Poetry
This term refers to the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line or stanza (e.g. Szymborska’s flowing syntax in free verse).
What is enjambment?
A recurring theme or symbolic character that reinforces the central ideas of a text (e.g. the tragic hero or fallen woman).
What is an archetype?
The props, physical environment, and space used to support the setting of a play.
(e.g. minimalism in Greek theatre)
What is staging?
The act of recalling and reconstructing personal experience.
What is memoir?
This literary movement focused on emotion, individualism, and nature, and is an early influence on The Picture of Dorian Gray.
What is Romanticism?
A direct or implied reference to another work, event, figure (e.g. Szymborska references historical battles).
What is allusion?
mirrors and portraits in The Picture of Dorian Gray, eggs in The Handmaid's Tale, hunger in If This Is A Man, animals in Murakami stories
What is a motif?
This character type creates contrast with the protagonist and highlights their traits (e.g. Antigone and Ismene)?
What is a foil?
This is when a character is aware they are in a narrative and may speak to the audience or reference the fictionality. think: Ondaatje
What is metafiction?
This genre involves imagined future societies and critiques of current systems in a way this is tenuously plausible. Think: The Handmaid’s Tale
What is speculative/dystopian fiction?
A style of poetry characterised by a highly personal and self-revelatory nature (e.g. Vuong's 'Night Sky with Exit Wounds' and 'Time Is a Mother')
What is confessional poetry?
A figure of speech in which an animal idea is given human characteristics (e.g. Super-Frog, Little Green Monster)
What is anthropomorphism?
This is an emotional release experienced by the audience at the end of a tragedy (e.g. audience reaction to Hamlet’s death).
What is catharsis?
A piece of nonfiction writing characterised by a subjective view and deep personal reflection (e.g. Ondaatje’s vignettes)
What is a personal essay?
A post-WWII literary movement that emphasised absurdity, alienation, and existential doubt. Think: Murakami
What is postmodernism?
When a part is used to represent the whole (e.g. “hands” for workers)
What is synecdoche?
When a narrative presents events out of chronological order (e.g. The Handmaid’s Tale’s shifts in time).
What is non-linear narrative?
This moment in a tragedy refers to the reversal of fortune due to the protagonist’s flaw (e.g. Antigone defying Creon)
What is peripeteia?
This term refers to a nonfiction narrative organised around time periods or episodes, not plot. Think: Primo Levi's chapters
What is episodic structure?
This is a genre that blends real, personal, and imagined events. Think: Running in the Family
What is semi-fiction?
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line.
What is meter?
The juxtaposition of contradictory ideas to reveal a deeper truth (e.g. beauty and horror in The Picture of Dorian Gray).
What is paradox?
A _____ is a speech delivered by one character to other characters present on stage
A _____ is a speech delivered by a character to themselves to reveal inner thoughts
A _____ is when a character speaks to the audience, unheard by others on stage
What is a monologue?
What is a soliloquy?
What is an aside?
A technique where real and imagined memories are blended together. Think: Ondaatje
What is semi-fiction / impressionistic narration?
This genre emphasises individual perception and rejects objective truth (e.g. Hamlet’s moral questioning).
What is existentialism?