Literary Definitions | Literary Terms |Poetry Terms|Literary Devices
LITERARY DEFINITIONS:Preparing for UGC NET, SET, PGT, TGT, LT Grade, GATE English, or other competitive exams in English literature? Understanding literary terms is a must, as they form the backbone of questions on poetry, drama, and prose analysis. This comprehensive guide covers 50 essential literary terms in simple language, tailored for exam success. Each term includes a definition, example, exam relevance, originator or key figure, famous users (notable poets or writers), and additional details
1. Allegory
Definition: A narrative where characters, settings, and events symbolize deeper meanings, often moral, spiritual, or political.
Example: John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) depicts Christian’s journey as a symbol of the soul’s quest for salvation.
Exam Relevance: Frequently tested in UGC NET and SET, often linked to works like George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945, political allegory) or the medieval play Everyman (moral allegory).
Originator: No single coiner; rooted in ancient Greek literature (e.g., Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, c. 380 BCE), formalized in medieval morality plays.
Famous Users: Dante Alighieri (Divine Comedy, 1320), Edmund Spenser (The Faerie Queene, 1590), George Orwell.
Additional Details: Allegories operate on two levels: surface (literal story) and symbolic (hidden meaning). In exams, questions may ask you to identify the allegorical meaning (e.g., how Orwell’s pigs represent Soviet leaders). Allegories are distinct from parables (shorter, moral-focused) and fables (animal-based, moral lessons). Key texts in syllabi include Bunyan, Orwell, and Spenser, often requiring analysis of symbolic characters.
2. Alliteration
Definition: Repetition of initial consonant sounds in closely placed words to enhance rhythm or mood.
Example: “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
Exam Relevance: Common in PGT and TGT exams, especially in poetry analysis (e.g., Beowulf’s “Grendel gorges greedily”).
Originator: No specific coiner; used in Old English poetry (e.g., Beowulf, c. 8th century).
Famous Users: Geoffrey Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales, 1387), William Langland (Piers Plowman, 1370s), Gerard Manley Hopkins (“Pied Beauty,” 1877).
Additional Details: Alliteration creates musicality and emphasizes key ideas. In exams, you may analyze its effect in Anglo-Saxon poetry (e.g., Beowulf) or Hopkins’ sprung rhythm. It differs from consonance (repetition of consonant sounds anywhere in words). Questions often ask how alliteration enhances tone, as in Chaucer’s vivid descriptions.
3. Allusion
Definition: An indirect reference to a person, place, event, or work, assuming reader familiarity.
Example: T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922) alludes to the Bible, Shakespeare, and Greek myths.
Exam Relevance: UGC NET and GATE English often test allusions in modernist poetry or Shakespeare’s plays.
Originator: No single coiner; common in classical literature (e.g., Homer’s Odyssey, c. 8th century BCE).
Famous Users: John Milton (Paradise Lost, 1667), James Joyce (Ulysses, 1922), T.S. Eliot.
Additional Details: Allusions enrich texts by connecting to broader cultural contexts. Exams may ask you to identify the source (e.g., Milton’s biblical allusions) or explain their effect (e.g., Eliot’s mythic parallels). Types include literary, mythological, and historical allusions. Key texts include Eliot’s poetry and Joyce’s novels.
4. Ambiguity
Definition: A word, phrase, or situation with multiple interpretations, often deliberate to deepen meaning.
Example: Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” in Hamlet (1600) questions existence and action.
Exam Relevance: Appears in SET and M.A. entrance exams, linked to New Criticism and close reading.
Originator: William Empson, who defined it in Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930).
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, John Donne (Holy Sonnets, 1633), Robert Frost (“The Road Not Taken,” 1916).
Additional Details: Empson identified seven types, from simple puns to complex contradictions. Exams test your ability to unpack ambiguity in poetry (e.g., Donne’s metaphysical conceits) or prose (e.g., Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, 1898). It’s distinct from vagueness, as ambiguity is intentional and meaningful.
5. Anachronism
Definition: An error or intentional placement of something in a time period where it doesn’t belong.
Example: A clock striking in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (1599), set in ancient Rome.
Exam Relevance: Asked in PGT and LT Grade exams, often in Renaissance drama or historical fiction.
Originator: No specific coiner; noted in Renaissance literary critiques.
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, Mark Twain (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, 1889).
