Literary Terms: E - E

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Elegy –

a lyric poem which mourns the death of a particular person

Elizabethan Theater –

developed during the 1500, a form of theater which where plays were performs in the courtyards of inns and evolved into a highly sophisticated form of theater with elaborate theaters; includes Shakespearean plays

End-stopped line –

a pause at the end of a line of verse

Enjambment/run-on line –

continuation of a thought or sentence onto a new line

Epic –

a narrative which tells a story of a great adventure or battle and which involves humans of exceptional stature such as kings who often have superior strength or skills or includes gods. The results of the adventure or battle or war has drastic consequences beyond the fate of the participants often for an entire country or kingdom

Epigram –

a short clever poem making a pointed, sometimes paradoxical, observation

Epiphany –

the sudden insight a character has about him or herself, another character, or the situation

Episodia –

episodes or scenes following the parodos where the actors play out the conflict.

Epithet –

words used to describe or characterize a person or a thing such as wine dark sea in wine dark sea.

Euphony –

good or pleasing sound

Evaluate –

form a judgment as to information provided on content

Exposition –

a part of the fiction (or or drama or poem) which introduces the characters, settings, and conflict

Expressionism –

a literary movement in the early 1900s which focused on finding and expressing an inner or spiritual reality rather than portraying an actual external reality.

Expressionistic stage setting –

the creation of scenery, costumes, props, and/or lighting in an exaggerated way that reflects the theme or mood of the play such as drab dark colors and lighting to show the depressed mood of the characters

Extended metaphor –

direct comparison which is repeated in the poem; more commonly used in an epic poem where the same comparison is used throughout

Extended simile – 

comparison using the word like or as which is repeated in the poem; more commonly used in an epic poem where the same comparison is used throughout

Eye rhyme –

a similarity in spelling between words that are pronounced differently