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M asque
   A great and spectacular performance popular among the English aristocracy in the late sixeteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Masques were written in dramatic poem that were sung, danced to, made beautiful costumes for, and had amazing special effects made for.

Maxim

   A statement expressing a rule of conduct or a principle.

Melodrama

   A play that has stereotyped characters, exaggerated acting, and a conflict between a perfect hero or heroine and a perfectly corrupt evil villian. In melodramas, the good guy always win and the bad guy always is punished in some form or another. Originally, all characters in a melodrama had a theme song that played everytime they entered the stage.

Metaphor

   A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things. Unlike a simile a metaphor does not use the words "like", "as" or "resembles" while making the comparison.

   (ex. "Life is a highway")

  Implied metaphors are not directly stated.

   (ex. Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar" :

   "I hope to see my Pilot face to face
     When I have crossed the bar."

   The poet implies a comparison between the pilot and God by capitalizing the word "Pilot")

  Extended Metaphors are extended throughout a whole piece of work.

   (ex. Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar" :

   The poet implies a comparison between the voyage to sea and death.)

  Dead Metaphors are so common that they appear to be more literal than figurative.

   (ex. "A foot of a hill", "head of the class", "point in time", "neck of a bottle", and "leg of a chair")

  Mixed Metaphors make no sense because they are two or more metaphors used in one expression. Most mixed metaphors are humorous intentionally.

   (ex. "The storm of protest was nipped in the bud" and "To hold the fort, he'd had to shake a leg")

Metaphysical Poetry

   Limited to the poetry of John Donne and other seventeenth century poets who wrote in similar style, metaphysical poetry contains verbal wit, ingenious structure, odd meter, colloquial language, grand imagery, and the drawing together of unlike things.

  (ex. Herbert's "Easter Wings")

Meter

   The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry.

Metonymy

   A figure of speech in which something closely related to a thing replaces the thing itself.

   (ex."The Crown vs. John Doe": the Crown replaces the King or Queen.

   Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" :

   "The scepter, learning, and physic, must
   Must follow this, and come to dust.

   Sceptor = King, Learning = Scholar, Physic = Doctor )

Miracle Play

   A popular religious play of medieval England. Most miracle plays were based on stories of saints or from the Scriptures, dramatizing the lives of saints and divine miracles.

Mock Epic

   A humorous literary form that treats a controversial subject in the great, heroic style of an epic.

   (ex.Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" )

Morality Play

   An outgrowth from miracle plays. Popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, morality plays personified virtues and served as religious and politcal propaganda. Oftentimes, morality plays dealt with issues such as the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Moral Virtues.

Motif

   A recurring feature like a name, phrase or image in a piece of literature. A motif often contributes to the theme of a short story, novel, poem, or play.

   (ex. The motif in D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner" is the word "luck" )

   The word "motif" is also often used to refer to some sort of plot or character type in literature.

   (ex. The "Romeo and Juliet" motif is about doomed lovers and the "ugly-duckling" motif is about a plain-looking person turning into a beautiful person.)

Motivation

   The reasons behind a character's actions. For a writer to produce a believeable story, every character must have reason behind what they do. Motivation is often outside events or inner needs and fears.

Mystery Play

   In France, mystery plays were medieval religious play referring to Biblical stories. In England, a mystery play was interchangeable with a miracle play.

Myth

   An anonymous tale which has unknown origins explaining the phenomena of the natural world usually through gods and goddesses. Myths are often connected to religious rituals because they explain many things that humans do not understand. Mythology is a body of myths and is much accepted by people today.

   (ex.In Greek mythology, Hades is the god of the Underworld, Apollo is the god of the sun, and Ares is the god of war. These gods are given forms and feelings in myths for people to easier accept and understand them.)

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