AO1 Terminology
A glossary of literary
terminology
Metre- The rhythmic pattern of beats.
Dactyl/dactylic: a foot of 3 beats, the first stressed the second and third unstressed.
Elision: Omission, as of one or more letters from a word e.g. ‘ev’ning’
Foot: a unit of stressed and/or unstressed beats. The component of a line.
Free verse: Poetry in which the metre varies.
Heptameter: A line of seven feet
Hexameter: A line of six feet
Iamb/iambic: a foot of 2 beats one stressed one unstressed
Line-break: the turn of one line into the next.
Pentameter: a line of five feet
Pace: The rhythmic speed of a poem created by the metre or punctuation
Spondee: a foot of 2 stressed beats
Stressed: of a beat, spoken emphatically.
Syntax: The pattern/structural formation of a sentence
Trochee/trochaic: A foot of two beats, stressed followed by unstressed
Unstressed: Of a beat, spoken unemphatically, often more rapidly.
Tetrameter: A line of four feet
Trimeter: A line of 3 feet.
Form- The physical structure of a poem
Internal requirements: the requirements of the form in terms of structure, metre,
rhyme scheme etc. e.g. a refrain in a ballad.
External requirements: The historical/intertexual associations of the form e.g. the
sonnet with love poetry.
Arch-rhyme/chiasmic rhyme- A rhyme scheme with mirror symmetry e.g. abba
Blank verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter
Refrain: Line or lines that are repeated
Couplet: unit of 2 lines usually rhyming. Can be used effectively to summarise (as in a
sonnet)
Dramatic monologue: A poem cast as a speech by a particular (historical or imaginary)
person, usually aimed at a specific listener.
Elegy: a poem mourning a death or other loss.
Enjamb/enjambment: Of lines, couplets or stanzas, not end-stopped, with a sense and
syntax that continues to the next line, couplet or stanza.
Isometric: Of stanzas, with lines of constant length.
Lyric poetry: expression of strong emotion from a speaker (originally accompanied by
music)
Quatrain: Stanza of four lines
Satire: A mode of literature that mocks or ridicules in order to urge correction or reform.
Sonnet: a poem of a fixed number of lines of iambic pentameter (varying depending on
the style but classically 14) which is traditionally seen as a love lyric, however
increasingly the sonnet form is used for a range of subjects.
Lineation: The use of lines as a form of punctuation/conveyor of meaning.
Caesura: a pause in the middle of a line (usually in the form of a full stop or punctuation
of equal weight)
End-stopped: Of a line or stanza, having a terminal mark of punctuation e.g. full stop,
question mark, exclamation mark.
Stanza break: The physical and syntactical space between stanzas.
Rhyme: The coincidence of sounds.
Alliteration: The repeated use of the same consonant/s in two or more proximate
words.
Assonance: The repeated use of the same vowel/s in two or more proximate words.
Broken rhyme: A word split between two lines to facilitate a rhyme e.g. rent/ventRicle
Counter-semantic rhyme: rhymed words that have antagonistic/opposite meanings e.g.
tall/small
Delayed rhyme: Rhymes which appear relatively late to the rest of the rhyme scheme
e.g. ababa when the rest of the poem is in rhyming couplets.
Eye-rhyme/printer’s rhyme: words which have similarly spelt endings but don’t actually
rhyme e.g. though/rough
Pararhyme (half-rhyme): Words that share some rhyming elements but don’t fully
rhyme e.g. ‘once’/’France’; it is often used to imply disharmony or disruption to the
order. Used famously by Wilfred Owen.
Internal rhyme: Rhyme between words within lines and the end words.
Semantic rhyme: Where rhyming words are linked by meaning.
Diction: The choice of words
Ambiguous: Having an undefined or unclear meaning.
Demotic: Meaning of the common people, associated with an informal, sometimes
vulgar style.
Dialect: a regional form of a dominant language implying different words and syntax.
Idiom: Turn of phrase (often whose meaning is not apparent to non native speakers)
Sociolect: A form of a language specific to a social group implying different words or
syntax.
Polysemic: Of words, having many meanings
Phonetic: A choice of spelling that mirrors spoken pronunciation
Portmanteau: A word created by merging two existing words
Register: The chosen level of diction and tone of a piece e.g. whether it is literary and
formal, simple and naturalistic or demotic and informal
Tone: A poem's tone is the attitude or emotion that its style/language implies
Connotation: An idea or meaning suggested by or associated with a word or thing
Denotation: The most specific or direct meaning of a word, in contrast to its figurative or
associated meanings
Meaning: The themes/message or overarching ideas of a piece of literature
Allusion: An intentional but undeclared reference to another text, person, belief etc.
Allegory: a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or
material forms
Intertexuality: The relationship between texts e.g. the influence of Shakespeare’s
Hamlet on subsequent western literature.
Speaker: The voice of the poem as differentiated from the poet themselves.
Symbol: A person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional
meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its own.
Antagonist: A person, or a group of people who oppose the main character, or the main
characters
Protagonist: The central or primary character in a piece of literature.
Hyperbole: Exaggeration for a particular effect.
Euphemism: the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to
be offensive, harsh, or blunt. E.g. to pass away is a euphemism for to die.
Chiasmus: the arrangement of parallel opposites either in a line or a narrative
progression e.g. the rise and fall of a character’s fortunes.
Metaphor: A figure of speech where one thing is said to be something that it is clearly
not.
Imagery: the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things,
Metonym: A figurative technique where either a part or attribute of something is
substituted for the thing itself e.g. the stage for the acting profession. Or an object
related to it is used to represent it e.g. the crown for the monarchy.
A liminal point: (meaning threshold) a point of change or progression in a piece of
literature e.g. the point of moving from innocence to experience.
Pathetic fallacy: Using the weather to represent the mood of a scene/character.
Multi-faceted: Having more than one meaning.
Personification: The attributing of human characteristics to non-human things for effect.
Hubris: means extreme pride or arrogance, usually resulting in the character’s fall
Pathos: the inspiration of pity or sadness in the audience
Onomatopoeia: Where the aural (sound) effect created by a word mirrors its meaning.
Litotes: The act of understatement for effect
Bathos: An abrupt, unintended transition in style from the exalted to the commonplace,
producing a ludicrous effect.
Anaphora: The deliberate repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of several
successive verses, clauses, or paragraphs; for example, "We shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we
shall fight in the hills"