Edexcel GCSE English Literature key terms

A short, memorable statement expressing a general truth or piece of advice.

A direct address to someone absent or to something non-human, as when a speaker talks to a stream.

A person who prepares and sells medicines. In Act 5, Romeo persuades an impoverished apothecary to sell him poison.

A supernatural figure or vision that appears before someone; in Act 4, the witches summon figures that deliver predictions to Macbeth.

The difference between how someone or something seems and what their identity, motives or value actually are.

A person learning a trade under a skilled master. Pip becomes Joe’s apprentice and learns blacksmithing.

An interpretation developed across an answer and supported by evidence and analysis.

A marriage organised or negotiated by families or other representatives, rather than solely by the couple. It is not necessarily a forced marriage.

Money owed that has not been paid when due, such as overdue rent.

A speech heard by the audience but conventionally not heard by other characters on stage.

A public social gathering at which people meet and dance. The Meryton assembly introduces the Bennet sisters to Bingley and Darcy.

The belief that the positions and movements of stars and planets influence human lives.

A list whose items are not joined by conjunctions such as ‘and’.

A list whose items are not joined by conjunctions such as ‘and’, often creating an accumulating or insistent effect.

A group of three parallel words, phrases or clauses without a joining conjunction, such as “distinct, formal, mirthless”.

Strict self-discipline and avoidance of personal comforts or pleasures.

A poem in which a writer explores experiences from their own life, often selecting and reshaping memories to examine their meaning.

A mechanical figure that moves as though alive but lacks independent thought or feeling. Jane rejects this image when Rochester appears to disregard her emotions.

The ability to make decisions according to one’s own judgement and principles rather than another person’s demands.

An excessive desire for wealth or possessions.

An unmarried man.

A poem that tells a story, traditionally associated with song and often using regular rhyme, rhythm and repetition.

A rhythm typically alternating lines of four stresses with lines of three stresses. Variations can alter emphasis and the pace of the story.

A four-line stanza traditionally alternating four and three main beats, often rhyming its second and fourth lines.

A traditional four-line stanza, usually alternating four-stress and three-stress lines, with rhyme between the second and fourth lines.

Expulsion from a place as a punishment. Romeo’s banishment requires him to leave Verona and separates him from Juliet.

Public church announcements of an intended marriage, allowing objections to be raised before the wedding.