "heresy of the didactic," Baudelaire's LesFleurs du MaI, and Mallarm6. Its origins had a close kinship to the reverence for beauty of the Pre-Raphaelites. Its dominant figures were Oscar Wilde, who insisted on the seParation of art and morality, and Wilde's master, Walter Pater. The English PanNesslaNl5-frnest Dowson, Lionel ]ohnson, Andrew Lang, and Edmund Qssss-\ /s1g a part of the movement but were primarily concerned with questions of form rather than sharp separations of art from moral issues. Tennyson angrily paraphrased "ARr FoRARrssAKE"as meaning: The filthiest of all paintings painted well Is mightier than the purest painted ill! The study or philosophy of the beautiful in nature , art, and Aesthetics: literature. It has both a philosophical dimension-What is art? What is beauty? What is the relationship of the beautiful to other values?-and a psychological dimension-What is the source of aesthetic enjoyment? How is beauty perceived and recognized? From what impulse do art and beauty arise? The aesthetic study of literature concentrates its attention on the sense of the

7

ll

Afro-American Literature

When beautiful rather than on moral, social, or practical considerations. AESTHETICISM. and sAKE" ARls "ARr FoR to leads it vigor great pursued with their Aet., Aetat.: Abbreviationsfor the Latin phraseaetatisiuor,of his, her, event an at which life a person's of age.The term is used to designatethe year David occurs, a picture is made, ot a work composed. A picture of Henry Thoreau's during made one be *ould " 35," Aet legend the b-earing Thoreau thirty-fifth y"at, that is, between the ages of 34 and 35. the Affective Fallacy: A term used in contemporary criticism to describe emotional its especially results, its of terms in art of work judging a effro*of (seeThe effect.Itwai introducedbyW.K. Wimsatt,Jr., and M. C. Beardsley the between "confusion Poem and its Verballcon,by Wimsatt) todescribe the u.nENrIoNAL the to error converse is a It tt does)." result (what it is and what and cATHARSIS Aristotle's arc affectiae the of examples Notable fallacy FALLAC'. Longinus"' transPort." both Afro-American Literature: Frequently called today BLAcKLmRAruRE, such of study formal The Negroes. Rmeiican by terms refer to writings is an scholarship, literary American of area r,"gL.ted a long writing, This increaJinglyimportant aspectof the seriousstudy of writi^g in America. come has ancestry African of heightur,"d interest in tha work of Americans about for two primary reasons:the growing recognition in the last half century and the of black people as a significu.,i portion of American culture impressive of writing developmentduring the sameperiodof a body of Negro scope and qualitY. For all practicalpurpos es,Afro-AmericanLiteraturebeganin the eighteenth Phillis century wiirr the poetry of two Negro slaves,Jupiter_Hammon and by slave efforts further Wheatiey.The first haf of the nineteenthcentury saw by u marked particularly was it but Horton, poets,among them GeorgeMoses as known experiences, terrible slaves' the of records flood of auto[iographical Douglass' Frederick by that was famous most the which 6f NARRArryrr, 'LAVE There was alsoa flood of polemicalpamphletsand fiery sermonsby Negroes, novel and in 1g53William Wells Brown, ur^,.t.up"d slave, published the first century the As Daughter. President's the 0r, Clotel, Negro, by an American closed,CharlesW. Ch"sr^,uttbegan publishing the novels which established him as an important literary figure. In the twentieth century a lost of skillful Negro writers have produced as Paul work of high quality in almost every field. There have been poets such BonArna Laurence b.rr,uur, james weldon johnson, Langston Hughes, first the 7949 in was who temps, Countee Cullen, and Gwendolyn Brooks, particularly been has The century Pnrzr. Purnzsn American Negro to receivethe walter rich in Negro"^o*relists,including such writers as w. E. B. DuBois, Richard White, ]eai Toomer,Claude McKiy, Zora Neale Hurston, Ann Petry, Wright, RalphEllison,and Jamesnatawin. There have beena number of black Hughes, play"wrights,among them HallJohnson, WallaceThurman, Langston LeRoi and Davis, Ossie ]ones' Loirain" Hattsberry,

