| A | B |
|---|
| ober dicta | incidental remarks like "by the way" |
| objective correlative | T.S. Elliot's term for a pattern or set of objects, action, or events |
| Objective Theory of Art | a term applied by M.H. Abrams that says that literary work is most significant as the object itself--i.e. art for art's sake |
| objectivism | a study of the reality or value of the objective world |
| objectivity | quality given to art that is free of all emotions or attitudes |
| Obligatory Scene | when the audience expects a scene so strongly that the writer is obliged to deliver it |
| oblique rhyme | not true rhyme--also called near, half, or slant rhyme |
| Occasional Verse | Poetry written for a special occasion |
| Ocham's (or Occam's) Razor | the principle of pasimony which is extreme stinginess |
| octameter | a line of eight feet |
| Octastich | a group of eight lines |
| octavo | a book size-made up from sheets folded to make eight leaves or sixteen pages |
| octet | a group of eight lines--same as an octastich |
| Octosyllabic Verse | poetry in lines of eight syllables |
| ode | exalted verse directed to a single object or purpose |
| Oedipus Complex | a sexual feeling that develops between a young child and the parent of the opposite sex |
| Old Comedy | Greek comedy of the fifth century |
| Old English | Germanic dialect spoken in the British Isles |
| Old English Period | 428-1100 |
| Ollave | a person of wisdom and learning |
| Omnibus | a volume of selected works |
| Omiscient Point of View | when the narrator is capable of knowing, seeing, and telling all |
| onomatopeia | words that sound like their meaning--hiss, buzz, whirr, sizzle, etc. |
| onset | one of the three components of a syllable |
| Open Couplet | a couplet in which the second line is incomplete |
| open-endedness | when a work is not tied up neatly at the end |
| Opera bouffe | a French term for a light or comic opera |
| Operetta | a comic opera with music and songs |
| Opsis | Aristotle's term for the "spectacle" in drama |
| Oral Transmission | material is transmitted by word of mouth |
| Oxytone | having an accent on the final syllable |
| Organic Form | the notion that a literary work comes from the thoughts and feeling of the author |
| Orphism | defined by Gerald L. Bruns as "the idea of poetic speech" |
| ossianic controversy | literary forgeries |
| outride | Gerard Manley Hopkins term used to describe a slack syllable--which is an unstressed syllable |
| Outsider Art | art produced by persons who are not considered official artists or writers |
