Episode
An episode is a self-contained incident or scene within a longer poem or dramatic work. In Greek tragedy, it specifically names the spoken section between choral odes, when the action moves forward through dialogue and events rather than song.
Poets and critics also use the word more broadly for any separate narrative episode inside a larger poem, such as a brief adventure, memory, or encounter that stands out from the surrounding action.
Example
The winter night broke open in a single episode:
A stranger knocked, the dog began to bark,
And all the quiet of the house became
A story told in voices by the hearth.
Related Definitions
[n] film consisting of a succession of related shots that develop a given subject in a movie
[n] a brief section of a literary or dramatic work that forms part of a connected series
[n] a part of a broadcast serial
[n] a happening that is distinctive in a series of related events
Related Terms
action, adventure, affair, anagnorisis, angle, architectonics, architecture, argument, aside, atmosphere, background, broken thread, brokenness, bypath, byway, catastrophe, chapter, characterization, circumstance, color, complication, continuity, contriva