Additional Details: Anachronisms can be errors or stylistic choices (e.g., Shakespeare’s for dramatic effect). Exams may ask if they’re intentional or critique historical accuracy in texts like Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe (1819). Common in time-travel narratives.
6. Anaphora
Definition: Repetition of a word or phrase at the start of successive clauses or lines for emphasis.
Example: Walt Whitman’s “Out of the cradle endlessly rocking” repeats “Out” in Leaves of Grass (1855).
Exam Relevance: Common in UGC NET and TGT exams, linked to rhetorical devices in poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; rooted in classical rhetoric (Aristotle’s Rhetoric, c. 335 BCE).
Famous Users: Walt Whitman, Martin Luther King Jr. (“I Have a Dream,” 1963), Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities, 1859).
Additional Details: Anaphora builds rhythm and emotional intensity. Exams may ask its effect in Whitman’s free verse or Dickens’ prose. It differs from epistrophe (repetition at clause ends). Key texts include Romantic and modernist poetry.
7. Antagonist
Definition: The character or force opposing the protagonist, driving conflict.
Example: Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello (1604) schemes against Othello.
Exam Relevance: Frequent in PGT and B.Ed exams, linked to plot structure.
Originator: No specific coiner; term from Greek drama (Aristotle’s Poetics).
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, Charlotte Brontë (Bertha in Jane Eyre, 1847), Arthur Conan Doyle (Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes).
Additional Details: Antagonists can be human, supernatural, or abstract (e.g., fate). Exams test identification of conflict sources, as in Iago’s manipulation or Moriarty’s rivalry. Complex antagonists (e.g., Milton’s Satan in Paradise Lost) are often analyzed for motivation.
8. Apostrophe
Definition: Addressing an absent person, idea, or object as if present and responsive.
Example: Shelley’s “O wild West Wind” in Ode to the West Wind (1820).
Exam Relevance: Asked in SET and GATE English, often in Romantic poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; used in classical poetry (e.g., Homer).
Famous Users: Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats (“Ode on a Grecian Urn,” 1819), William Blake.
Additional Details: Apostrophe creates emotional intensity and personifies abstract concepts. Exams may ask its role in Romantic odes or Shakespearean soliloquies. It’s distinct from direct address (to a real audience). Key texts include Shelley and Keats.
9. Archetype
Definition: A universal, recurring symbol, character, or theme across cultures.
Example: The “hero” in Beowulf (c. 8th century) or Campbell’s “hero’s journey.”
Exam Relevance: Common in UGC NET and M.A. entrance exams, linked to Jungian or mythological criticism.
Originator: Carl Jung (psychological archetypes); Northrop Frye applied it to literature (Anatomy of Criticism, 1957).
Famous Users: Homer, J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings, 1954), Joseph Campbell.
Additional Details: Archetypes include the mentor (Gandalf), trickster (Loki), or quest. Exams test identification in myths, epics, or modern novels. Frye’s archetypal criticism is a key framework in syllabi, alongside Campbell’s monomyth theory.
10. Assonance
Definition: Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words for musical effect.
Example: “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” (My Fair Lady).
Exam Relevance: Asked in TGT and LT Grade exams, linked to poetic sound devices.
Originator: No specific coiner; used in Old English poetry.
Famous Users: Edgar Allan Poe (“The Raven,” 1845), Dylan Thomas (“Do Not Go Gentle,” 1951).
Additional Details: Assonance creates mood (e.g., Poe’s eerie tone). Exams may ask its effect in Romantic or modernist poetry. It differs from alliteration (consonant focus). Key texts include Poe’s gothic works and Thomas’ lyrical verse.
11. Ballad
Definition: A narrative poem or song with simple language, often with a refrain, telling a story.
Example: Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).
Exam Relevance: Frequent in UGC NET and SET, linked to Romantic or folk literature.
Originator: No single coiner; rooted in medieval oral traditions (e.g., Sir Patrick Spens).
Famous Users: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir Walter Scott (The Lay of the Last Minstrel, 1805), Anonymous folk ballads.
Additional Details: Ballads often use quatrains with ABCB rhyme. Exams test features like narrative structure or themes (love, tragedy). Literary ballads (Coleridge) differ from folk ballads (anonymous). Key texts include Lyrical Ballads (1798).
12. Bathos
Definition: A sudden shift from the sublime to the trivial, often for humor.
Example: Pope’s The Rape of the Lock (1712) mocks epic style with a trivial theft.
