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Chris Baldick
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The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms Paperback – 1 June 2008

by Chris Baldick (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 126
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The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
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The best-selling Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (formerly the Concise dictionary) provides clear, concise, and often witty definitions of the most troublesome literary terms from abjection to zeugma. It is an essential reference tool for students of literature in any language. It is now available in a new and expanded edition and includes increased coverage of new terms from modern critical and theoretical movements, such as feminism, and schools of American poetry, Spanish verse forms, life writing, and crime fiction. It includes extensive coverage of traditional drama, versification, rhetoric, and literary history, as well as updated and extended advice on recommended further reading and a pronunciation guide to more than 200 terms. New to this edition are recommended entry-level web links updated via the Dictionary of Literary Terms companion website.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press BPS
  4. Publication date
    1 June 2008
  5. Dimensions
    19.56 x 2.54 x 12.7 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    9780199208272
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0199208272
  8. See all details
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Product description

Review

Review from previous edition This dictionary's virtues and its plain-spokenness make it ... as apt to the bedside table as to the desk: Dr Baldick is a Brewer for specialized tastes (Times Literary Supplement)

fun to read ... first rate (Toronto Globe and Mail)

About the Author

Chris Baldick is Professor of English at Goldsmiths' College, University of London. He edited The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales (1992), and is the author of The Oxford English Literary History, Volume 10 (1910-1940): The Modern Movement (2004), In Frankenstein's Shadow (1987), Criticism and Literary Theory 1890 to the Present (1996), and other works of literary history. He has edited, with Rob Morrison, Tales of Terror from Blackwood's Magazine, and The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre, and has written an introduction to Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer (all available in the Oxford World's Classics series).

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0199208271
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press BPS; 3rd edition (1 June 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780199208272
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199208272
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.56 x 2.54 x 12.7 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 126

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Chris Baldick

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4.6 out of 5 stars
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venkatesh damaraju
5.0 out of 5 stars Useful
Reviewed in India on 18 February 2020
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Dimenshia
5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource, very useful!
Reviewed in Canada on 23 October 2014
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This is such a great and useful resource to have. As a high school teacher, I find myself referring to this almost every day and have recommended that my students get it as well as it is an invaluable resource for them to have both in high school and when they move on to higher education.
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Z Hayes
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for literature teachers and students
Reviewed in the United States on 16 May 2013
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I was looking for a resource on literary terms and was glad when I came across this little gem of a book. "The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms" is paperback-sized and contains over 1,200 literary terms with well-defined entries. It is alphabetically-arranged and though not an exhaustive work (it is not a catalog of all known literary terms), it does cover a lot of the literary terms in use today.

This dictionary is useful in explaining literary terms to readers in a manner that is accessible, even to a layperson. A lot of the terms are accompanied by a pronunciation guide next to the word, followed by the definition. However, this alone doesn't merit the five stars I've assigned to this work. I especially appreciated the brief details accompanying the definition for a particular term which provides insights as to the context within which the word is used. For example, the term "anaphora" is defined thus:

anaphora [a-naf-ŏ-rӑ] A rhetorical *figure of repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in (and usually at the beginning of) successive lines, clauses, or sentences. Found very often in both verse and prose, it was a device favoured by Dickens and used frequently in the *free verse of Walt Whitman. These lines by Emily Dickinson illustrate the device:

Mine - by the Right of the White Election!
Mine - by the Royal Seal!
Mine - by the Sign in the Scarlet prison
Bars - cannot conceal!

Adjective: anaphoral or anaphoric. See also EPISTROPHE.

It's these attention to details that makes this a valuable resource on literary terms. Recommended for anyone with an interest in literature, and especially for teachers and students of literature.
14 people found this helpful
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Verónica Málaga
4.0 out of 5 stars De gran utilidad
Reviewed in Spain on 29 December 2012
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Es un diccionario bastante completo y fácil de usar. Recomendable para estudiantes de literatura inglesa. Quizás es un resulta un poco caro.
One person found this helpful
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J. C. Wrightson
5.0 out of 5 stars Not baffled, not disappointed, not selling
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 February 2011
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I've had this book for about a year now and have been popping in and out of it regularly, looking for an explanation of what terms mean in the literature books I study. The terms I've looked up have always been in the book. The explanations are always good enough for me to understand what the terms mean.

The book is well organised and I've been impressed with the willingness of the writer(s?) to refer to examples and then print them. Such as under 'sibilance' which I recently had to look up; the book describes what the term means "The marked reference of the 'hissing' sounds known as sibilants", then gives examples such as "(usually spelt s, sh, zh, c)" then says where it's usually used "The effect, also known as sigmatism after the Greek letter sigma, is often exploited in poetry, as in Longfellow's lines" and then a proper example: "Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing;\ Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness".

It's arranged alphabetically and there's a pronunciation guide at the front (which I've never used as I'm only reading or writing these terms).

Looking through the terms, it's pretty broad what they've included. For example I wouldn't have expected to find synaesthesia in there, as it's not a literary term, but it says it's found in poetry including Keats.

So yes, I do recommend this book to all students and scholars of literature, particularly those who are expected to understand and use poetic terms.
8 people found this helpful
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