Skip to content

A-Level English Flashcards: Literary Terms

A-Level English — Literary Terms Flashcards

20 flashcards with spaced repetition. Press Space to flip, then rate your recall (1—4).

What These Flashcards Cover

These flashcards test your knowledge of the literary terms and techniques you need for A-Level English Literature. You should be able to identify these techniques in texts, explain their effects, and use them in your own analytical writing.

Key areas:

  • Imagery: Language that appeals to the senses. Visual imagery (sight), auditory imagery (sound), tactile imagery (touch), olfactory imagery (smell), gustatory imagery (taste). Imagery creates vivid mental pictures and emotional responses.
  • Figurative Language: Metaphor (direct comparison: “time is money”). Simile (comparison using “like” or “as”: “brave as a lion”). Personification (giving human qualities to non-human things: “the wind whispered”). Hyperbole (exaggeration for effect). Understatement (making something seem less important than it is).
  • Structural Techniques: Enjambment (running over the end of a line without punctuation). Caesura (a pause within a line, often marked by punctuation). Anaphora (repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses). Volta (a turn in thought or argument, often in a sonnet).
  • Sound Devices: Alliteration (repetition of initial consonant sounds: “wild and whirling words”). Assonance (repetition of vowel sounds: “the rain in Spain”). Sibilance (repetition of “s” sounds: “the silent snake”). Onomatopoeia (words that imitate sounds: “buzz,” “crash”).
  • Narrative Techniques: First person (narrator is a character), third person limited (narrator knows one character’s thoughts), third person omniscient (narrator knows all characters’ thoughts). Unreliable narrator (narrator’s account is biased or inaccurate). Stream of consciousness (depiction of the flow of thoughts).
  • Tone and Mood: Tone is the author’s attitude to the subject. Mood is the atmosphere created for the reader. Words like “sombre,” “euphoric,” “ironic,” and “nostalgic” describe tone. Tone shifts signal changes in the text’s meaning.
  • Genre Conventions: Sonnet (14 lines, iambic pentameter, specific rhyme scheme). Novel (sustained prose narrative). Tragedy (noble protagonist with a fatal flaw, downfall). Comedy (happy ending, social satire). Gothic (horror, decay, the supernatural).

Intuition

Literary terms are the toolkit for analysing how writers create meaning. Think of a writer as a painter: imagery is their colour palette, metaphor is their brush technique, and structure is their composition. Just as a painter chooses specific colours for specific effects, a writer chooses specific techniques for specific effects.

The key is not just to identify the technique but to explain its effect. “The author uses a metaphor” is only half the answer. “The author uses a metaphor to compare time to money, suggesting that time is a valuable resource that can be spent or wasted, which reinforces the poem’s theme of carpe diem” is a complete answer.

Useful Phrases for Analysis

  • “The use of [technique] creates a sense of [effect] because…”
  • “This metaphor suggests that…”
  • “The shift in tone from [X] to [Y] implies…”
  • “In the context of [historical/social context], this imagery takes on additional significance…”
  • “The structural decision to [action] reflects the thematic concern with…”

Common Pitfalls

  1. Identifying without analysing. Saying “there is a metaphor” is not enough. You must explain what the metaphor means and how it contributes to the overall meaning or theme of the text.
  2. Confusing similar terms. Metaphor vs simile: metaphor states the comparison directly; simile uses “like” or “as.” Hyperbole vs understatement: hyperbole exaggerates; understatement minimises. Know the difference.
  3. Ignoring context. Literary techniques don’t exist in a vacuum. A war poet’s imagery of violence has a different effect from a love poet’s imagery of violence. Consider the context of the text.
  4. Over-relying on a few terms. Don’t just write about “metaphor” and “imagery” every time. Use a range of terms to show the depth of your analysis. Sibilance, enjambment, caesura, and anaphora are all valuable analytical tools.

Cross-References