Exam Relevance: Asked in PGT and GATE English, linked to 18th-century satire.
Originator: Alexander Pope, who coined it in Peri Bathous (1727).
Famous Users: Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels, 1726).
Additional Details: Bathos undercuts grandeur for satire. Exams may ask its role in mock-heroic works or Swift’s irony. It differs from anticlimax (general letdown). Key texts include Pope’s satires and Swift’s prose.
13. Blank Verse
Definition: Unrhymed iambic pentameter, used in epic or dramatic poetry.
Example: Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667): “Of man’s first disobedience…”
Exam Relevance: Common in UGC NET and SET, linked to Renaissance poetry.
Originator: Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (Aeneid translation, c. 1540).
Famous Users: John Milton, William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth (The Prelude, 1850).
Additional Details: Blank verse mimics natural speech while maintaining rhythm. Exams test scansion or its use in epics (Milton) and drama (Shakespeare). It differs from free verse (no meter). Key texts include Paradise Lost and Hamlet.
14. Caesura
Definition: A pause within a poetic line, often marked by punctuation.
Example: In Beowulf: “Heorot trembled || wondrously built.”
Exam Relevance: Asked in TGT and LT Grade exams, linked to Anglo-Saxon poetry.
Originator: No specific coiner; used in classical and Old English verse.
Famous Users: Anonymous (Beowulf), T.S. Eliot (The Waste Land, 1922).
Additional Details: Caesura creates dramatic pauses, affecting rhythm. Exams may ask its effect in epic or modernist poetry. Medial caesura (mid-line) is common in Beowulf. Key texts include Old English epics and Eliot’s fragmented verse.
15. Catharsis
Definition: Emotional purification or release experienced by an audience through tragedy.
Example: Pity and fear at Oedipus’ fate in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (c. 429 BCE).
Exam Relevance: Frequent in UGC NET and GATE English, linked to Aristotelian tragedy.
Originator: Aristotle (Poetics, c. 335 BCE).
Famous Users: Sophocles, William Shakespeare (King Lear, 1606), Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman, 1949).
Additional Details: Catharsis is central to tragedy’s emotional impact. Exams test its role in Greek or Shakespearean plays, often asking how it affects audience empathy. Key texts include Oedipus Rex and Macbeth.
16. Characterization
Definition: The process of creating and developing characters through actions, dialogue, or description.
Example: Dickens’ Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (1843) evolves from miser to generous.
Exam Relevance: Asked in PGT and B.Ed exams, linked to novel analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; E.M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel (1927) distinguishes flat vs. round characters.
Famous Users: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice, 1813), Henry James.
Additional Details: Direct (description) and indirect (actions) methods are tested. Exams may ask about character arcs (e.g., Elizabeth Bennet’s growth). Key texts include Dickens’ novels and Austen’s social comedies.
17. Climax
Definition: The point of highest tension or turning point in a narrative.
Example: Hamlet’s confrontation with Claudius in Hamlet (1600).
Exam Relevance: Common in SET and TGT exams, linked to plot structure.
Originator: Gustav Freytag (Freytag’s Pyramid, 1863).
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, Thomas Hardy (Tess of the d’Urbervilles, 1891).
Additional Details: The climax shifts the narrative’s direction. Exams test its placement in Freytag’s pyramid (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement). Key texts include Shakespearean tragedies and Hardy’s novels.
18. Conceit
Definition: An extended, imaginative metaphor comparing unlike things.
Example: Donne’s compass metaphor in “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (1611).
Exam Relevance: Asked in UGC NET and GATE English, linked to Metaphysical poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; associated with Petrarch and John Donne.
Famous Users: John Donne, George Herbert (The Pulley, 1633), Andrew Marvell.
Additional Details: Petrarchan conceits (love-focused) differ from Metaphysical (intellectual). Exams test analysis of Donne’s wit or Herbert’s spirituality. Key texts include Donne’s Songs and Sonnets.
19. Consonance
Definition: Repetition of consonant sounds, often at word ends, for effect.
Example: “Blank and think” in Wilfred Owen’s “Strange Meeting” (1918).
Exam Relevance: Appears in TGT and LT Grade exams, linked to sound devices.
Originator: No specific coiner; used in medieval poetry.
Famous Users: Wilfred Owen, Seamus Heaney (Digging, 1966).
