Telling See
character.
Tercet A three-line
stanza. See also stanza, triplet.
Terza rima An
interlocking three-line rhyme scheme: aba, bcb, cdc, ded, and so on. Dante’s The
Divine Comedy and Frost’s "Acquainted with the Night" are written in terza
rima. See also rhyme, tercet.
Theme The central
meaning or dominant idea in a literary work. A theme provides a unifying point around
which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other elements of a work
are organized. It is important not to mistake the theme for the actual subject of the
work; the theme refers to the abstract concept that is made concrete through the images,
characterization, and action of the text. In nonfiction, however, the theme generally
refers to the main topic of the discourse.
Thesis The central
idea of an essay. The thesis is a complete sentence (although sometimes it may require
more than one sentence) that establishes the topic of the essay in clear, unambiguous
language.
Tone The
author’s implicit attitude toward the reader or the people, places, and events in a
work as revealed by the elements of the author’s style. Tone may be characterized as
serious or ironic, sad or happy, private or public, angry or affectionate, bitter or
nostalgic, or any other attitudes and feelings that human beings experience. See also
style.
Tragedy A story that
presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves
with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in the face of
failure, defeat, and even death. Tragedies recount an individual’s downfall; they
usually begin high and end low. Shakespeare is known for his tragedies, including Macbeth,
King Lear, Othello, and Hamlet. The revenge tragedy is a well-established type of drama
that can be traced back to Greek and Roman plays, particularly through the Roman
playwright Seneca (c. 3 b.c.–a.d. 63). Revenge tragedies basically consist of a
murder that has to be avenged by a relative of the victim. Typically, the victim’s
ghost appears to demand revenge, and invariably madness of some sort is worked into
subsequent events, which ultimately end in the deaths of the murderer, the avenger, and a
number of other characters. Shakespeare’s Hamlet subscribes to the basic ingredients
of revenge tragedy, but it also transcends these conventions because Hamlet contemplates
not merely revenge but suicide and the meaning of life itself. A tragic flaw is an error
or defect in the tragic hero that leads to his downfall, such as greed, pride, or
ambition. This flaw may be a result of bad character, bad judgment, an inherited weakness,
or any other defect of character. Tragic irony is a form of dramatic irony found in
tragedies such as Oedipus the King, in which Oedipus ironically ends up hunting himself.
See also comedy, drama.
Tragic flaw See
tragedy.
Tragic irony See
irony, tragedy.
Tragicomedy A type of
drama that combines certain elements of both tragedy and comedy. The play’s plot
tends to be serious, leading to a terrible catastrophe, until an unexpected turn in events
leads to a reversal of circumstance, and the story ends happily. Tragicomedy often employs
a romantic, fast-moving plot dealing with love, jealousy, disguises, treachery, intrigue,
and surprises, all moving toward a melodramatic resolution. Shakespeare’s Merchant of
Venice is a tragicomedy. See also comedy, drama, melodrama, tragedy.
Triplet A tercet in
which all three lines rhyme. See also tercet.
Trochaic meter See
foot.
Understatement The
opposite of hyperbole, understatement (or litotes) refers to a figure of speech that says
less than is intended. Understatement usually has an ironic effect, and sometimes may be
used for comic purposes, as in Mark Twain’s statement, "The reports of my death
are greatly exaggerated." See also hyperbole, irony.
Unreliable narrator See
narrator.
Verbal irony See
irony.
Verse A generic term
used to describe poetic lines composed in a measured rhythmical pattern, that are often,
but not necessarily, rhymed. See also line, meter, rhyme, rhythm.
Villanelle A type of
fixed form poetry consisting of nineteen lines of any length divided into six stanzas:
five tercets and a concluding quatrain. The first and third lines of the initial tercet
rhyme; these rhymes are repeated in each subsequent tercet (aba) and in the final two
lines of the quatrain (abaa). Line 1 appears in its entirety as lines 6, 12, and 18, while
line 3 reappears as lines 9, 15, and 19. Dylan Thomas’s "Do not go gentle into
that good night" is a villanelle. See also fixed form, quatrain, rhyme, tercet.
Well-made play A
realistic style of play that employs conventions including plenty of suspense created by
meticulous plotting. Well-made plays are tightly and logically constructed, and lead to a
logical resolution that is favorable to the protagonist. This dramatic structure was
popularized in France by Eugène Scribe (1791–1861) and Victorien Sardou
(1831–1908) and was adopted by Henrik Ibsen. See also character, plot.
