OCR GCSE English Literature key terms

The belief that people have duties towards others and should help protect their welfare.

A person's position within society, shaped by factors such as birth, title, wealth, occupation and reputation.

Support for other people, especially through sharing responsibility for their struggle or cause.

A speech in which a character expresses thoughts aloud without addressing another character, giving the audience access to their inner life.

A fourteen-line poem. A Shakespearean sonnet usually has three quatrains and a final rhyming couplet, with the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

An inner spiritual or moral self. In Never Let Me Go, debate about whether clones have souls concerns whether society recognises their full humanity.

The speaking voice within a poem, which should not automatically be identified with the poet.

The use of lighting, sound, props, movement and other theatrical elements to communicate meaning in performance.

Instructions in a play script describing movement, pauses, delivery or other aspects of performance.

A group of lines within a poem, separated from other groups by a space.

A character whose central qualities remain largely unchanged through a narrative.

One of the five sections of A Christmas Carol. The musical name connects the novel’s structure with its title.

A simplified, fixed assumption about a group of people that ignores individual differences.

A style that follows the movement of a character’s thoughts through associations, digressions and changes of subject.

A structural connection in which a later moment recalls an earlier one, encouraging readers to compare them.

A change that overturns an established pattern, such as a usually talkative character becoming silent while a silent character calls after them.

The organisation of a text, including the order of events, contrasts between scenes and patterns of repetition.

Darwinian language for the pressures on organisms competing to survive and reproduce. It does not mean that survival always belongs to the strongest or most intelligent.

An experience of overwhelming greatness or power that produces awe, often mixed with fear.

A secondary storyline that runs alongside and connects with the main plot.

An adult who takes on the care or guidance normally provided by a child’s parent, whether or not they are related to the child.

Feelings, intentions or meanings implied beneath what a character explicitly says.

The overturning or challenging of an established idea, value or expectation.

Patient endurance of suffering or mistreatment.

A person seeking to marry someone; Bassanio is one of Portia’s suitors.

A force or event understood to exist beyond ordinary nature, such as witchcraft, spirits or prophecy.

A belief that an event or object has a mysterious power or significance, such as a dream predicting misfortune.