Terms and Definitions (Year 11)

Question 1

Metaphor

Answer 1

a comparison of two things that are basically dissimilar in whihc one is described in terms of the other.

Question 2

Litotes

Answer 2

a conscious understatement that achieves the opposite effect of the words themselves

Question 3

verbal irony

Answer 3

a discrepancy between what is said and what is really mean: sarcasm

Question 4

dialect

Answer 4

a particular kind of speech used by a group becasue of its geographical location or class.

Question 5

irony

Answer 5

a perception of inconsistency, sometimes humourous

Question 6

epigraph

Answer 6

a short quotation that appears in front of a poem, a book, or a chapter, explaining somethng about what follows

Question 7

paradox

Answer 7

a statement that is self-contradictory on its surface , yet makes a point through the juxtaposition of words and ideas within the paradox eg “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.” Animal Farm - G Orwell

Question 8

Frame narrative or frame story

Answer 8

a story that has another story or stories within it.

Question 9

Allegory

Answer 9

a story that represents abstract ideas or moral qualities. An allegory has both a literal and symbolic level of meaning.

Question 10

pun

Answer 10

an expression that achieves emphasis or humour by utilising two distinctly different meanings for the same word or similar sounding words.

Question 11

symbol

Answer 11

an object, person, or place that has a meaning in itself and that also stands for something larger than itself, usually an idea or concept; some concrete thing which represents an abstraction

Question 12

mixed metaphor

Answer 12

combining tow or more literary terms in such a way that the meaning is ridiculous, impossible or incorrect eg The athlete sailed down the road of life without missing a step.

Question 13

metafiction

Answer 13

fiction that makes no attempt to disguise itself as factual; a fiction that comments on its actually being fiction.

Question 14

motif and visual motif

Answer 14

any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce toehr narrative (or literary)aspects such as theme or mood.

Question 15

anthropomorphism

Answer 15

giving the characteristics of a human to an animal

Question 16

dramatic irony

Answer 16

the audience knows more about a character’s situation than the character does.

Question 17

catachresis

Answer 17

the deliberate use of words to create an impossible situation or mixed metaphor eg: “My Father bleeds history.”

Question 18

comic relief

Answer 18

the intrusion of humour interrupting or immediately following a scene of great excitement.eg: drunk porter following the killing of King Duncan in Macbeth

Question 19

juxtaposition

Answer 19

the placement of two dissimilar items, people, thoughts, places etc next to each other to emphasis the differences and heighten the similarities.

Question 20

parallelism

Answer 20

the repetition of similarly constructed phrases, clauses or sentences within a short section eg: Government of the people. for the people, by the people.

Question 21

intertextuality

Answer 21

the shaping of text’s meanings through the reference to other texts; where a text refers to or alludes to another text eg: The Simpsons constantly refers to literary and contemporary texts

Question 22

structural irony

Answer 22

the use of a naive hero, whose incorrect perceptions differ from the the audience’s correct ones.

Question 23

foreshadowing

Answer 23

the use of hints or clues in a story to suggest what action is to come.