Age of ]ohnson

in English Literature

||

g

These American Negroes have written with passion and conviction of the place they and their race have occupied and endured in a predominantly white society. By so doing they have broadened the range, enriched the sympathy, and deepened the quality of American literary e*p.ission. Their contrib.rtior,r, notable most obviously their power, are majbr forces changing the earlier lor American literary monolith of the white middle class. Age of johnson in English Literature: The interval between 1 750 and l1gg was a markedly transitional age in English literature. The NEocLASSrcrsM which dominated the first half of the century was yielding in many ways to the impulse toward RoMANrIcrsM, although the period viur still predominantly neoclassical. The NovEL,which had come into being in the decud" before 1750, continued to flourish, with sentimental attitud"r utrd GorHrchorrors becoming a significant part of its content. Little was accomplished in oneuAexcept for the creation of "laughi^g" coMED"by Sheridan and Goldsmith, in reaction against SENTIMENTAL coMEDY.The chief PoErswere Burns, Gray, Cowper, Johnson, and Crabbe-a list that indicates how thoroughly the pendulum was swinging from Pope and Dryden. Yet it was Dr. Samuel lway Johnson, poet, lexicographer, essayist, novelist, journalist, and neoclassic critic, who was the major literary figure, and his friend Boswell's biography of him (I7g7) was the greatest work of the d1e, challenged for such in honor, perhaps, only by Gibbon's monumental history, Thi Decline ancl FaII of the Roman Empire ltZZOi. An interest in the past, particularly in the Middle Ages, in the primiiive, and in the literature of the folk was developing and *ir feeding with increasi^g strength the growing tide of novrer.rnrcrsM. In recent criticism uia hterary histor! it is often called the Acr or Snrusmnrrv, emphasizing the emergence of new attitudes and the development of smvsrorlrry as a major literary expression. See Neocressrc Prnroo, Acr or SrNsrBrlrry,sENSrBrLrry. Age of Reason: A term often applied to the Nrocrassrc Pnruoo in English literature and sometimes to the R.uor*roNARy AND Ennly NanoNar pnruop rN Alrsruceru LrrnerunE, because these periods emphasized self-knowledge, self-control, rationalism, discipline, ar,d the rule of L*, order, and decorum in public and private life and in art. See NnocrassrcPtruoo, REvoLUnoNARy ANDEenry NnnoNnr PEruoorN AnanruceNLnrnerunr. Age of the Romantic Triumph in England, 17gg-1g32: Although a major Romantic PoEr, Robert Burns, had died in 7796, William Blake;s Songs of lnnocence had appeared in 7789, and adumbrations of nol,aaNrrcrsM had been aPParent in English writing throughout much of the eighteenth century, the publication of Lyrical BaIIadsby Wordsworth and Coleiiag. in 17g8 is often regarded as marking the beginni.g of a period of more than three decades in which RoMANTIcISM triumphed in British letiers, a period that is often said to have ended in 1832, with the death of Sir Walter Scott. During these thirty-four -Sh"ll"/, years, the poetic careers of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, and Keats flowered; Scott created the HISToRTcAL NovEr.and made it a force in international literature; Wordsworth and Coleridge articulated a revolutionary theory of

9

ll

Agrarians

and Lamb, Romantic poErRy;|ane Austen wrote her NovELSoF MANNERS; level of high a to ESSAv rERSoNAL the raised Hazlitt and Deeuincey, did not die with Sir Walter Scott, but the decade Rol,,rer.mcrsM u..o-plishment. the varied of the thirties saw it begin a process of modification as a result of Rouaunc RoMANTICISM, See it. upon played which forces of the Victoriut', *otld ' History Literary of Outline and LrrsRAruRE, ENclnn Prruopw A name frequently appli_ed by contemponry critics and Age of Sensibility: to the htlrary historiunr, such as W. J. Bite, Harold Bloom, and Northrop Frye, older by called time the England, in century eighteenth the last half of The use of the term Age of Sensibility historians and critiis the AcE oF JonNsor.r. for results from seeing the interval between 1750 and 1798 as a seedfield the and sENsIBILITY, rRIMITIVISM, as such literature, in emerging RoMANnc[uahties to origiriahly of the individual talent. The older term, AcE or ]oHNSoN,tends qualities in the literature of the ,ri" the strong continuing NEoclAssrc RouANrIc "--pnu time. See Acs or ]oHNro*, Nrocmssrc Pnruoo,Acr oF TI{ERouar.nlc Tnrur'aPH, PsRIoow ENcr.sHLmRAruRE.

