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Objective narrator (objective point of view) –
relates the story as a sequence of events without commenting or judging the characters or their action or situation
Objective –
relates the story as a sequence of events without commenting or judging the characters or their action or situation
Occasional poem –
lyric poetry written about an occasion
Octave –
a poem or stanza of eight lines in a poem
Ode –
a lyric poem explicating the attributes or aspects of nature or a specific object or living creature such as “Ode to a Nightingale.” Uses complex stanza patterns.
Olfactory imagery –
the creation of an image of smell
Omniscient –
an omniscient narrator knows everything about the events and the characters
Onomatopoeia –
words that sound like the sound they mean. "Buzz" is an example of a buzzing sound.
Open form (free verse, vers libre) –
poetry that does not follow any specific pattern of form, rhyme, or meter
Opinion –
a personal evaluation
Oral tradition –
the tradition of transmitting stories, poems, and other cultural information from generation to generation through oral presentation instead of by written documents
Orchestra –
the part of the stage where the orchestra performs generally in a lower section in front of the stage; from “the dancing place” in Ancient Greek Theater
Ottava rima–
a poem or stanza of eight lines with a specific rhyme pattern: iambic pentameter with ab ab ab cc
Oxymoron –
use of contradictory, opposing, or inconsistent terms such as fearless coward
Pageants –
recreations of Biblical stories during the 1100s and 1200s; also called mystery plays; forerunners of Elizabethan Theater
Palindrome –
a word, line, verse, number, or sentence which reads the same backward as forward such as radar
Parables –
a short tale used for teaching a lesson
Parodos –
a part of Ancient Greek tragedy where the chorus enters and comments on the prologos following the prologos
Participatory drama –
where actors mingle and interact with members of the audience
Pastoral romance –
a romance which focuses on the pleasures of the simple, rural life
Pastoral –
a lyric poem which observes the simple pleasures of rural life
Pattern of imagery –
the systematic use of imagery in a work
Perfect rhyme –
when a sound in a word is the same as the sound in another word
Persona –
the personality a narrator assumes; a mask used in Ancient Greek theater by the actors playing a particular role
Personal perspective –
a position based on personal experiences
Personification –
attributing human qualities to a non-human or non-living object
Petrarchan sonnet –
a lyric poem about unattainable love
Physical setting –
the place where the action occurs: a park, a supermarket
Picaresque –
a story about a rogue