By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
What is an allegory? And what examples of allegory are there in English literature? An allegory is, put simply, a story that has a double meaning: as The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory
In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle introduces one of the most distinctive, and contentious, verse forms
‘What is a villanelle?’ is a question that anyone who encounters the word is likely to be stumped by, since, unlike a sonnet or a limerick, its precise structure and form are not widely known about. A villanelle remains a more specialised and lesser-known verse form alongside its more famous cousins. Yet some of the most influential poets of the twentieth century, including W. H. Auden, Dylan Thomas, and Sylvia Plath, all wrote villanelles. What is a villanelle, and why would anyone want to write one?
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
Put simply and summarised in one sentence, the Oedipus complex is the phenomenon whereby a very young child is attracted to its mother and becomes jealous of its father, whom the child regards as its rival for the mother’s affection. In summary, the Oedipus complex is about the child’s attachment to its mother, the psychical energy it has towards its mother as an object of desire.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
What is iambic pentameter, and why is it the most popular metre in English poetry? There are two things which need to be addressed here: what ‘iambic’ means and what ‘pentameter’ means. So, by way of introduction to this common metre, here’s a little bit of background on iambic pentameter – with some examples of how it’s been used by some of the greatest poets in the English language.
Lines of poetry can be counted in terms of syllables. So, in this line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet:
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Hendiadys’ is not a common word in English studies, partly because it is relatively rare in the English language, and therefore in English literature. But it does turn up as an important and subtle literary device in the work of some major English writers, including William Shakespeare. But what is hendiadys? How do you even pronounce the word? What follows might be regarded as a brief introduction to this rather specific literary device.