it was a prolonged Agon: Literally u contest of any kind. In Greek TRAGEDv took sides with and divided cHonus the diipute, often a formal debate in which a9on, epirrhernatic called debate, this in Greece coMEDy or.o the tfre disputants. In and involved an elaborate and stylized series of exchanges between the cHoRUS come has it ruor, of the debaters, and addrest"r io the audience. In discussions in to mean simply "conflict." ThecHARAcrrnsin a work of rrcnoN are designated pnorncoNlsr/ DEUTERAGoMST/ ANTAGoNIST/ conflict: to this terms of their relationship and so on. Literally people living close to the land, in an agricultura,l society, Agrarians: sense oi"rpousing the merils oi such a society, as the Physiocrats did. In this was a Thomas agrarians. are Jefferson traditions pastoral of most "rpo,rfers noted early American agrarian. In current literary history and criticism, who however, ii is usually applied to a group of Southern American writers aLrr:,-E Fugitiae, The 7925, n1922and betwee t"^r,"ssee, published in Nashvilie, but of poetry and some criticism championing agrarian REGIoNALISM i*"oo* of its attacking "ih" old high-caste Brahmins of the Old South." Most were contrib.rtorc were usroiiuted with Vanderbilt University; among them and Warren, Penn Robert Donald,Davidsor, Tate, John Crowe Ransom, Allen opgoled as economy an agrarian championed they 1930',s the Moore.In Merrill Take My to that of industrial capitalisrn and isiued a collective manifesto, I'll of The 1937 and 7933 between Stand. They were active in the publication contemporary analyzed also that magazine d socioeconomic American R-eaielD, Reaiew literature. They found an effective literary organ in lhe Southern Warren. Penn Robert and (1935-Ig4Z),under the editorship of Cleanth Brooks In addition to their poetry and novels, the Agrarians have been prominent among the founders of the NEwcRIrIcsM.

Agroikos

I|

L0

Agroikos: A cHenacrER added by Northrop Fry" to the traditional three srocK CHARACTERS of Greek or-p coMEDy.The agroikos is a rustic who is usually easily deceived, a form of the country bumpkin. See oLDcoMEDy,srocK 6HARACTERS. Alazon: The braggart in Greek coMEDy.He takes many forms: the quack doctor, the religious fanatic, the swaggering soldier, the pedantic scholaranyone who is pretentious through his sense of self-importance and who is held up to ridicule becauseof it. From Plautu s' Miles Gloriosushe enters English literature where he is a srocKcHARACTER in Er-rzaBErHAN DRAMA. He has been widely used in other literary forms, particularly the r.rovEl-. James Fenimore Cooper;s Dr. Obed Battius, in The Prairie, is a good example of a later mutatiot oi this character. See lVftrrs Groruosus. Alba: A Provencal lament over the parting of lovers at the break of day, the name coming from alba the Provencal word for "dawn." It has no fixed metrical form, but each sTANZA usually ends with "nlbt. " The mediev al albnswere inspired 'in large part by Ovid. With the rnouBADouRs the nlbasgrew to a distinct htlrary form. On occasion they were religious, being addressed to the Virgin. SeeAUBADE. Alcaics: Vrnssswritten according to the manner of the oopsof Alcaeus, usually a four-srANzAPoem, each srANzAcomposed of four lines, the first two being HENDECASYLLABIC, the third being nine syllables, and the fourth oacnsyl1-ABrc. Since the pattern is a classical one based on quantitative DACryr-s and rRocHEEs, exact English Alcnicsare Practically impossible. The most notable English attempt is in Tennyson's "Milton," which begins:

ot*tgtl,i-t"ro"*'.1i;|"""r"', ,'f I na.,*;l;, - V \ / V ! / _

O I skill'd to I sing of I ti*"

c.a tg,f,Ja l";; iltt',o',,, ;";"

or E I ternitly,

l'oi.*

"'tl*rto".o, ; ;lro-".,arJ. | ;s;