Additional Details: Consonance creates subtle harmony. Exams may ask its effect in war poetry (Owen) or modern verse (Heaney). It differs from alliteration (initial sounds). Key texts include Owen’s war poems.
20. Couplet
Definition: Two consecutive rhymed lines, often in the same meter.
Example: Pope’s “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; / The proper study of mankind is man” (Essay on Man, 1733).
Exam Relevance: Common in PGT and SET, linked to 18th-century poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; popularized by Geoffrey Chaucer.
Famous Users: Alexander Pope, John Dryden (Absalom and Achitophel, 1681).
Additional Details: Heroic couplets (iambic pentameter, rhymed) are tested in Pope’s satires. Exams may ask about rhyme schemes or epigrammatic style. Key texts include The Rape of the Lock.
21. Denouement
Definition: The resolution after the climax, tying up loose ends.
Example: The marriages in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813).
Exam Relevance: Asked in B.Ed and TGT exams, linked to narrative structure.
Originator: No specific coiner; Gustav Freytag popularized it.
Famous Users: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens (Great Expectations, 1861).
Additional Details: Denouement restores order or reveals outcomes. Exams test its role in comedies (Austen) or tragedies (Shakespeare). Key texts include 19th-century novels.
22. Diction
Definition: The choice of words, shaping tone and style.
Example: Hemingway’s sparse diction in The Old Man and the Sea (1952).
Exam Relevance: Frequent in UGC NET and SET, linked to stylistic analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Users: Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury, 1929).
Additional Details: Types include formal, informal, and colloquial. Exams test diction’s effect on tone (e.g., Faulkner’s stream-of-consciousness). Key texts include modernist novels.
23. Dramatic Monologue
Definition: A poem where a speaker addresses an imagined audience, revealing character.
Example: Browning’s My Last Duchess (1842).
Exam Relevance: Common in GATE English and UGC NET, linked to Victorian poetry.
Originator: Robert Browning.
Famous Users: Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson (Ulysses, 1842).
Additional Details: Reveals psychology through speech. Exams test speaker’s motives (e.g., the Duke’s control). Key texts include Browning’s Dramatic Lyrics.
24. Elegy
Definition: A mournful poem lamenting death or loss.
Example: Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751).
Exam Relevance: Asked in SET and PGT exams, linked to 18th-century poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from Greek poetry (Theocritus).
Famous Users: Thomas Gray, John Milton (Lycidas, 1637).
Additional Details: Elegies often use pastoral settings. Exams test themes of mortality or form (e.g., Gray’s quatrains). Key texts include Lycidas and Elegy.
25. Enjambment
Definition: A sentence running across a line break in poetry.
Example: Milton’s “Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree” (Paradise Lost).
Exam Relevance: Appears in TGT and LT Grade exams, linked to poetic structure.
Originator: No specific coiner; common in Renaissance poetry.
Famous Users: John Milton, William Wordsworth.
Additional Details: Enjambment creates flow or tension. Exams test its effect on meaning or rhythm. Key texts include Paradise Lost and The Prelude.
26. Epiphany
Definition: A sudden realization by a character.
Example: The boy’s disillusionment in Joyce’s “Araby” (Dubliners, 1914).
Exam Relevance: Asked in UGC NET and M.A. entrance exams, linked to modernist fiction.
Originator: James Joyce (Stephen Hero, 1944).
Famous Users: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf (Mrs. Dalloway, 1925).
Additional Details: Epiphanies mark character growth. Exams test their role in modernist narratives. Key texts include Dubliners and To the Lighthouse.
27. Epistolary Novel
Definition: A novel written as letters or documents.
Example: Richardson’s Pamela (1740).
Exam Relevance: Common in SET and PGT, linked to 18th-century fiction.
Originator: Samuel Richardson.
Famous Users: Samuel Richardson, Fanny Burney (Evelina, 1778).
Additional Details: Offers intimate perspectives. Exams test narrative technique or reliability. Key texts include Pamela and Dracula (1897).
28. Euphemism
Definition: A mild word replacing a harsh one.
Example: “Passed away” for “died.”
Exam Relevance: Appears in TGT and B.Ed exams, linked to language use.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Users: Charles Dickens, George Orwell (1984, 1949).
Additional Details: Euphemisms soften tone. Exams test their effect in dialogue or satire (e.g., Orwell’s Newspeak). Key texts include Victorian novels.
29. Foreshadowing
Definition: Hints about future events.
Example: The witches’ prophecy in Macbeth (1606).
