Advanced Russian terms for discussing literature: figures of speech, verse and metre, plot structure and genres.
метафо́ра (ж)
metaphor: comparing two different things without "like" or "as"
сравне́ние (с)
simile, comparison: comparing two things using "like" or "as"
эпите́т (м)
epithet: a descriptive word that gives a noun emotional colour
гипербо́ла (ж)
hyperbole: dramatic exaggeration
метони́мия (ж)
metonymy: replacing the name of a thing with something closely associated with it
синекдо́ха (ж)
synecdoche: using a part for the whole or the whole for a part
иро́ния (ж)
irony: expressing a meaning by saying the opposite of the literal words
ри́фма (ж)
rhyme: matching sounds at the ends of words in verse
ритм (м)
rhythm: a regular pattern of beats in verse or music
стих (м)
verse: a single line of poetry, or a poem as a whole
строфа́ (ж)
stanza: a group of lines forming a unit in a poem
ямб (м)
iamb: a metre with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one
хоре́й (м)
trochee: a metre with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one
кульмина́ция (ж)
climax: the peak of the plot in a literary work
экспози́ция (ж)
exposition: introducing the characters and situation at the start of a work
антите́за (ж)
antithesis: a contrast between two ideas or phenomena
сюже́т (м)
plot: the chain of events in a story or play
фабу́ла (ж)
fabula, story: the chronological order of events behind the plot
моноло́г (м)
monologue: speech by a single character
диало́г (м)
dialogue: a conversation between two or more characters
лири́зм (м)
lyricism: the expression of deep personal feeling in literature
дра́ма (ж)
drama: a work that stirs deep emotion and pain; a play
траги́ческое (с)
the tragic: what arouses sorrow when fate brings suffering
коми́ческое (с)
the comic: what arouses laughter through incongruity
подте́кст (м)
subtext: hidden or emotional meaning beneath what is said
архаи́зм (м)
archaism: an old word or form no longer in everyday use
неологи́зм (м)
neologism: a newly coined word
троп (м)
trope: a word used in a figurative, non-literal sense
худо́жественный стиль (м)
literary (artistic) style: writing that evokes images and imagination
дено́тация (ж)
denotation: the direct, literal meaning of a word
коннота́ция (ж)
connotation: the additional or emotional meaning of a word
ономатопе́я (ж)
onomatopoeia: a word imitating a natural sound (thunder, a shout, etc.)
апостро́фа (ж)
apostrophe (rhetorical): direct address to an absent person or thing
бе́лый стих (м)
blank verse: unrhymed verse with a regular metre
верли́бр (м)
free verse: poetry without fixed metre or rhyme
соне́т (м)
sonnet: a 14-line poem with a fixed rhyme scheme
балла́да (ж)
ballad: a narrative poem with a dramatic or supernatural tone
припе́в (м)
refrain, chorus: lines repeated at intervals in a poem or song
стихотворе́ние (с)
poem: a formal piece of verse with rhythm and rhyme
про́за (ж)
prose: ordinary written language without a set rhythm