Alexandrine: A vnnsnwith six tevsrc feet (rarraarc unxauErEn). The form, that of HERolc vERSE in France, received its name possibly from the fact that it r,r,asmuch used in Old French romances of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries describing the adventures of Alexander the Great, or possibly from the name of Alexandre Paris, a French poet who used this METER. Its appearance in English has been credited to Wyatt and Surrey. Perhaps the most conspicuous instance of its successful use in English by Spenser, who, in his SpENsEnTAN srANze, after eight it lines employed a HEXAMETER PENTAMETTn line (Alexandrine) in the ninth. Both ihe line and its occasional bad effect are described in Pope's couplet: A needlessAlexandrine ends the song, That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along. Allegory: A form of extended MErApHon in which objects, persons, and actions in a NARRATIvE, either in PRosE or vERSE, are equated with *"at,ir'rgs that lie outside

1.1 ll

Alliterative

Romance

the narrative itself. Thus, it represents one thing in the guise of another-an abstraction in that of a concrete nrecr. The characters are usually PERSONIFICATIONS of the of abstract qualities, the action and the setting rePresentative a dual relationships u*ot g these abstractions , Altegory attempts to evoke in other the and interest, one in the events, characters, and setting Presented, The bear. they significance the or convey to the ideas they are intended the test characters, events, and setting may be historical, fictitious, or fabulous; is that these materials be so employed that they represent meanings religious, independent of the action in the surface story. Such meaning rnay be is on one Faerie Spenser'sThe Thus Queene satiric. or *o.il, political, personal, political and social, religious, mbral, it embodies but nor,aANCE, a chivalric level to meanings. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progressdescribes the efforts of a Christian these faith, his to obstacles inner over achieve a godly life by lriumphing Despond obstacles being represented by outward objects such as the Slough of Fair. Vanity and It is important but by no means always easy to distinguish between which attempts to suggest other levels of meaning allegory and syMBoLrsM, of ideas lhe controlling influence in the work, as it a structure without making

is in allegory. Among the kinds of allegory, in addition to those suggested above, are PARABLE, FABLE, APOLOGUE/

EXEMpLUy, and

BEASTEPIC. See

alSO ANAG96E/ F9UR SENSESOF

INTERPRETATION.

The repetition of initial identical consonant sounds or any Alliteration: A good vowel sounds in successive or closely associated words or syllables. lines: example of consonantal alliteration is Coleridge's The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free' is often Vowel alliteration rgshown in the sentence: "Apt alliteration's artful aid aPPears words within sounds of Alliteration e." in pros ornament an occasional in Tennyson's lines: The moan of doves in immemorial elrns, And mvtmuting of innumerable bees' rested in large measure on alliteration, ds did much O'o ENclrsHvERSrFrcArroN In modern times alliteration has usually been a poetry. Middle English and pRosE,although poets as unlike as second ary 6rr,u*ent in both vERSE use Whitman, Swinburne, and W. H. Auden have made extensive and skillful the and sportswriter the of in trade stock the of it. In our time it has become effects. ludicrous produces it often hands whose in advertising copywriter especially VERSE, written in erlrruRArrvE Alliterative Romance: A unrrucAlRoMANcr in the one produced during the revival of interest in alliterative poetry to the similar line_s long (unrhymed Palerne fourtbenth century , e.g., William of (in Knight the Green and Gawain Sir Puruoo) ErucusH Orp tn" , alliterative verse of