Exam Relevance: Frequent in PGT and SET, linked to plot analysis.
Originator: No specific coiner; common in storytelling.
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, Charlotte Brontë.
Additional Details: Builds suspense. Exams test identification in tragedies or novels. Key texts include Macbeth and Jane Eyre.
30. Free Verse
Definition: Poetry without regular meter or rhyme.
Example: Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855).
Exam Relevance: Asked in UGC NET and GATE English, linked to modernist poetry.
Originator: Walt Whitman; T.S. Eliot refined it.
Famous Users: Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound.
Additional Details: Mimics natural speech. Exams test its role in modernist experimentation. Key texts include Leaves of Grass and The Waste Land.
31. Hamartia
Definition: A tragic flaw leading to a hero’s downfall.
Example: Othello’s jealousy in Othello (1604).
Exam Relevance: Common in UGC NET and GATE English, linked to tragedy.
Originator: Aristotle (Poetics).
Famous Users: Sophocles, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Often moral or psychological. Exams test its role in tragic outcomes. Key texts include Oedipus Rex and Othello.
32. Hyperbole
Definition: Exaggeration for effect.
Example: “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
Exam Relevance: Appears in TGT and LT Grade exams, linked to figurative language.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Users: Christopher Marlowe (Tamburlaine, 1587), Mark Twain.
Additional Details: Creates humor or intensity. Exams test its effect in drama or prose. Key texts include Elizabethan plays.
33. Imagery
Definition: Descriptive language appealing to senses.
Example: Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” (1819).
Exam Relevance: Frequent in UGC NET and SET, linked to poetry analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; central to poetry.
Famous Users: John Keats, William Wordsworth.
Additional Details: Types include visual, auditory, and tactile. Exams test sensory effects. Key texts include Romantic odes.
34. Irony
Definition: A contrast between expectation and reality (verbal, situational, dramatic).
Example: Oedipus searches for the murderer, unaware it’s himself (Oedipus Rex).
Exam Relevance: Asked in PGT and GATE English, linked to drama.
Originator: No single coiner; from Greek drama.
Famous Users: Sophocles, Jonathan Swift.
Additional Details: Dramatic irony is common in tragedy. Exams test types and effects. Key texts include Oedipus Rex and Gulliver’s Travels.
35. Juxtaposition
Definition: Placing contrasting elements side by side.
Example: Dickens’ wealth vs. poverty in A Tale of Two Cities (1859).
Exam Relevance: Appears in SET and M.A. entrance exams, linked to themes.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary criticism.
Famous Users: Charles Dickens, T.S. Eliot.
Additional Details: Highlights differences. Exams test thematic contrasts. Key texts include Dickens’ novels.
36. Metaphor
Definition: A direct comparison without “like” or “as.”
Example: “All the world’s a stage” (As You Like It, 1599).
Exam Relevance: Frequent in all exams, a core device.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical poetry.
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, John Donne.
Additional Details: Creates vivid imagery. Exams test interpretation. Key texts include Shakespeare’s plays.
37. Metonymy
Definition: Substituting a word with something associated.
Example: “The crown” for monarchy.
Exam Relevance: Asked in TGT and LT Grade exams, linked to rhetoric.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, Alexander Pope.
Additional Details: Differs from synecdoche (part for whole). Exams test identification. Key texts include Shakespeare’s dramas.
38. Motif
Definition: A recurring element supporting a theme.
Example: The green light in The Great Gatsby (1925).
Exam Relevance: Common in UGC NET and SET, linked to themes.
Originator: No single coiner; from criticism.
Famous Users: F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Differs from symbol (specific meaning). Exams test thematic roles. Key texts include Gatsby.
39. Ode
Definition: A lyric poem expressing exalted emotion.
Example: Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind (1820).
Exam Relevance: Asked in PGT and GATE English, linked to Romantic poetry.
Originator: Pindar (5th century BCE); Horace adapted it.
Famous Users: Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats.
Additional Details: Types include Pindaric and Horatian. Exams test structure. Key texts include Romantic odes.
40. Oxymoron
Definition: Contradictory terms combined.
Example: “Sweet sorrow” (Romeo and Juliet, 1597).
Exam Relevance: Appears in TGT and B.Ed exams, linked to figurative language.
Originator: No single coiner; from rhetoric.
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, John Milton.
Additional Details: Creates paradox. Exams test effect. Key texts include Shakespeare’s plays.
