English Terms

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Theme

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The central idea conveyed by a literary work either directly or implicitly

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Ideology

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The beliefs, values, and ways of thinking and feeling through which people perceive and explain their reality

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Setting

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The historical moment in time and geographic location in which a story takes place

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Structure

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The organization or over-all design of a work of literature.

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Point of View

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The mode established by an author by means of which the reader is presented with the characters, dialogue, actions, setting, and events which constitute the narrative in a work of fiction

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Feminism

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The view that Western culture is patriarchal and set up to subordinate women to men in all cultural domains

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Psychoanalysis

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Applying psychological theories to literary analysis

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Symbol

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An object, action, or event that represents something, or creates a range of association, beyond itself

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Irony

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A perception of inconsistency, in which a straightforward statement or event is undermined by its context to give it a different significance

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Dramatic Irony

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When characters say or do something that has meaning the audience recognizes but the characters do not

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Pathos

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The evocation in the audience of pity, tenderness, compassion, or sorrow

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Foil

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A character that serves to stress and highlight the distinctive temperament of the protagonist

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Soliloquy

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When a character speaks to themself, relating thoughts and feelings, thereby also sharing them with the audience

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Queer Theory

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The combined area of gay and lesbian studies and criticism, as well as theoretical and critical writings concerning all modes of variance from the normative model of biological sex, gender identity, and sexual desire

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Disability Studies

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The role of people with disabilities in a wide range of cultural projects

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Tone

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The perspective or attitude that the author adopts with regards to a specific character, place or development

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Paradox

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A self-contradictory statement or expression that provokes us into seeking another sense or context in which it would be true

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Synonym

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Two words with meanings similar enough to at times be interchangeable

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Metaphor

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The comparison of one thing to another without the use of like or as

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Simile

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A comparison using “like” or “as”

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Elegy

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a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead

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Ecocriticism

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the study of literature and environment from an interdisciplinary point of view

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Prosody

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A collective term that describes the technical aspects of verse relating to rhythm, stress, and meter

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Scansion

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The act of determining the metrical character of a line of verse

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Meter

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The basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse

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Feet

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The basic metrical unit that forms part of a line of verse

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Rhythm

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The patterned recurrence of specific language features

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Iamb

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a metrical foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one

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Pentameter

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Five metric feet in a line

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Trochee

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A metric foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one

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Iambic Pentameter

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A metrical form in which the basic foot is an iamb and most lines consist of five iambs

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Blank Verse

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a poem with no rhyme but does have iambic pentameter

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Heroic Couplets

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rhyming pairs of lines in iambic pentameter

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Quatrains

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A type of stanza consisting of four lines

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Tercets

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A type of stanza consisting of three lines

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Enjambment

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the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza

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Apostrophe

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the act of addressing some abstraction or personification that is not physically present

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Allusion

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An indirect or passing reference to some event, person, place, or artistic work, the nature and relevance of which is not explained by the writer

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Anaphora

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Repetition in which the same word or phrase is repeated in successive lines, clauses, or sentences

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Personification

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The treatment of a concept, animal, or inanimate object as if it had human attributes

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Alliteration

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Repetition of the same sounds in any sequence of neighbouring words