AlliterativeVerse

ll

12

stanzas of varying numbers of long lines followed by five short rhymed lines), and the "alliterative" Morte Arthure. See MEDTEVAL RoMANcE. Alliterative Verse: A term applied to vrnsnforms, usually Germanic in origin, in which the metrical structure is based on some pattern of repetition of initial letters or sounds within the lines. The most common form in English is Old English poetry and Middle English forms between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. See Oro ENcusHvERsrFrcArroN, I\1ftopmENcrsH Prruop. Allonym: The name of an actual person other than the author which is signed by the author to a work. The term is also applied to the work so signed. Compare with rsEuDoNyru, which is a fictitious name assumed by the author. Allusion: A FIGURE oF spEEcHthat makes brief, often casual reference to a historical or literary figure, event, or object. Biblical allusions are frequent in English literature, such as Shakespeare's "A Daniel come to judgm ent," rnThe Merchant of Venice. Strictly speaking, allusion is always indirect. It attempts to tap the knowledge and memory of the reader and by so doing to secure a resonant emotional effect from the associations already existing in the reader's mind. When, for example, Melville names a ship the Pequodin Moby-Dick, the reader with a knowledge of New England history will know the vessel to be fated for extinction. The effectiveness af allusion depends on there being a common body of knowledge shared by writer and reader. Complex lite riry allusion is characteristic of much modern writing, and discovering the meaning and value of the allusions is frequently essential to understanding the work. A good examPle is T. S. Eliot's The Waste l-and and the author's notes to that Poem. James Joyce employed allusions of all kinds, many obscure and very complex. Almanac: In medieval times an almanacwas a permanent table showing the movements of the heavenly bodies, from which calculations for any year could be made. Latet, almanacsorcalendars for short spans of years and, finally, for single years were PrePared. A further step in the evolution of the form came with the inclusion of useful information, especially for farmers. This use of the almanac as a storehouse of general information led ultimately to such modern works as the annualWorld Almanac, d compendium of historical and statistical data not limited to the single year. As early as the sixteenth century, forecasts, first of the weather and later of such events as plagues and wars, were important features of almanacs. The almanac figures but slightly in literature. Spenser's Shepheardes Calender (lSZll takes its title from a French "Kalendar of Shepar d,r" and consists ot' twelve noEus, under the titles of the twelve months, with some attention paid to the seasonal implications. By the latter part of the seventeenth century almanacscontained efforts at humor, consisting usually of coarse jokes. This feature was elaborated somewhat later, with some refinements such as MAXIMS and pithy sayings, as in Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac (7732-1758), itself partly inspired by the English comic almanac, Poor Robin In Germany in

1,3 ll

AmbiguitY

posrnvof a the eighteenth and nineteenth centur ies almanacs included printed 1835 and high Jrd"r. The Davy Crocke tt almanacs,issued in America between and tradition oral on 1g56, recorded many frontier rALLrALESbased mainly culture. American of aspect helped to preserve a significant dpoEMin which the lines are FrcuRAruM, Altar poem: Another term for a cARMEN the shape of the subject taking so arranged that they form a design on the page, a PoEMin honor of wrote Rabelais u cross. poEM, altar or frequently an of the idea of the altar the with plays E. Cummings E. bottle. a of shape the Bacchus in FIGURATUM. poem frequently, for example in "The Crasshoppet." See CARMEN Ambages: A form of cncuMlocurroxin which the truth is spoken in a way that tends to deceive or mislead. The RIDDLE: Brothers and sisters have I none, But this man's father is my father's son/ (i.e./ son is an example in which the relationship of "this man" to the speaker to father) is concealed in an accurate statement. The expression of an idea in language tha! gives more than one Ambiguity: and leaves uncertainty as to the intended significance of the *"ur.i.,g and statement. The chief causes of unintention al ambiguity are undue brevity inverted or faulty pronoun, of "cloud teference y" of statement, compression Such sequence, and the use of a word with two or more meanings. writing. of kinds all in unintentional ambiguity is a serious flaw However, in literaiure of the highest order may be found another asPect of levels ambiguity, which results from the fict that language fulctions in art on (where ambiguity rs a cardinal sin). In literature, othei thln that of osl.rorArroN words demonstrate an astounding capacity for suggesting two or more equally and suitable senses in a given context, for conveyi^g a core meaning for and complexity, and richness great of overtones with it accompanying of operating with two or more meaningslt the same time. One of the attributes the called has Richards A. I. what the finesl poets is their abiliry to tap ,,resourcefulness of langua ge" and to supercharge words with greatPressures o*Uiguity that results from this capacity of words to of meaning. The kind "t which stimulate simultaneously several different streams of thought, all of that concentration and richness make sense, is a genuine characteristic of the make great PoErRY. Wi1iam Empson, in The Seaen Types of Ambiguity (1931), extended the have meaning of the term to include these aspects oj language. Although there for used be should ambiguity s been those who feel that anothet *otd beside (among comple*itl artistic with functioning language these characteristics of E*PSon's and eLURISIGNnTToN), MEANTNGS those suggested have been MULTTnLE ,,seven typ"es" of linguistic complexity "which adds some nuance to the direct of statement of pror"';have prorr"d to be effective tools for the examination are language of (1) details are "types ambiguity" of literature. These -that effective in several ways at once ; (2) alternative meanings that are ultimately

