English Literature key terms

Background information that helps an audience understand the characters and present action.

A comparison that presents one thing as another and develops it across several lines or throughout a text.

A struggle between characters or groups, such as the fighting between the Montagues and Capulets.

A cover used to put out a flame by depriving it of air. The Ghost’s extinguisher-cap can symbolise the suppression of memory and moral understanding.

An essay task requiring analysis of a printed passage and relevant parts of the same work elsewhere.

A person who directly observes an event. Lanyon witnesses Hyde's transformation into Jekyll.

A short story, often involving animals, that communicates a moral lesson. Animal Farm uses recognisable animal behaviour to expose human political wrongdoing.

Belief and trust in something beyond what can be proved; religious faith commonly includes trust in God. In Silas Marner, religious faith is closely connected with trust in other people.

A historical, judgemental label applied to a woman considered sexually impure, especially for having sex outside marriage. It expresses society’s beliefs, not an objective measure of her worth.

An apparent resolution that makes the audience think the conflict is over before a further event overturns it.

The belief that events or suffering cannot be changed, so attempts to improve matters are pointless.

The belief that events are predetermined by forces beyond human control.

A strand of Gothic writing that explores women’s vulnerability, confinement and struggles against controlling power.

A rhyme in which a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable, as in “war is” and “bar is”.

An interpretation that examines gender inequality, women's experiences and the distribution of power between women and men.

A literary figure whose beauty or seductive attraction brings danger or destruction to those drawn to her.

Temporary, permitted disruption of ordinary rules during a celebration, often involving disguise, mock authority and role reversal.

The temporary overturning of ordinary rules and hierarchies during a celebration, often through disguise, entertainment and role reversal.

Celebration and communal enjoyment, often involving music, dancing, food, drink and a temporary relaxation of ordinary rules.

An iron restraint attached to a prisoner’s leg to restrict movement.

A prolonged conflict between families or groups, sustained by hostility and retaliation.

A life story presented as though an invented character has written an account of their own experiences.

Faithfulness to a person or promise; in marriage, this includes keeping the commitments made to a spouse.

A duty owed by a child to a parent, including the expectation of respect and obedience.

Loyalty owed by a child to a parent.

A French expression meaning ‘end of the century’, associated with late nineteenth-century anxieties about decline, exhaustion and the future of civilisation.

The collection of Shakespeare's plays published in 1623, arranged into comedies, histories and tragedies.