Alliteration—The repetition of the same initial letter in every succeeding word; as, “Full fathom five thy father lies” (Shakespeare; The Tempest)
Anthem—A national song.
Anti-climax—A sudden descent in thought and expression.
Aphorism—A maxim or a concise sentence containing precept of important truth.
Autobiography—An account of one’s life written by oneself.
Ballad—A short narrative poem, adopted for reciting and singing.
Ballet—A combination of four arts; dancing, music, painting and drama each of which is of equal importance.
Belles letters—Choicest literature.
Biography—The history or the life of a person written-by somebody other than by the person concerned himself.
Blue Books—British Parliamentary Reports.
Blank-Verse—Poem without rhyme.
Blue Stocking—A term used to describe a lady affecting literary tastes.
Burlesque—A literary composition tending to excite laughter by caricature or extravagant contrast.
Calligraphy—Beautiful writing.
Caricature—Representation of something in a ridiculous or exaggerated style, especially in Pictures.
Catastrophe—Denotes the last stage of a tragedy.
Classic—A work of the highest class or rank in literature or art.
Classicism—The term is characterized by a sense of form, balance and proportion. It looks to the Greek and Roman authors for inspiration.
Comedy—A play dealing with comic and happy side of life.
Cubism—It is a form of modern art introduced by Picasso, Spanish painter in which human being are presented in geometrical figures.
Dirge—A mourning song.
Elegy—A song of mourning, Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard” is an example of elegy.
Epic—A narrative poem of some heroic deed e.g., ‘The Paradise Lost’. ‘The Ramcharitmanas.’
Epigram—A short saying full of wit.
Epilogue—A poem of speech at the end of a play.
Esperanto—A universal language invented by Dr. Ludwig Zamenh of Warsaw in 1887. This speech is constructed from roots common to the chief European languages.
Euphemism—An affected style of writing.
Free Verse—Poem without regular metre and rhyme.
Farce—A dramatic work merely to arouse laughter.
Fresco Painting—A method of painting in water-colour laid on a wall or ceiling before the plaster is dry.
Green Room—The place where to the actors and actresses retire when off stage.
Hymn—Song in praise of God.
Hyperbole—A figure of speech in which things are spoken of exaggeratedly to produce literary effect.
Hieroglyphics—The earliest pictures of symbolic expressions and art supposed to have been introduced by the ancient Egyptians.
Idyll—A short poem describing some happy, simple, rural pastoral scenes.
Ikebana—Japanese style of flower arrangement.
Innuendo—An oblique expression hinting at something but not openly stating it.
Jingoism—Ostentatious way of expressing excessive patriotism.
Lampoon—A piece of satire against a person.
Lyric—Originally a poem that could be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre; but now it is used in a general sense meaning a poem embodying one united emotion of the poet.
Malapropism—Derives its name from a character of Mrs. Malaprop in Sheridan’s ‘Rivals’. She misused word which sounded alike.
Melody—Musical arrangement of words.
Melodrama—Sensational dramatic piece with violent appeals to emotions.
Metaphor—A figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two different objects by omitting words of comparison like ‘like’ ‘as’, “Life is a tale told by an idiot.”
Naturalism—Adherence to nature in art and literature.
Nome de plume (pen name)—An assumed name under which a person writes to hide his identity; e.g. Alpha of the Plough, the pen name of A.G. Gardiner.
Ode—Poem meant to be sung to the accompaniment of dance.
Orthography—Art of correct spelling.
Parody—Imitation in a humorous way of a poem or writing.
Philology—Science of languages.
Plagiarism—Act of stealing from the writings of others. Shakespeare is supposed to be one of the greatest plagiarists and yet he was the greatest original writer.
Poet Laureate—Poet of the Royal household, now spoken of a poet recognised officially as a national poet.
Pornography—Writing, painting or photography describing sex in such a manner as to arouse baser passions and excite impressionable minds.
Prosody—Science of versification.
Realism—A term used with reference to a form of literature depicting actual life and representing universal human passions.
Romance—A branch of literature in which element of wonder or imagination predominates.
Romanticism—The term is characterised by the qualities of remoteness, resolution, disillusionment, passion, divine unrest, melancholy, idealization and all embracing power of the imagination. It is suggestive of strangeness and adventure—never satisfied aspiration after the unknown or unattainable.
Renaissance—Revival of ancient art and learning in Europe in 15th century.
Satire—A composition written in satiric vein aiming at ridiculing and eliminating evil customs from the society or individuals.
Simile—Comparison bringing out similarity between two different things otherwise dissimilar.
Sonnet—A lyric poem of fourteen lines with particular rhyming scheme.
Spoonerism—Ludicrous involuntary transposition of sounds of spoken words such as “Snowing Leopard” for “Loving Shepherd”.
