PERSONA

This word, which in Latin means an actor's mask, refers to the personality of the writer within the text. This does not equate with his or her character in life: in The Canterbury Tales Chaucer assumes the persona of an innocent and credulous pilgrim but he was a sophisticated man. Even inside this work he shows himself, as narrator, to be shrewd and critical.

Free verse and blank verse

These terms are often misunderstood:
Free verse has no set rules such as specified length of line or rhyme. The poet and reader must pay attention to such aspects as natural rhythm, effectiveness of having some short and some longer lines and use of unregulated length of stanzas.
Blank verse has no rhyme but does have a formalised line length of five iambs and is therefore in unrhymed iambic pentameters. An iamb is a two-syllable unit with the weak stress first and the heavy stress second as in the word again. A line of blank verse follows the rhythm of five repetitions of this word: again, again, again, again, again. Much of Shakespeare's verse is written in iambic pentameters as are true sonnets.
Sometimes, particularly at the beginning of a line, the first foot may be inverted with the stress on the first syllable. A foot is the name given to each unit when the line is analysed and so an iamb is an example of a foot.

Grammatical mood

This term refers to verbs and the mood of the speaker/writer. Fortunately in English, it is a simple matter and one we do not have to worry about.
The imperative mood is that of commands: Go away!
The indicative mood is the normal one when we tell of what will happen, has happened or is happening: I shall go; I went; I am going. Note that it applies to any tense of the verb.
The subjunctive mood hardly exists in English but, if you learn French, you will have to master it as the mood of uncertainty and emotional input.

Separate and desperate

The spellings of these two words often cause confusion. Perhaps it helps to recall the root of the latter: "spero" meaning "I hope".

Ambiguous and ambivalent

An author may produce an ambiguous piece of writing where the meaning is unclear either unintentionally or with the purpose of conveying two meanings at once.
A reader may respond ambivalently by holding two different views or reactions in mind simultaneously - we might react in this way to Shylock.

Epiphany

This is a specific type of defamiliaration (see last post) by which the ordinary is shown in an unfamiliar and radiant light as a sudden, almost spiritual, manifestation. It is common in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: "The green square of paper pinned round the lamp cast down a tender shade. On the dresser was a plate of sausages and white pudding and on the shelf there were eggs .... White pudding and eggs and sausages and cups of tea. How simple and beautiful was life after all!"

Defamiliarisation

This is a function of some literature, particularly poetry, as a general mode but more specifically when the mundane is suddenly made to seem strange or magical and no longer familiar. It makes us see the everyday with new eyes. It may be connected to an epiphany (see next post).