Ambivalence

ll

L4

resolved into the one meaning intended by the author; (3) two seemingly unconnected meanings-that are given in one word; (4) alternative meaniigs that acttogether to clarify a complicated state of mind in the author; (5) a simiie that- refers imperfectly to two incompatible things and by this ,',fortunate confusion" shows the author discoveiing the idei as he oi she writes; (6) a statement that is so contradictory or irrelevant that readersare made to invent their own interpretations; and (z) a statement so fundamentally contradictory that it reveals a basic division in the author,s mind. Ambiguity is thus a literary tool of great usefulness in suggesting various orders-and ranges of meanings and enriching by hold;i out-multipre possibilities. Its uses range from simple double ni""nir,gs for iords, through such devices as the "alternate choices" that Hawtho.i" ,r."s in The scarlet Ictter, to symbols with heavy freights of meanings. see n"rpunorocy. Ambivalence: The existenceof mutually conflicting feelingsor attitudes. The term is often used tb describe the contradictory ittitudes an author takes toward characters or societies and also to describe a confusion of attitude or response called forth by a work. Although it is sometimes used bv contemporary critics as a synonym for AMBrcurry, it can properly be used only for the sixth and seventh of Empson,s types of AMBrcurry. Academy of Arts and Letters: An organization brought into being f191ican in 1904to recognize distinguished accomplishment in literature,"art, or music. The American social scienceAssociationin 1g9grealized the need for a society devoted entirely to the interests of letters and the fine arts, and organized th! National Institute of Arts and Letters with membership limited to 250.six years later a smaller society composed of the most distin;uished members of the Institute was organized as the American Academy61 ertt and Letters, with membership limited to fifty. only members of the-Inititute may be elected to the Academy. The seven men first elected to membershlp wereiwilliam Dean Howells, _Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Edmund Clarence Stedman, John LaFarge, sgmuel Langhorne Clemens, |ohn Hay, and Edward MacDowen. Annually the National Instituteawards its gold medal for distinguished work in Iiterature and the arts; every five years itionfers the william iean Howells medal for the best American fiction; and annually another gold medal is awarded for good diction on the stage. American Indian Literature: The writings and oral traditions of the aboriginal tribes of America. See Avrrurvor**-*". American Language: A term used to designate certain idioms and forms peculiar to English speechin America. These differencesarise in severalways: some forms'originate in America independent of English speech(,,gerr;.mander" is anexample); some expressionswhich were onie native to Eniland have been brought here and have lived after they had died out in Englani 1"tull" to, "autumn"); and certain English forms have taken on modifiJd meanings in America (as we use "store" for "shop"). Besides these matters of vocabulary,

1,5 ll

Amerind

Literature

H. L. Mencken points out six respects in which American exPression differs from English: syntax, intonation, slang, idiom, grammar, and Pronunciation. Although ior years the sensitiveness of Americans made many of them deny the existence of anything like an American language,its existence has been recogn ized, and its nature applauded for over a half century. As a unique langirage of American literary art, it is impressively Present in the work of writers like Mark Twain, Ring Lardner, Ernest Hemingway, and J. D. Salinger. Scholars have given it serious attention; it is the subject of two major dictionaries and-an atlas, ADictianary of American Englishon Historical Principles, edited by Sir William Craigie and I. R. Hulbert, A Dictionary of Americanisms, edited by M. M. Mathewi, and the mammoth Linguistic Atlas of the United States,compiled by u group of scholars led by Hans Kurath. Significant earlier studies were G. P. Krapp's The Engtish Language in America and H. L. Mencken's The Americnn Languaqeand its Supplements. American Literature, Periods of: A.y division of the lite rcry history of a nation is an arbitrary oversimplification. In the case of America, where the national record long predates the development of a self-sufficient literature, the problem is complicated further by the fact that most divisions into early peribds are based ,rpor, political and social history and most divisions into later periods upon the dorninance of literary types or movements. Almost all historians of American literature have made their own systems of period division. In this handbo ok American literature is treated in a chronological pattern set against the dominant English movements in the Outline of Literary History, and tf," characteristics of its own periods are treated in the following articles: LmnetuRr, 7607-1765 Corouel PEnroDIN Arragruceru RrvolrrrIoNARYANDEenr,vNertoNeL Pnmoofi..lAMERICAN Lmnerunr, 1765-1830 RovrarvncPnnroDIN AurruceruLmnarunn, 1830-1865 Lmnerune, 1865-1900 Rralrsuc Pnruoprrv Ar"mRIcAN Nerunar-rsrrcANDSwrnor-rsncPnruoDrN AuEruceN LmRRrunE, 1900-1930 ru Ar'arRIcANLrrERatuRE,1930-1960 PEruooor CnmcrsMANDCoruronrunrv Sulr, 196{.rPrruoooFrHE CoNrsssIoNAL If read in sequence, these articles will give a brief history of American writing by periods. Amerind Literature: The writing and oral traditions of the Indian tribes of America. The term is a combination of syllables from American and Indian. Originallv transmitted almost entirely by word of mouth, the literature was at firsi such as could easily be memorized: the rituals of annual festivals, tribal traditions, narrative accounts of gods and heroes. Since much of this literature grew up about the rhythmic accents of the ceremonial drum, it took on a iegularity of metric pattern which gave it the quality of porrnv. Another part, pe"rhaps less associated with ceremonials, was more simply natural in its

