A Glossary of Literary Terms

Meyer Howard Abrams, Geoffrey Galt Harpham

Thomson, Wadsworth, 2005 - Education - 370 pages

Abrams (English, Cornell University) defines and discusses terms, critical theories, movements, and points of view commonly used to classify, analyze, interpret, and write the history of works of literature. The individual entries, together with the guides to further reading included in most of them, are oriented especially toward undergraduate students of English, American, and other literatures. They are also useful for advanced students and general readers with literary interests. This edition takes into account new publications in literature, criticism, and scholarship. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

About the author

M. H. Abrams, 1912 - 2015 Meyer Howard Abrams was born in Long Branch, New Jersey on July 23, 1912. He received a B.A. in English from Harvard University in 1934. He won a Henry fellowship to Cambridge University in 1935. He returned to Harvard University, where he received a Masters' degree in 1937 and a Ph. D. in 1940. He joined the Cornell University faculty in 1945 and taught a popular introductory survey class. While at Cornell in the 1950s, he was asked by publisher W. W. Norton to lead a team of editors compiling excerpts of vital English works. The first edition of the Norton Anthology came out in 1962. Abrams stayed on through seven editions. He was also the author of a popular Glossary of Literary Terms, The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition, Natural Supernaturalism, The Milk of Paradise, and the essay collection The Fourth Dimension of a Poem. In 2014, he received a National Arts Medal for "expanding our perceptions of the Romantic tradition and broadening the study of literature." He died on April 21, 2015 at the age of 102.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Glossary of Literary Terms; International student edition
• Authors: Meyer Howard Abrams, Geoffrey Galt Harpham
• Edition: 8, illustrated
• Publisher: Thomson, Wadsworth, 2005
• ISBN: 1413002188, 9781413002188
• Length: 370 pages
• Subjects: Education / Language Experience Approach; Education / Schools / Levels / Higher; Language Arts & Disciplines / General; Literary Collections / General; Literary Criticism / Reference; Reference / Word Lists