English Literature key terms

The passing of stories, memories, beliefs and histories through spoken words.

The passing on of memories, histories and beliefs through spoken stories rather than written records.

A skilled public speaker, especially one who can persuade listeners.

A story explaining someone’s beginnings; in superhero comics, it often explains how a hero acquired their powers.

Decorative outward display. Bassanio uses the word to describe attractive appearances that can conceal danger or wrongdoing.

A child whose parents have both died. Jane’s orphanhood leaves her dependent on relatives for a home and protection.

The exclusion of a person from a group or community.

Treating people as outsiders who are fundamentally different from an assumed normal or accepted group.

A character whose ambition pushes beyond human or moral limits, bringing destructive consequences.

A Rastafarian term for understanding beyond the surface: seeing the bigger picture with strength, positivity and respect.

An overall judgement about the question's focus which gives an answer a clear direction.

A figure of speech that combines contradictory terms.

A holiday in which transport and accommodation are sold together, usually by a tour operator.

A cloth placed over a coffin; the word can also describe a dark covering of cloud or smoke.

A poetic form made of four-line stanzas in which the second and fourth lines return as the first and third lines of the next stanza, sometimes with small changes. Its ending often returns to its opening.

A story that teaches a moral or spiritual lesson through its characters and events.

John Milton’s epic poem, first published in 1667, about Satan’s rebellion and the temptation and fall of Adam and Eve.

An apparently contradictory statement that invites examination. The claim that some animals are ‘more equal’ exposes the destruction of equality beneath the appearance of preserving it.

An arrangement in which characters or events follow similar patterns, inviting comparison.

The use of similar grammatical patterns in related phrases or clauses, which can emphasise a connection, balance or contrast.

The use of matching grammatical structures to connect or compare ideas.

A second strand of events unfolding alongside the main story, such as the brother’s escape while the narrator remains in Surrey.

Two connected storylines developed alongside one another, allowing their characters, choices and outcomes to be compared.

A repeated grammatical pattern that connects ideas and gives them emphasis.

Intense suspicion and fear that others threaten or intend to harm someone.

Expressing the meaning of a passage in your own words while preserving its important details.

A rhyme in which the consonant sounds correspond but the vowel sounds differ, as in “wire” and “war”. It can create an unsettled, incomplete effect.