A2 English Lit 2015

Question 1

antithesis

Answer 1

contrast of ideas expressed by parallelism

Question 2

bathos

Answer 2

sudden change of register or content from the sublime to the ridiculous, usually to create a comic effect

Question 3

caricature

Answer 3

grotesquely exaggerated portrayal of a person (e.g Gatsby is like a caricature of the person he wants to become)

Question 4

contextuality

Answer 4

historical, social and cultural background of a text

Question 5

cliche

Answer 5

predictable and overused expression or situation (e.g Duffy uses romantic clichés)

Question 6

closure

Answer 6

a sense of an ending, tying up ends in a fictional work

Question 7

elegy

Answer 7

lament for the permanent loss of someone or something

Question 8

ephemeral

Answer 8

transitory, shirt lived (e.g Mandras’ youth)

Question 9

epic

Answer 9

a long narrative poem, on a serious subject, written in a grand or elevated style, centred on a larger than life hero

Question 10

epigraph

Answer 10

inscription at the head of a chapter or book

Question 11

epiphany

Answer 11

sudden revelation of a significant truth; divine manifestation

Question 12

epistolary

Answer 12

taking the form of letters (Letters to Mandras at the Front- compare to poem “Give”)

Question 13

farce

Answer 13

impromptu buffoonery to incite laughter

Question 14

intertextuality

Answer 14

relationship between one text and another

Question 15

irony

Answer 15

language intended to mean the opposite of the words actually expressed; or an amusing or cruel reversal of a situation which is expected, intended or deserved

Question 16

juxtaposition

Answer 16

placing side by side for (ironic) contrast of interpretation

Question 17

legend

Answer 17

story about a historical figure which exaggerates their qualities or feats

Question 18

lyrical

Answer 18

expression of strong feelings, usually love; suggestive of music

Question 19

monologue

Answer 19

extended speech or thought process by one character

Question 20

mysticism

Answer 20

having spiritual significance

Question 21

myth

Answer 21

fiction about supernatural beings (Mandras’ death could be viewed as mythical, imagery of Daisy is also sometimes mythical)

Question 22

paradox

Answer 22

self-contradictory truth

Question 23

parody

Answer 23

ridicule by imitation and exaggeration of a style of speaking or writing

Question 24

pastiche

Answer 24

literary composition made up of fragments of different styles

Question 25

pastoral

Answer 25

innocent and idyllic rural existence

Question 26

pathos

Answer 26

sad situation which evokes pity from the reader (saturates all three texts)

Question 27

plurality

Answer 27

possible multiple meanings of a text

Question 28

postmodern

Answer 28

contemporary literary period, beginning around 1950

Question 29

register

Answer 29

type of expression, level of formality

Question 30

romance

Answer 30

popular story of love and war, deriving from medieval court life and fairy tale

Question 31

Romanticism

Answer 31

influential literary movement, of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, in favour of rebellious assertion of the individual; a sense of the sublime and infinite; belief in spiritual correspondence between man and nature

Question 32

satire

Answer 32

exposes to ridicule the vice or foolishness of a person or institution (Fitzgerald on roaring 20s, de Bernieres on war)

Question 33

stereotype

Answer 33

typical characteristics of a category of person, often used for mockery

Question 34

rondo

Answer 34

poem with a circular structure, begins and ends similarly

Question 35

Petrarchan sonnet

Answer 35

octet and sextet with rhyme scheme abbaabba cdecde

Question 36

Shakespearean sonnet

Answer 36

three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet, written in iambic pentameter

Question 37

alternate rhyme

Answer 37

abab rhyme scheme

Question 38

internal rhyme

Answer 38

rhyme within a line

Question 39

trochee

Answer 39

one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Question 40

spondee

Answer 40

two consecutive stressed syllables

Question 41

trimeter

Answer 41

six syllables to a line

Question 42

tetrameter

Answer 42

eight syllables to a lie

Question 43

mode of address

Answer 43

point of view e.g first person, third person

Question 44

parallelism

Answer 44

when pairing of structures creates balance

Question 45

lexical set

Answer 45

group of words joined by similarities

Question 46

litotes

Answer 46

deliberate understatement, opposite of hyperbole

Question 47

conceit

Answer 47

deliberately complex metaphor (characteristic of the metaphysical movement)

Question 48

fricatives

Answer 48

sounds where air escapes e.g F, V

Question 49

plosives

Answer 49

sounds which release a burst of air e.g P, B, T

Question 50

sibilants

Answer 50

hissing sounds e.g S, Z

Question 51

aspirants

Answer 51

audible breath sounds e.g H

Question 52

imagist

Answer 52

sparse use of imagery

Question 53

dirty realism

Answer 53

unadorned daily life (e.g Carlo’s description of Francesco’s death juxtaposed to the romanticised version he tells his mother)

Question 54

eclogue

Answer 54

short, pastoral poem in a dialogue form

Question 55

leitmotif

Answer 55

recurring motif that is important to the story (e.g the green light, eyes of T.J Eckleburg, Pelagia’s waistcoat, the mandolin)

Question 56

hubris

Answer 56

self indulgent confidence that leads to tragedy

Question 57

blank verse

Answer 57

unrhyming iambic pentameter

Question 58

palinode

Answer 58

a phrase repeated throughout a poem to create a sense of incantation

Question 59

epizeuxis

Answer 59

repetition of a word or phrase with no words in between (e.g “reprieve, reprieve, reprieve)