English Terminology

• Lexis


  Vocabulary
• Denotation 


  The dictionary meaning of a word
• Connotation


  A secondary meaning with tone
• Imagery 


  Words that create visual or sensory images in the readers mind
• Assonance 


  The repetition of vowel sounds at the beginning or middle of a poem “go low and slow..”
• Allusion


  A reference to characters or situations from other well known texts
• Oxymoron 


  A figure of speech that joins together two seemingly contradictory elements. “Here with you in the darkest light”
• Limerick


  A fixed stanza with five lines, usually rhythmic
• Meter 


  A way of placing emphasis on words and syllables that creates a repetitive rhyme
• Hyperbole 


  An exaggeration
• Allegory 


  A work that conveys a hidden meaning- usually moral, spiritual or political
• Anachronism 


  Person or thing placed in the wrong time period
• Anadiplosis 


  Figure of speech in which a word or group of words located at the end of one clause or sentence is repeated at or near the beginning of the following cause
• Ballad


  Type of poem that tells a story and was traditionally set to music. Typically composed of four line stanzas and follow ABCB rhyme scheme
• Blank verse 


  Name given to poetry that lacks rhymes but does follow a specific meter.
• Caesura 


  Pause that occurs within a line of poetry, marked by some form of punctuation such as a period, comma, ellipsis or dash
• Catharsis 


  Releasing strong emotions through art
• Characterisation


  Representation of the traits, motives, and psychology of a character in a narrative. May occur through direct description
• Colloquialism 


  The use of informal words or phrases in writing or speech.
• Common Meter


  Specific type of meter that is often used in lyric poetry. 2 traits: alternates between lines of 8 syllables and lines of 6 syllables
• Conceit 


  Fanciful metaphor, highly elaborate or extended metaphor in which an unlikely and strained comparison is made between two things
• Connotation


  Array of emotions and ideas suggested by a word in addition to its dictionary definition
• Consonance 


  Figure of speech in which the same consonant sound repeats within a group of words.
• Dactyl 


  three syllable metrical patterns in poetry in which a stressed syllable is followed by two unstressed syllables.
• Dramatic irony 


  Plot device used to highlight the difference between a characters understanding of a given situation, and that of the audience
• Elegy


  A poem of serious reflection, especially one mourning the loss of someone who died
• End rhyme 


  Rhymes that occur in the final words of lines of poetry
• Enjambment 


  Continuation of a sentence or clause across a line break.
• Envoi


  A brief concluding stanza at the end of a poem
• Epigram 


  A short, witty statement, usually written in verse, that conveys a single though or observation
• External conflict 


  A problem, antagonism, or struggle that takes place between a character and an outside force
• Figurative language 


  Language that contains or uses figures of speech
• Foreshadowing


  A literary device in which authors hint at plot developments that don’t actually occur until later in the story
• Formal verse 


  Name given to rhymes poetry that uses a strict meter (regular or stressed and unstressed syllables).
• Free verse 


  Name given to poetry that doesn’t use any strict meter or rhyme scheme
• Hamartia 


  Refers to a tragic flaw or error that leads to a character’s downfall.

  Example = Othello’s naivety
• Hubris 


  Excessive pride or overconfidence which drives a person to overstep limits in a way that leads to their downfall.

  Example: Gatsby and his excessive pride in his riches
• Iamb

  Two syllable metrical pattern in poetry. In which one unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable
• Idiom


  A phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase
• Internal rhyme 


  Rhyme that occurs in the middle lines of poetry