Key terminology
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Antagonist
The most notable character who opposes the protagonist (hero) of a narrative. The
antagonist is often the villain who wants to harm the hero/heroine or prevent him/her from
achieving their goals.
Bildungsroman
A novel that deals with one person’s formative years and moral or spiritual development.
Byronic hero
An emotionally complex, mysterious and tormented male character, who si arrogant, cynical
and contemptuous of normal society, but manages to be alluring to some of the other
characters and many readers.
Caesura
A break within a line of verse, often indicated by a punctuation mark.
Conceit
An arresting or elaborate comparison that brings together two elements in an unusual way.
Enjambment
Used in poetry to describe the continuation of a sentence or a clause beyond the end of a
line and on to the next one.
Extended metaphor
A metaphor which is carried beyond a single comparison of two elements and is developed
further.
Free indirect speech
This refers to speech that is embedded in a narrative, so it is unattributed (free) and a report
of the speech rather than the actual words (indirect).
Genre
A way of categorizing texts. Genres can be arranged around content (such as crime, politics
etc) or around purpose (such as satire). In a most general sense, genre involves grouping
texts by type – and so connecting texts. In most cases, generic groupings are not fixed, so
thinking about genre involves connecting with other texts.
Historicism
AQA specification A is all about looking at texts in their contexts, and thinking about the
importance of historical contexts in shaping the meaning of texts.
This is called a “historicist” approach. There are two types of historicism:
A diachronic approach – looking at texts from different time periods that explore the same
theme, as we do in Unit 1, Love Through the Ages
A synchronic approach – looking at texts within a clearly defined time period, as we do in
Unit 2, Literature from 1945 to the present day
Image/Imagery
A term to denote the many types of language that conjure sensory perceptions in the mind
of the reader. Metaphor, simile, personification and symbol can be considered as subdivisions within imagery.
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Imagism/Imagist
A type of poem which is concise and uses hard, clear and concentrated imagery as its main
way of creating meaning and achieving effects.
Intertextuality
This means the meanings that are created through relationships between texts. Writers
might directly reference other literary works (such as a modern writer quoting a line from
Shakespeare), or use similar content or techniques.
Metaphor
A literary technique that involves one thing described as being another (e.g. “education is a
journey”).
Motif
A recurring element that has symbolic significance in a text.
Onomatopoeia
This is when the word chosen sounds like what it refers to.
Pastoral
A mode of writing that typically presents rural people in an idealised way and uses natural
imagery to create an impression of peace, innocence and contentment
Patriarchy
A system of society or government controlled by men.
Persona
a speaker in a poem who is a character who is clearly not the poet: for example, Carol Ann
Duffy adopts the persona of Shakespeare’s wife in ‘Anne Hathaway’.
Personification
Something non-human is described as though it is human. This might be an object or an
abstract idea.
Plot
The events as they are sequenced in the text
Protagonist
The main character or hero of a narrative.
Quatrain
A four-line verse
Satire
The mockery of various types of human behaviour, involving irony and exaggeration
Scheme
Schemes are figures of speech, which deal with things like word order and sound, rather
than the actual meanings of words.
Sestet
A six-line verse, often used to describe the second section of one form of sonnet.
Significant/Significance
All the potential meanings and interpretations of a text.
Simile
A literary technique where two things are compared using “like” or “as” (or sometimes
“than”)
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Speaker
The voice that speaks the poem. This is the default term to use when writing about the
person speaking in a poem. It is helpful to reserve the term persona for a speaker who is a
character who is clearly not the poet: for example, Carol Ann Duffy adopts the persona of
Shakespeare’s wife in ‘Anne Hathaway’.
Stanza
A stanza is a group of lines – a separate unit – that helps to break up and organise how a
poem appears on the page
Symbol
This stands for much more than its literal meaning. Unlike a metaphor (in which one thing is
compared overtly to another), with a symbol the significance is left more open.
Tercet
A three-line stanza
Trope
A figure of speech which deals with meaning
Voice
The characteristics of the speaker, or the narrative voice used; the perspective taken by the
narrative.