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R Realism
   The attempt in literature to write about truth by facts instead of imagination.

Refrain

   The repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines in a poem. The refrain is usually situated at the end of a stanza and is commonly found in ballads and narrative poems. Refrains add rhythm and help build suspense in poetry. They can also help emphasize a point or idea.

   (ex. Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" )

Resolution

   See Plot

Rhyme

   The repetition of sounds in two (or more) words in a poem. Usually, rhymes occur at the end of lines.

   (ex. William Blake's "The Tiger" :

   In what distant deeps or skies
   Burnt the fire of thine yes?
   On what wings dare he aspire?
   What the hand, dare seize the fire? )

   A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes in a poem.

Rhythm

   How stressed and unstressed syllables are arranged into a pattern. Rhythm is most apparent in poetry, giving it a music-like quality.

Rising Action

   See Plot

Romance

   Writing with an imaginative setting of an idealized world of adventure and battles between the good and the evil. Historically, romace was the medevial tales of love and adventure among the kings and queens, knights and ladies.

   (ex. John Keats' "The Eve of St.Agnes")

Romanticism

   The movement against classicism in the nineteenth century. Romanticism involved literature, philosophy, music, and art in the West. Many ideas made in Romanticism were made by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

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