Deceit: The action or practice of deceiving; concealment of the truth in

order to mislead; deception, fraud, cheating, false dealing.

Related words: deceptive, deceive.

Duplicity: The quality of being ‘double’ in action or conduct; the character

or practice of acting in two ways at different times; deceitfulness, double-
dealing.

Poetry: Poetry is a type of literature based on the interplay of words and

rhythm. It often employs rhyme and meter (a set of rules governing the
number and arrangement of syllables in each line). In poetry, words are strung
together to form sounds, images, and ideas that might be too complex or
abstract to describe in conventional prose. Poetry often describes any writing
in verse form.

Prose :Writing that is not organized according to the formal patterns of

verse or meter. It does not need to follow a certain rhythm and does not
generally rhyme.

Carpe Diem Poems :“Carpe diem” is Latin for “pluck the day” or “seize the
day.” It is a phrase originally used by the Roman poet Horace to express the
idea that one should enjoy life while one can. Carpe diem poems are a type of
poetry wherein the speaker lingers on the fleetingnature of life and the need
to embrace its pleasures. This type of poem often addresses a young
audience, telling them to savour each moment to the fullest while they still
have their youthful health and vitality

Duplicitous: The adjective for the noun “duplicity”: the quality of being
‘double’ in action or conduct; the character or practice of acting in two ways
at different times; deceitfulness, double-dealing.

Double Entendre: A word or phrase that is open to two different meanings,

one of them often being sexual in nature.
 Coy: Quiet, shy, or reserved; (especially with reference to a woman)
pretending to be shy or modest to be more alluring; not responding readily to
sexual advances; intentionally keeping something secret or withholding
information,often to generate more interest in it.

Seduction Poems: Poems that contain erotic content or themes to attempt

to entice or persuade someone into sexual congress.

Hyperbole: Poetic overstatement; intentional exaggeration to create an

effect;exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Blazon: A literary blazon (or blason) catalogues the physical attributes of a

subject, usually female. The device was used extensively by Elizabethan
poets. For example, “Her goodly eyes like sapphires shining bright, / Her
forehead ivory white …” (Spenser, “Epithalamion”). Blazon compares parts of
the female body to jewels, celestial bodies, natural phenomenon, and other
beautiful or rare objects.

Metaphor: A comparison of one concept to another; things or ideas that

are not literally the same are compared to uncover a similarity. Example: The
Outsiders: “Stay Gold, Ponyboy”

Honour: Great respect, esteem, or reverence received, gained, or enjoyed

by a person or thing; glory, renown, fame; reputation, good name.With
reference to a woman: virtue as regards sexual morality; chastity; virginity; a
reputation for this, one’s good name. Now archaic.

Simile: An explicit comparison between two different things, actions, or

feelings, using the words ‘as’or ‘like.’Example: Achebe, Things Fall Apart:
“Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water.”

Disingenuous : Slightly dishonest, or not speaking the complete truth; not

sincere; giving a false appearance of simple frankness, while actually being
calculated.

Epigraph: A short quotation or saying at the beginning of a text, intended

to enhance its theme.

Two-faced: Deceitful, false, or double-dealing. Someone who is two-faced

is not sincere, saying unpleasant things about you to other people while
seeming to be pleasant when they are with you.

Personification: Endowing a non-human object or abstraction with human

qualities.For example: T.S. Eliot: “April is the cruelest month”

Allusion: A reference to a historical, mythic, or literary person, place, or

event outside of the given text. It tends to expand meaning in the text by
providing an additional context.

Illusion: A false idea or belief. Also, a deceptive appearance or impression.

Example:“the illusion of family togetherness”

Metatheatre: Theatre about theatre, or any moment of self-awareness by

which a play draws attention to its status as a fictional performance. This may
involve: themes relating to drama, artificiality, or performance; actors
speaking directly to the audience; or a play within a play.

American Dream: The idea that America is a land of opportunity and

plenty, and that anyone who works hard enough can achieve whatever they
want. It includes the belief that freedom entitles all Americans to the
opportunity for success, as well as upward social mobility for the family and
children, based on hard work, merit, and ability rather than class status or
circumstances of birth.In the 1950s and 60s, the American Dream was tied to
the ideal of having a “proper” nuclear family and a picture-perfect home with
a picket fence.

Alliteration:The same sounds repeating at the beginning of words, which

creates emphasis or makes them stand out.

Magic Realism: A realistic style of narration, that includes fantastic events,

told as if they were real. Or, the representation of the extraordinary as if it
were ordinary.

Intertextuality: A term coined by Julia Kristeva to designate the various

relationships that a given text may have with other texts,whether created by
the same author or by different ones.These intertextual relationships include
allusion, adaptation, translation, parody, pastiche, imitation, and other kinds
of referencing or transformation. The term “intertext” has been used variously
for a text drawing on other texts, for a text thus drawn upon, and for the
relationship between both.

Unreliable Narrator: A narrator whose account of events appears to be

faulty, misleading,biased, or otherwise distorted, so that it departs from the
‘true’ understanding of events shared between the reader and the implied
author.