Entertainment / Literature Glossary

Common Meter: Another term for common measure (see above).

Commonization: The linguistic term for an eponym--a common word that is derived from the proper name of a person or place. For instance, the sandwich gained its name from its inventor, the fourth Earl of S . . . View Full Definition

Compert: (pluralcomperta): Specifically, birth-tales in Old Irish literature that detail the conception and birth of a hero. Examples include the Compert Con Culainn (Birth of Cú Chulainn). Usually . . . View Full Definition

Completeness: The second aspect of Aristotle's requirements for a tragedy. By completeness, Aristotle emphasizes the logic, wholeness, and closure necessary to satisfy the audience.

Composite Monster: (in architecture, often called a chimera after the Greek monster) The term is one mythologists use to describe the fantastical creatures in Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and medieval European . . . View Full Definition

Compositor: A typesetter in a Renaissance print shop. To speed the printing process, most of Shakespeare's plays appear to have been set by multiple compositors. As Greenblatt notes, 'Compositors freque . . . View Full Definition

Compounding: A term from linguistics used to describe the creation of a new word (neologism') that comes about by taking two existing words and sticking them together to create a brand new concept (Horob . . . View Full Definition

Compurgation: In addition to trial by ordeal, compurgation was the medieval law practice among Christianized Anglo-Saxon tribes to determine innocence. A man accused of a crime would publicly swear to his . . . View Full Definition

Conceit: (also called a metaphysical conceit) An elaborate or unusual comparison--especially one using unlikely metaphors, simile, hyperbole, and contradiction. Before the beginning of the seventeent . . . View Full Definition

Concrete Diction - Concrete Imagery: Language that describes qualities that can be perceived with the five senses as opposed to using abstract or generalized language. For instance, calling a fruit 'pleasant' or 'good' is abstr . . . View Full Definition

Concrete Poetry: Poetry that draws much of its power from the way the text appears situated on the page. The actual shape of the lines of text may create a swan's neck, an altar, a geometric pattern, or a se . . . View Full Definition

Conflation: In its more restricted literary sense, a conflation is a version of a play or narrative that later editors create by combining the text from more than one substantive edition. For example, G . . . View Full Definition

Conflict: The opposition between two characters (such as a protagonist and an antagonist), between two large groups of people, or between the protagonist and a larger problem such as forces of nature, . . . View Full Definition

Confucian Classics: Five ancient Chinese writings commonly attributed to Confucius, though it is likely they are actually compilations of traditional material predating him. The five classics include the I Chin . . . View Full Definition

Connotation: The extra tinge or taint of meaning each word carries beyond the minimal, strict definition found in a dictionary. For instance, the terms civil war, revolution and rebellion have the same d . . . View Full Definition

Consonance: A special type of alliteration in which the repeated pattern of consonants is marked by changes in the intervening vowels--i.e., the final consonants of the stressed syllables match each oth . . . View Full Definition

Consonant: A speech sound that is not a vowel. To download a PDF file listing consonants and their symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet, click here.

Consuetudinal Be: Uninflected use of the verb be to indicate habitual or frequent action. This grammatical structure is characteristic of Black Vernacular. An example would be as follows: What you be doing on . . . View Full Definition

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