English Literature – Technical Terminology

Poetry:
 Sonnet – a 14-line poem, traditionally written about love.
 Enjambment – when lines of verse do not have any punctuation at their ends, so run onto the next line.
 End-Stopping – when lines of verse have punctuation at their ends, usually a full stop.
 Caesura – a pause in a line of verse, often near the middle of the line, again usually a full stop.
 Stanza – the technical term for a verse (in poetry).
 (Rhyming) Couplet – a pair of rhyming lines with the same number of syllables.
 Quatrain – a stanza of 4 lines, often rhyming ABAB, AABB, or ABBA.
Sentence Structure:
 Compound Sentence – a main and a subordinate clause.
 Repetition: Anaphora – repetition of word/phrase at the beginning of successive clauses/lines.
 Repetition: Epiphora – repetition of word/phrase at the end of successive clauses/lines.
 Repetition: Epizeuxis – the same word repeated in succession.
 Repetition: Polyptoton – repetition of a root word in different forms, e.g. the words luppiter, lovi, lovis, and lovem are
derived from the root word “love.”
 Repetition: Homoioptoton – repetition of words with the same endings, e.g. suddenly, quickly.
 Parallel Syntax (Parallelism) – repetition of phrases in adjacent sentences/clauses e.g. It was the best of times, it was
the worst of times.
 Spondee – two emphasised words placed next to each other.
 Juxtaposition vs. Anthesis vs. Oxymoron – Juxtaposition is usually of contrasting terms that are littered frequently
across a text – such as a theme; antithesis is direct opposites in a text; oxymorons are direct opposites that appear
successively in a text.

Sound:
 Alliteration – the repetition of a sound in words close together.
 Alliteration: Plosive – the repetition of these consonant sounds: t, k, and p (without voice) and d, g, and b (voiced).
 Sibilance – the repetition of ‘s’ or ‘sh’ sounds.
 Assonance – the repetition of similar vowel sounds to create internal rhymes (e.g. sonnet, porridge), but also from the
use of identical consonants with different vowels (e.g. killed, cold, culled).
 Consonance – the repetition of consonant sounds.
 Onomatopoeia – when the word itself sounds like the sound it is describing.
 Cacophony – the use of words with sharp, harsh, hissing and unmelodious sounds – primarily those of consonants –
to achieve desired results.

Figurative Language:
 Imagery – visual representations or comparisons used figuratively.
 Simile – comparison that uses ‘like’ or ‘as’.
 Metaphor – comparison without an obvious comparative word such as ‘like’ – instead suggests something actually is
or was something else.
 Personification, Anthropomorphism – inanimate objects or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities.
 Hyperbole – exaggeration for effect.
Words:
 Noun – a person, animal, place, thing, or idea, e.g. a phone.
 Abstract Noun – an idea, quality or state rather than a concrete object e.g. danger, happiness.
 Concrete Noun – a noun denoting a material object rather than an abstract quality, state, or action,
e.g. dog, building, tree.
 Verb – a ‘being’, ‘doing’ or ‘having’ word.
 Adverb - describes a verb (and sometimes modifies an adjective or adverb), e.g. gently.
 Adjective - describes a noun.
Other:
 Semantic Field – a group of words used in close proximity that share a certain theme.
 Symbol – a word that represents far more than itself.