English Literature key terms

A castrated male sheep. Antonio uses the image of a diseased wether to describe himself as the member of a flock most suited to death.

A woman employed to breastfeed and care for another woman’s baby.

A mystery organised around discovering who committed or caused an apparent crime.

A situation in which people know or suspect an uncomfortable truth but choose not to confront it.

The Caribbean migrants who came to Britain from 1948 onwards, during the period of post-war rebuilding.

A character who appears foolish, or performs foolishness, while revealing insight that supposedly wiser characters lack.

Quick, inventive intelligence expressed through clever language, often involving jokes, comparisons and unexpected replies.

A narrative technique that delays information needed to understand events, encouraging readers to question and interpret clues.

A character who observes an event and gives an account of it, allowing readers to encounter events through that character’s perspective.

An expression that draws attention to more than one possible meaning of a word or phrase.

An institution providing accommodation and basic support for destitute people, under a restrictive regime of work and discipline. The system developed after the 1834 Poor Law aimed to make entering a workhouse undesirable.

A social group whose members generally depend on wages earned through their labour rather than ownership of businesses or inherited wealth.

People who are employed but whose earnings are insufficient to provide a secure standard of living.

Intense anger, often carrying associations of punishment or vengeance.

A deliberate choice through which an author creates meaning, such as imagery, narrative voice, characterisation or the ordering of events.

A frame placed across the necks of working animals. As a metaphor for marriage, it can suggest restraint, submission or being joined to another.

Intense enthusiasm and commitment to a belief or cause.