Glossary of Literary Terms
Alphabetic Index  Categorical Index  Period Index
Centuries

15th Century

allegory
ballad
Chaucerianism
exempla
fabliau
metrical tale
typology
vision

16th Century

alliteration
aureate
epyllia
euphuism
paragone
pastoral
Petrarchism
sestet
sonnet
sonnet sequence
typology

17th Century

blank verse
conceit
epigram
heroic play
masque
metaphysical school
pastoral
resolve
restoration drama
revenge tragedy
vision

18th Century

Augustan
decorum
Della Cruscan
didactic poetry
georgic
gothic
graveyard school
heroic couplet
primitivism
pure poetry
sentimentalism

19th Century

bildungsroman
cockney school
historical novel
melodrama
naturalism
negative capability
pathetic fallacy
pre-Raphaelite
romanticism
sensation novel
spasmotic school