ENG LAN/LIT Techniques

allusion

unexplained/implied reference to something outside the text

“he who made the Lamb” (The Tyger)

alludes to the Bible and God

anaphora

the repetition of the same phrase at the beginning of a sentence/clause

“If you can dream...If you can think” (If—)

anecdote

a short, interesting story usually used to support a point in a text

caesura

a pause within a line of poetry

couplet

a pair of lines of poetry that complete a thought or idea

dramatic irony

when the audience or reader knows something the characters in the story do not

e.g. Lady Macbeth’s Guilt (Other characters are not aware of her involvement in the murder)

elegy

a melancholic poem to mourn somebody who died

e.g. ‘Poem at thirty-nine’, ‘Remember’

enjambment

the continuation of a sentence from one line of poetry to another line

e.g. “an unknown girl

is hennaing my hand” (An Uknown Girl")

formal verse

A poem that uses strict metre, rhyme, and form

e.g. "‘Sonnet 116’

free verse

A poem that does not follow a strict metre, rhyme, or form

e.g. ‘Poem at thirty-nine’

ethos

an arguement that appeals to the audience’s morality by highlighting the speaker’s credibility

e.g. “We are members of one body” (Inspector Goole, an Inspector Calls)

hamartia

the fatal flaw in a character that leads to their downfall

e.g. the hamartia in Macbeth is Macbeth’s ambition

iambic pentameter

a verse line consisting of ten syllables, organised into 5 pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables

e.g. sonnet 116

idiom

a short expression that means something more than the literal meaning

e.g. “keep your head” (If—)

metre

the regular and rythmic arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables according to a particular pattern

monologue

an extended speech by one character

motif

any repeated idea, theme or image that has significance in the text

e.g. motif of death in sonnet 116

pathetic fallacy

the use of weather/inanimate objects to reflect human feelings and tone

e.g. the weather at the start of Macbeth

polyptoton

words from the same root are repeated

e.g. “strength” and “strong”

quatrain

a stanza of four lines

rhyming couplet

a pair of rhyming lines of poetry

rhythm

a strong pattern of sounds or words in verse or prose, determined by the relation of long and short/stressed and unstressed syllables

soliloquy

a dramatic solo speech uttered by one character speaking aloud

sonnet

a fourteen line poem written in iambic pentameter

e.g. Sonnet 116

tercet

a set or group of three lines of verse rhyming together

alliteration

words side by side starting with the same letter

oxymoron

two opposite words side by side

simile

comparing two things using “like or as”

juxtaposition

an extended or explained oxymoron throughout a poem or text

sibilance

the repetition of the “s” sound side by side

imagery

painting a vivid image for the reader

e.g. visual imagery, tactile imagery, auditory imagery, olfactory imagery

symbolism

when the objects/words/phrases can be linked to a higher meaning

e.g. the peacock in “An Uknown Girl”

zoomorphism

when humans are given animal characteristics

e.g. she hissed at me, he barked, she growled

colloquial speech

day to day casual language