Stop Press—Refers to a special space provided in a newspaper for last minute news when it is just going to be printed.
Yellow Journalism—Any newspaper giving sensational news or features with lavish use of pictures or pseudo-scientific articles is said to be indulging “Yellow Journalism”.
Absolute Zero—The starting point of absolute temperature where all molecular motion ceases.
Artificial Gravity—This is actually the creation of centrifugal force by causing a craft-like object, the popularly known space station, to slowly rotate. This is just one more attempt to imitate the natural environment.
Astronaut—One who is chosen to go on flights into space.
Capsule—The original container for the astronauts in their orbiting flights around the earth. It is sealed tight and can maintain for an extended period of time an environment suitable for life to exist.
Command Module—The section of the Apollo space craft which houses the crew of three astronauts and which is the only reentering unit of the main sub-system used during the flight.
Communication Satellite—A satellite which is equipped to act as a middle relay station for a transmitting and receiving station pair thousands of miles apart. These wouldn't have to rely upon ground cables which are not always available between the two points.
Docking—The joining together of two separate units in space although the two are not launched at the same time. This requires very careful selection of orbit and speed of the chasing vehicle to catch up with the pursued vehicle.
Rocket—A device which can produce thrust by burning fuel and is capable of moving itself as a result of reaction.
Space Suit—A suit which can provide the necessary environment for an astronaut in case of cabin pressure failure. If he wishes to go outside and around the ship as it travels through space, he will wear the suit temporarily while he is in space.
Al Badr—An organisation which collaborated with the Pakistani occupation army in the atrocities it committed in Bangla Desh before it was jettisoned by the Indian army.
Al Fateh—It is the name of the Palestine Liberation Movement—an organisation of guerilla fighters who indulge in hit and run attack against Israel. The chief of the organisation is Yasar Arafat.
Anand Marg—It is an organisation founded in 1955 by Mr. Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar known as ‘Anand Murtiji’. The followers of Anand Murtiji regard him as an incarnation. It was banned during Emergency by the Government headed by Mrs. Indira Gandhi.
Beatles—The Beatles were a team of pop-singers from Liverpool (U.K.). They had unconventional ways of living and dressing, with which they took the teenagers all over the world by surprise.
Black Panthers—It is a Negro organisation in the U.S.A. Originally it aimed at planning attacks against white Americans. Later they took to social work.
Black September—It was a group of Palestinian guerillas formed in 1970 after the Jordanian army’s offensive against them. The member of this group killed a number of Israeli athletes at Munich during 20th Olympics. This organisation also planned postal bomb attacks against their targets, in particular against the Jews all over the world. In Feb./March, 1973 the members of the same group kept hostages a number of diplomats at Khartoum, capital of Sudan, of whom they killed three; two Americans and one Belgian diplomat.
Red Cross—It is an international agency founded by Henry Dunant to assist the wounded and the prisoners of war. It also works to relieve human suffering during peace time arising out of, say, epidemics, floods, earthquakes etc.
Shiv Sena—It is an organisation formed in Maharashtra to protect the interest of the Maharashtians and is headed by Bal Thackeray.
SIMI (Student’s Islamic Movement of India)—A communal organisation of the Muslims in India. It was banned on Sept. 27, 2001 by Govt. of India following informations of its involvement in antinational terroriste activities and its links with international terrorist organisations.
White December—It was formed in India in the wake of the subversive activities carried out by members of the Black December against Indian interests at home and abroad. It threatened the Black December with dire consequences in case they attempted to harm Indian citizens in any way.
Interpol—It is the popular name of the International Criminal Police Organisation. It has 90 affiliated countries which have joined hands through it to fight against international crime. Its H.Qs. is in Paris.
Open University—Britain is a pioneer in starting an open university in 1971, which aroused considerable interest all over the world. It is an institution different from the conventional type symbolised by brick and mortar construction and campuses. It has been using a combination of correspondence material, television, radio broadcasts and also face to face tuition. Japan has achieved some success in the new experiment. Candidates could be allowed to appear in university examinations openly without attending regular classes particularly in Arts and Commerce. In India the idea arose following heavy rush for admissions in colleges and universities.
Servants of India Society—It was founded in India in 1905 by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
Allah Tigers—A secessionist Organisation of Jammu & Kashmir.
Hizbul Mujahideen—Pakistan supported terrorist organization operating in Jammu & Kashmir. Talk between its leaders and Indian government for establishing peace in the State failed in August 2000. The activists of this organisation in collusion with other terrorist organisations have made life hell in Jammu & Kashmir.
SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India)—A fundamentalist muslim organisation which has been banned by the Government of India following revelations of its involvement in terrorist and anti-national activities.
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