Key Definitions in English Literature
1. Literary Terms
Metaphor: A figure of speech that describes an object or action as something else, which is not
literally true but helps explain an idea or make a comparison.
Simile: A figure of speech that compares two different things using 'like' or 'as'.
Irony: The expression of meaning through the use of language that normally signifies the opposite,
often for humorous or emphatic effect.
Alliteration: The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely
connected words.
Imagery: Visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.
2. Genres
Poetry: A form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke
meanings.
Drama: A genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in
tone.
Novel: A long, fictional narrative that describes intimate human experiences.
Short Story: A brief fictional work that typically centers around a singular event or character.
Non-Fiction: Prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as biography or
history.
3. Literary Devices
Alliteration: The repetition of the same initial consonant sounds in a sequence of words or syllables.
Foreshadowing: A literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in
the story.
Hyperbole: Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.
Personification: Attributing human characteristics to non-human things or abstractions.
Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.
4. Major Literary Movements
Romanticism: A movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century,
emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual.
Modernism: A literary movement that began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characterized
by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing.
Realism: A literary movement that attempts to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality
and avoiding speculative fiction and supernatural elements.
Postmodernism: A late-20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism,
representing a departure from modernism and characterized by the use of irony, absurdity, and a
questioning of traditional authority.
5. Critical Approaches
Feminist Criticism: A literary criticism informed by feminist theory, or more broadly, by the politics of
feminism.
Marxist Criticism: A type of criticism that views literary works as reflections of the social institutions
from which they originate, focusing on class struggle and social justice.
Psychoanalytic Criticism: A method of interpreting literature that considers the author's unconscious
mind and its manifestations in the text.
New Criticism: An approach to literary analysis that focuses on the text itself, independent of the
author's intent, cultural context, or historical background.
Structuralism: A method of analysis that identifies and examines the structures that underlie cultural
phenomena, including literature.
