STPM Literature in English 920 key terms

A speech in which a character, alone or believing themselves unobserved, speaks inner thoughts aloud, giving the audience direct access to private feeling and motive.

A brief remark spoken by a character that other figures on stage are not meant to hear, often revealing an attitude or plot detail to the audience alone.

A gap between what a character knows and what the audience or reader knows, so that words or actions carry a meaning the speaker does not intend.

The error, misjudgement or flaw in a tragic protagonist that contributes to their downfall, often arising from character rather than simple bad luck.

The emotional release or purging that tragedy is said to produce in an audience, typically through pity and fear aroused by the protagonist's suffering.

A humorous scene or exchange placed within a serious work, easing tension and often sharpening the tragic effect of what follows it.

Unrhymed iambic pentameter, the verse line of much English Renaissance drama, whose regular beat can be varied for emphasis or emotional effect.

A character whose qualities, actions or situation contrast with another's, so that particular traits of the second figure stand out more clearly by comparison.

A sudden reversal of fortune or of expectation in a plot, especially in tragedy, where circumstances swing from favourable to disastrous or the reverse.

The final stage of a plot in which complications are resolved and the outcome of the action becomes clear to the characters and the audience.

Instructions in a play text describing setting, movement, gesture, costume or delivery, guiding performance and sometimes revealing character or mood.

A group of lines forming a unit in a poem, set off by spacing and often following a pattern of rhyme, line length or argument.

The patterned arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse, producing a regular rhythm that a poem may follow, vary or deliberately break.

A line of five metrical feet, each normally an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, the commonest measure in English verse.

The running of a sentence or phrase past the end of a line of verse without punctuation, so that line breaks cut across rather than complete the syntax.

A pause or break within a line of verse, often marked by punctuation, which can slow the line, shift emphasis or set up a contrast.

The pattern formed by end rhymes in a poem, usually shown by letters such as ABAB, and often signalling stanza shape or the movement of an argument.

A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter, usually organised as an octave and sestet or as three quatrains and a couplet, with a turn of thought.

Poetry that avoids fixed metre and rhyme, shaping its effects instead through line breaks, speech rhythm, imagery, repetition and syntax.

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses, creating pictures or sensations in the reader's mind and often carrying emotional or symbolic weight.

An elaborate, often surprising metaphor sustained across a passage or whole poem, linking two apparently unlike things in a clever, extended comparison.

The turn in argument or feeling in a poem, especially the shift between octave and sestet in a Petrarchan sonnet or before the closing couplet.

The voice that tells a story, whether a character within it or an external teller, whose knowledge, reliability and attitude shape what readers receive.

The perspective from which a story is told, such as first person, third-person limited or omniscient, determining what information and bias reach the reader.

A technique blending a third-person narrator's voice with a character's thoughts and idiom, so that reported thought keeps the flavour of the character's own speech.

A narrative mode that renders continuous, associative mental flow, often with loose syntax and abrupt shifts, imitating how thought actually moves.

A hint or preparation early in a narrative that suggests a later development, creating expectation and making the eventual outcome feel earned.

The methods by which an author builds a character, including description, action, dialogue, the reactions of others and direct comment by the narrator.

The time and place in which a narrative occurs, including social and physical detail, which can shape mood, motivate plot and carry thematic meaning.

A moment in fiction when a character suddenly understands something significant about themselves or their situation, often changing the story's emotional direction.

A story that encloses one or more other stories, with an outer teller or situation providing a context and frame for the inner tales.

The central idea or concern a literary work explores, such as ambition, loyalty or loss, conveyed through pattern and suggestion rather than stated directly.

The attitude a writer or speaker takes towards the subject and audience, conveyed through word choice, sentence shape, rhythm and level of formality.

A writer's choice of words and phrasing, including register, connotation and level of formality, which shapes tone, characterisation and precision of meaning.

The use of objects, places or actions to stand for abstract ideas or larger patterns of meaning, often through repetition and association rather than explicit statement.

Detailed analysis of a short passage's language, structure and imagery, arguing from specific textual evidence rather than plot summary, biography or vague impression.

A critical approach treating a literary work as a self-contained verbal object, focusing on tension, ambiguity and irony within the text rather than author or history.

A critical approach examining how literature represents gender, reproduces or challenges patriarchal assumptions, and reflects the social position of women writers and readers.

A single sentence near the start of an essay stating the argument it will prove, giving the essay focus and a principle for selecting evidence.