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M
Macaronic Verse
Poems that consist of expressions in more than one language. John
Skelton wrote several poems in this manner.
Madrigal
An Italian short poem or part song suitable for singing by three or
more voices, first appearing in England in the anthology Musica
Transalpina. There is no fixed rhyme scheme or line length. For
example, the anonymous "My Love in her Attire doth shew her wit.
Maker
A medieval and early Renaissance term for `poet.'
Malapropism
A mistaken substitution of one word for another that sounds similar,
generally with humorous effect, as in "arduous romance" for "ardent
romance."
Marinism
Excessive ornateness marked by the use of extravagant metaphors, so
named from the 17th century Italian poet, Giambattista Marino, and his
school of followers.
Marxist Criticism
An approach to literature that focuses on the ideological content of a
work—its explicit and implicit assumptions and values about matters
such as culture, race, class, and power. Marxist criticism, based largely
on the writings of Karl Marx, typically aims at not only revealing and
clarifying ideological issues but also correcting social injustices. Some
Marxist critics use literature to describe the competing socioeconomic
interests that too often advance capitalist interests such as money and
power rather than socialist interests such as morality and justice. They
argue that literature and literary criticism are essentially political because
they either challenge or support economic oppression. Because of this
strong emphasis on the political aspects of texts, Marxist criticism
focuses more on the content and themes of literature than on its form.
Masculine Rhyme
Gendered expression for rhymes ending in a stressed syllable, such as
"hells" and "bells." The expressions strong or one-syllable rhyme avoid
the sexist bias.
Measure
Poetic rhythm or cadence as determined by the syllables in a line of
poetry with respect to quantity and accent; also, meter; also, a metrical
foot.
Meiosis
An understatement; the presentation of a thing with under emphasis in
order to achieve a greater effect.
Meistersingers
Members of various German trade guilds formed in the 15th and 16th
centuries by merchants and craftsmen for the cultivation of poetry and
music, succeeding the Minnesingers.
Melic Verse
Capable of being sung. The term is derived from an ornate form of
Greek lyric poetry of the 7th and 6th centuries B.C.
Mesostich
See Acrostic Poem
Metaphor
A comparison that is made literally, either by a verb (for example, John
Keats' "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" from his "Ode on a Grecian Urn")
or, less obviously, by a combination of adjective and noun, noun and
verb, etc. (for example, Shakespeare's sonnet on the "the marriage of
true minds"), but in any case without pointing out a similarity by using
words such as "as," "like," or "than."
Metaphysical
Of or relating to a group of 17th century poets whose verse was
distinguished by an intellectual and philosophical style, with extended
metaphors or conceits comparing very dissimilar things.
Metaphysical Poets
John Donne (1572-1631) and his imitators, including George Herbert,
Andrew Marvell, Abraham Cowley, Richard Crashaw, and Henry
Vaughan, whose works are characterized (not exclusively) by colloquial
diction, esoteric conceits, irony, and metrically irregular lines. Dryden
first characterized Donne in this way.
Meter
The arrangement of a line of poetry by the number of syllables and the
rhythm of accented (or stressed) syllables.
Metonymy
A figure of speech in which one word is substituted for another with
which it is closely associated. For example, in the expression The pen is
mightier than the sword, the word pen is used for "the written word,"
and sword is used for "military power."
Metre
The rhythm of verse, reduceable to one of four kinds, accentual,
syllabic, accentual-syllabic, and quantitative. Also sometimes called
`number(s).'
Metrical Pause
A "rest" or "hold" that has a temporal value, usually to compensate for
the omission of an unstressed syllable in a foot.
Metrical Substitution
Small variations within a metrical pattern
Metrics
The branch of prosody concerned with meter.
Middle Rhyme
See Internal Rhyme
Miltonic
Pertaining to the poetry or style of the poet, John Milton, one of the
most respected figures in English literature.
Miltonic Sonnet
See Sonnet
Mimesis
Literally, imitation or realistic representation -- but its poetic significance
is more specific: it refers to the combination of sound in phonetic
symbolism and onomatopoeia (sound suggestion) with the connotative,
symbolic, and synesthetic effects of the words themselves and their
syntactic arrangement to resemble, reinforce, shape, and temper their
lexical sense in a manner that mirrors the meaning.
Minnesingers
Lyric poets of Germany in the 12th to 14th centuries, all men of noble
birth who received royal patronage and who wrote mainly of courtly
love. They were succeeded by the Meistersingers.
Minstrel
In the Middle Ages, the general term for a performer who subsisted by
reciting verse and singing, usually accompanied by a harp. Some
minstrels were travelling entertainers; others were permanently
employed by nobles.
Minstrelsy
The art and occupation of minstrels; also, a collection of minstrel songs
or a group of musicians or minstrels.
Mixed Metaphor
Two awkwardly-yoked metaphors, such as "kicking the spurs of zeal on
the road to Abraham's bosom."
Mock Epic
A poem amusingly subverting the conventions of the epic, more often
to comment on a topic satirically than to make fun of the epic.
Examples are John Dryden's Mac Flecknoe, and Alexander Pope's The
Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad.
Mock-Heroic
Treating something trivial with high seriousness, as in John Philips' The
Splendid Shilling.
Modulation
In poetry, the harmonious use of language relative to the variations of
stress and pitch.
Molossus
Greek and Latin metrical foot consisting of long, long, and long syllables
/ ' ' ' /.
Monody
A poem in which one person laments another's death.
Monologue
A monologue is a speech made by one character in a literary work or a
dramatic speech made by an actor.
Monometer
One foot; sometimes termed monopody, a single foot, one measure
made up of one foot.
Monorhyme
The use of only one rhyme in a stanza. An example is William Blake's
"Silent, Silent Night."
Monostich
A poem or epigram of a single metrical line.
Monosyllable
A word of one syllable.
Mood
See Tone
Mora pl. Morae
The minimal unit of rhythmic measurement in quantitive verse,
equivalent to the time it takes to pronounce an ordinary or average
short syllable; two morae are equivalent to a long syllable.
Mosaic Rhyme
A rhyme in which two or more words produce a multiple rhyme, either
with two or more other words, as go for / no more, or with one longer
word, as cop a plea / monopoly. It is usually used for comic effect.
Motif
An image or action in a literary work that is shared by other works and
that is sometimes thought to belong to a collective unconsciousness.
Muses
William Bullokar's English dictionary (1616) explains them as "The
feyned goddesses of poetry, and musicke, which were nine in number
and daughters vnto Iupiter and Mnemosyne: Their names were Cleio,
Melpomene, Thaleia, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Erato, Calliope, Vrania and
Polymneia."
Mythological Criticism
An approach to literature that seeks to identify what in a work creates
deep universal responses in readers, by paying close attention to the
hopes, fears, and expectations of entire cultures. Mythological critics
(sometimes called archetypal critics) look for underlying, recurrent
patterns in literature that reveal universal meanings and basic human
experiences for readers regardless of when and where they live. These
critics attempt to explain how archetypes (the characters, images, and
themes that symbolically embody universal meanings and experiences)
are embodied in literary works in order to make larger connections that
explain a particular work’s lasting appeal. Mythological critics may
specialize in areas such as classical literature, philology, anthropology,
psychology, and cultural history, but they all emphasize the
assumptions and values of various cultures.
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