Literary Terms : Epic Simile,Epigram,Episode,Epithet,Exposition

Epic Simile:

An open comparison between two dissimilar objects of which one is fairly elaborated. It is called epic simile because the epic poets introduced the tradition of such similes. For example, in Book-XII of •Iliad Hector has been compared to a boar and a lion:

 "He was like a wild-boar or a lion when he turns this way and that among the hounds and huntsmen to defy them in his strength."

 In this simile the qualities of a boar and a lion are elaborated to suggest Hector's strength and bravery. Similarly in the following epic simile from Virgil's Aeneid, Dido has been compared to a wounded deer:


Literary Terms :Alliteration, Allusion, Anapest , Anti-climax or Bathos

 Sick with desire, and seeking him she loves,  From street to street the raving Dido roves.

So when the watchful shepherd, from the blind,

Wounds with a random shaft the careless hind,

Distracted with her pain she flies the woods,

Bounds o'er the lawn, and seeks the silent floods,

With fruitless care; for still the fatal dart

 Sticks in her side, and rankles in her heart.

The restless wandering of the deer which has been wounded unwittingly is elaborated in detail to suggest the agony of love-sick Dido.

 Main features of an epic simile :

 1) It is elaborated in considerable detail. It is often complete in itself.

 2) It is mainly drawn from nature and the primary qualities of the physical nature are suggested by it. In some exceptional cases, however, politics or literature or mythology is used for its source,

3) Usually it is functional and integrated to the narrative. 4) Generally it is used in epics.

Epigram:

A brief and witty statement which is apparently self-contradictory. Example:

"Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought."

(Shelley: "To A Skylark").

Here "sweetest" and "saddest" oppose each other but as we go beneath the surface level, we find that the sadder the song the deeper the impression it makes.

Literary Terms : Blank Verse,Aphorism,Archaism, Assonance

Episode:

A part of a longer story. It is often complete in itself. For example, the part of Aeneid which deals with the love of Dido for Aeneas is an episode. An episode contributes to the total design of the narrative.

Epithet:

Basically an adjective used before a person or a thing. For example, "his weary way", "labouring clouds", "swift-footed Achilles", etc.

Literary Terms : Classicism, Climax, Circumlocution or Periphrasis, Comic Relief, Conceit

Exposition:

The beginning of a play which informs what has already happened and hints at what will happen next. In it the background of the plot is revealed and the oncoming events are suggested.