Amphibology

ll

16

recounting of events and took the form of pRosE. A characteristic quality of this Amerind language is its building of many ideas into one term. ("Hither-whiteness-comes-walking" being, according to Mary Austin, the Algonquin parallel for "dawn.") Most of this literature known to us today is confined to a few types: the sprc,the FoLKrALr,the DRAMA, ritualistic and ceremonial exercises, and NARRATTEs of adventure. In recent years there has been a substantial revival of interest in Amerind literature. The noRTMANTEAU wono Amerind is today less widely used than the longer term, American lndian. Amphibology (or Amphiboly): A term applied to statments capable of two different meanings, a kind of aMsrcurry.In literature, amphibology is usually intentional when it occurs. The witches/ prophecies in Macbethand Fedallah's deceptive assurances to Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick are well-known examples. Amphibrach: A metrical roor consisti^g of three syllables, the first and last unaccented, the second accented. An example is trufrge m{nt. Amphigory or Aphigouri: Vsnsnthat sounds well but contains little or no sense or meaning; either NoNSENSE vERSE, like Edward Lear's, or nonsensical pARoDy,like Swinburne's self-mockery in "Nephelidia," which begins: "From the depth of the dreamy decline of the dawn through a notable nimbus of nebulous moonshine," or more general rnnoov, such as, Moon milk and soft curds of milky way Mingle in the intricacies of my equation, O Calculus in calculable! Amphimacher: A metrical Foor consisti.g of three syllables, the first and last accented, the second unaccented. An example is rt il ilde. Amphisbaenic Rhyme: Named for the monster in Greek FABLE rvhich has a head at each end and can go in either direction, the term is used to describe backward that is, two rhyme words the second of which inverts the order of the first, as "step" and "pets." Edmund Wilson has used this unusual poetic device in some of his rrcHr vERSE. Amplification: A FrcuREoF spEEcHin which bare expressions, likely to be ignored or misunderstood by a hearer or reader because of their bluntness, are emphasized through restatement with additional detail. The device is used in music, oratory, and poErRyquite commonly. The chief danger accompanying the use of amplification rs that prolix writers will so elaborate a statement as to rob it even of its original rneani^g. Ana: Miscellaneous sayings, anecdotes, gossip, and scraps of information about a particular person, place , ot event; or a book that records such sayings and anecdotes. Englishmen in the seventeenth century were much devoted to this type of writi.g. TheTableTalkof lohn Selden(1689)is a typical collection. The

17

ll

AnadiPlosis

a collection of term also exists as a suffix, as in Goldsm rthvrna, where it denotes information about Goldsmith. False assignment of an event, a person, a scene, language-in fact Anachronism: a time when that event or thing or person was not in existence' anything-to rn King lohtt, Shakespeare is guilty of sund ry annchronismssuchas his placing cannon The England' in use into came cannon before years a play deahng tiitn i ti*" many romanticist' the to than realist the to sin a greater ,rs.ruily is anachronism,however, Twairt's A Humorists sometimes use aruchionisms as comic devices. lvlark atuchronisnt' satiric sustained, yanl