41. Paradox
Definition: A contradictory statement revealing truth.
Example: “Less is more” (Browning).
Exam Relevance: Asked in SET and M.A. entrance exams, linked to Metaphysical poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from philosophy.
Famous Users: John Donne, Robert Browning.
Additional Details: Challenges logic. Exams test interpretation. Key texts include Donne’s poetry.
42. Personification
Definition: Giving human traits to non-human things.
Example: “The wind whispered.”
Exam Relevance: Frequent in all exams, a core device.
Originator: No single coiner; from ancient poetry.
Famous Users: William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Additional Details: Enhances imagery. Exams test effect. Key texts include Romantic poetry.
43. Protagonist
Definition: The main character driving the story.
Example: Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (1813).
Exam Relevance: Asked in PGT and B.Ed exams, linked to narrative.
Originator: No specific coiner; from Greek drama.
Famous Users: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Central to conflict. Exams test roles. Key texts include 19th-century novels.
44. Pun
Definition: A play on words with multiple meanings.
Example: “Grave man” in Romeo and Juliet.
Exam Relevance: Appears in TGT and LT Grade exams, linked to Shakespeare.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical literature.
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde.
Additional Details: Adds wit. Exams test meaning. Key texts include Shakespeare’s plays.
45. Satire
Definition: Humor or irony critiquing society.
Example: Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726).
Exam Relevance: Common in UGC NET and SET, linked to 18th-century literature.
Originator: Juvenal, Horace; Jonathan Swift refined it.
Famous Users: Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope.
Additional Details: Types include Horatian (gentle) and Juvenalian (harsh). Exams test purpose. Key texts include Gulliver’s Travels.
46. Simile
Definition: A comparison using “like” or “as.”
Example: “My love is like a red, red rose” (Burns, 1794).
Exam Relevance: Frequent in all exams, a core device.
Originator: No single coiner; from ancient poetry.
Famous Users: Robert Burns, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Creates vivid imagery. Exams test identification. Key texts include Romantic poetry.
47. Soliloquy
Definition: A character speaking thoughts aloud alone.
Example: “To be or not to be” (Hamlet, 1600).
Exam Relevance: Asked in PGT and GATE English, linked to Shakespeare.
Originator: No single coiner; perfected by Shakespeare.
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe.
Additional Details: Reveals psychology. Exams test character insight. Key texts include Hamlet.
48. Sonnet
Definition: A 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme.
Example: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (1609).
Exam Relevance: Common in UGC NET and SET, linked to Renaissance poetry.
Originator: Petrarch; Thomas Wyatt adapted it.
Famous Users: William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser.
Additional Details: Types include Italian and English. Exams test structure. Key texts include Shakespeare’s sonnets.
49. Symbolism
Definition: Objects representing abstract ideas.
Example: The albatross in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).
Exam Relevance: Frequent in all exams, linked to themes.
Originator: No single coiner; from Romantic literature.
Famous Users: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake.
Additional Details: Enhances meaning. Exams test interpretation. Key texts include Romantic poetry.
50. Tone
Definition: The author’s attitude toward the subject.
Example: The ironic tone in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813).
Exam Relevance: Asked in SET and M.A. entrance exams, linked to stylistic analysis.
Originator: No specific coiner; from literary criticism.
Famous Poets/Writers: Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift.
Additional Details: Tone shapes reader perception. Exams test its effect (e.g., Austen’s social critique). Key texts include 19th-century novels.
Why These Literary Terms Matter for Competitive Exams
These terms are essential for UGC NET, SET, PGT, and other exams, appearing in:
- Poetry Analysis: Devices like metaphor or enjambment in Milton or Eliot.
- Drama: Catharsis or soliloquy in Shakespeare.
- Novels: Characterization or irony in Austen or Dickens.
- Criticism: Archetype (Jung) or ambiguity (Empson).
Study these to excel in MCQs, essays, and short answers.
Tips to Use This Guide
- Create flashcards for terms like anaphora.
- Apply terms to texts (e.g., Keats’ metaphors).
- Check syllabi for focus areas.
- Practice mock MCQs.
- Read primary texts (e.g., Paradise Lost).
Stay Tuned for Part 2!
This is Part 1, covering 50 terms. Part 2 will cover terms like synecdoche and stream of consciousness. Subscribe or follow on [X] for updates!
Share your favorite term or exam question in the comments!