Key Terminology in English Literature
Key Terminology
Importance of Vocabulary: Essential for understanding literature and writing for exams.
Allegory: Narrative with multiple levels of meaning, often using universal symbols.
Alliteration: Repetition of similar initial sounds in closely placed words.
Allusion: Reference to historical or literary events or figures.
Anapestic Meter: Metrical foot with two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed.
Anaphora: Repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
Anecdote: Brief story told by a character.
Antagonist: Opposing force to the protagonist.
Antithesis: Juxtaposition of opposing ideas in balanced structure.
Apostrophe: Addressing an inanimate object or absent person.
Archetype: Recurring patterns or character types in literature.
Assonance: Repetition of vowel sounds in closely positioned words.
Asyndeton: Omission of conjunctions to create a rapid prose style.
Attitude: Author's tone towards the subject.
Ballad: Narrative poem meant to be sung, characterized by repetition.
Ballad Stanza: Quatrain form alternating four and three stressed beats.
Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter.
Caesura: Natural pause within a line of verse.
Caricature: Exaggerated depiction of a character's features.
Chiasmus: Reversing order of terms in parallel clauses.
Colloquial: Informal language or vernacular.
Conceit: Extended metaphor comparing two unlikely things.
Connotation: Suggested meaning of a word beyond its literal meaning.
Consonance: Repetition of consonants in proximity, differing intervening vowels.
Couplet: Two rhymed lines expressing a single idea.
Dactylic: Metrical foot of stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables.
Denotation: Literal, dictionary meaning of a word.
Denouement: Final resolution of a narrative conflict.
Dialect: Regional speech patterns and unique vocabulary.
Diction: Author's choice of words to convey tone and effect.
Dramatic Monologue: Speech delivered by a character to an imaginary audience.
Elegy: Poetic lament for the dead, typically offering consolation.
Enjambment: Continuation of a sentence beyond the end of a line in poetry.
Epic: A lengthy narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds.
Exposition: Introduction of setting and characters at the story's beginning.
Extended Metaphor: Detailed metaphor that extends throughout a work.
Fable: Brief narrative teaching a moral lesson, often featuring animals.
Falling Action: Part of plot structure resolving rising action complications.
Farce: A comedic style characterized by exaggerated humor.
Flashback: Retrospection inserting earlier events into the narrative.
Foreshadowing: Hinting at future events in the story.
Formal Diction: Elevated, dignified language often used in epic poetry.
Free Verse: Poetry free of strict meter and rhyme.
Genre: Classification of a literary work.
Hyperbole: Exaggerated statements for effect.
Iambic: Metrical foot of unstressed-stressed syllables; often in sets of five.
Idyll: Short poem celebrating pastoral life.
Imagery: Sensory details appealing to the senses in a literary work.
Informal Diction: Everyday, conversational language.
In Medias Res: Beginning a narrative in the middle of the action.
Irony: Contrast between expectation and reality.
Jargon: Specialized language of a profession or group.
Juxtaposition: Placing contrasting elements close together to create effect.
Limited Point of View: Perspective confined to one character's insight.
Litote: Understatement for effect.
Loose Sentence: Main idea presented before the end of the sentence.
Lyric: Short poem expressing personal feelings or emotions.
Message: Misleading term for theme; represents a story's central idea.
Metaphor: Comparison without using 'like' or 'as'.
Meter: Pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.
Metonymy: Using a related attribute to represent something.
Mood: Emotional atmosphere created by the text.
Motif: Recurring element signaling character or event.
Narrative Structure: Organization of narrative based on connected events.
Narrator: Voice telling the story.
Occasional Poem: Written for a specific occasion.
Ode: Serious, elevated lyric poem.
Omniscient Point of View: Perspective where the narrator knows all characters' thoughts.
Onomatopoeia: Words that mimic sounds.
Oxymoron: Combination of contradictory terms for effect.
Parable: Short fiction with a moral lesson.
Paradox: Contradictory statement that may reveal a truth.
Parallel Structure: Using similar forms to create balance in writing.
Parody: Imitation of a work for comic effect.
Pastoral: Work describing simple, idyllic rural life.
Periodic Sentence: Complete sense at the end of the sentence.
Persona: Voice or figure of the author in a narrative.
Personification: Giving human qualities to nonhuman entities.
Petrarchan Sonnet: Italian sonnet with distinct octave and sestet.
Plot: Arrangement of events based on cause and effect.
Protagonist: Main character of a narrative.
Quatrain: Four-line stanza.
Realism: Depiction of life without idealization.
Refrain: Repeated line or stanza in poetry or song.
Rhetorical Question: Question posed for effect, not requiring an answer.
Rhyme: Repetition of similar sounds in poetry.
Rhythm: Pattern of stressed and unstressed elements in speech.
Rising Action: Development of action leading to climax.
Sarcasm: Verbal irony expressing contempt.
Satire: Work ridiculing human failings.
Scansion: Analysis of verse to show its meter.
Setting: Time and place of a narrative.
Shakespearean Sonnet: English sonnet with three quatrains and a couplet.
Shaped Verse: Poetry shaped to resemble an object.
Simile: Explicit comparison using 'like' or 'as'.
Soliloquy: Speech given by a character alone on stage.
Speaker: The one giving voice to a poem.
Stanza: Section of poetry defined by spacing.
Stereotype: Characterization based on assumptions about a group.
Stock Character: Predictable character type.
Structure: Organization of elements within a work.
Style: Distinctive manner of expression in writing.
Symbolism: Use of symbols to represent ideas beyond their literal meaning.
Synecdoche: Using a part to signify the whole.
Syntax: Arrangement of words in sentences.
Terza Rima: Three-line stanza form.
Theme: Central idea or concern in a work.
Tone: Author's attitude towards the subject.
Tragedy: Dramatic work ending in disaster for the main character.
Trochaic: Metrical foot opposite of iambic.
Turning Point: Climax of action.
Verisimilitude: Quality of sounding true or real.
Villanelle: 19-line form with specific rhyming scheme.
Voice: Source of the narrative's words and tone.