English Literature key terms

A soldier belonging to a regiment of fusiliers.

A rapid burst or volley of gunfire; Carson uses the word metaphorically for a barrage of questions.

Pointlessness or ineffectiveness: effort and suffering fail to achieve a meaningful result.

The collection of students’ artwork taken by Madame to help demonstrate to the wider public that clones have inner lives and deserve humane treatment.

Electrical stimulation associated with muscular movement, which helped prompt scientific questions about the relationship between electricity and life.

Troops stationed in a place to defend it.

A geographical reference book containing information about places and their inhabitants.

The roles, behaviours and expectations associated with being male or female; a literary text may reinforce or question these expectations.

An expectation about how someone should behave because they are male or female.

A social expectation about how someone should behave because they are considered male or female.

A difference in attitudes and values between people belonging to different age groups.

A difference in attitudes between older and younger people, often shaped by different experiences and expectations.

The type or category of a literary work, such as comedy, tragedy or romance.

A person who is not Jewish.

The appearance or condition of belonging to polite, socially respectable society, often shown through speech, clothing and manners.

A man recognised as having a particular social standing, education and refined manners; the word can also describe someone whose conduct is honourable and considerate.

The landowning social class below the titled aristocracy; its members could have considerable wealth and local influence.

The theory that microorganisms infecting the body can cause disease.

A poetic form originating in Arabic poetry, traditionally using rhyming couplets and a repeated ending, often exploring love and separation.

A legally enforced residential district separating a minority community from others. Venice required its Jewish inhabitants to live in such a district from 1516.

A narrative in which ghosts or spirits enter the human world; supernatural encounters can create fear and communicate moral ideas.

To encircle or surround.

Someone who collects grain left behind in a field after the main harvest.

Twilight or dusk.

Cultivated, considerate manners. Austen tests whether genuinely good behaviour corresponds to privileged birth or fashionable appearances.

Rule that serves a country's welfare through qualities such as justice, mercy, generosity and self-control, rather than serving the ruler's private desires.

Kindness and a wish for other people’s happiness or welfare, expressed through attitudes and actions.