OBJECTIVE ENGLISH
Welcome to Part 7 of our series on literary definitions, literary forms, poetry terms, and literary devices for competitive exams like UGC NET, SET, PGT, TGT, LT Grade, GATE English, and more. This guide presents 50 new literary terms in simple language, sourced from past exam questions (e.g., UGC NET 2018–2024, SET Maharashtra 2020–2023, PGT/TGT UP Board 2019–2022). Each term includes a definition, example, exam relevance, originator or key figure, famous poets or writers, and additional details, . Perfect for students, educators, and literature enthusiasts, this post boosts your literary terminology and English literature quiz performance!
Master these types of literary terms to excel in your exams. Missed earlier parts? Visit Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, or Part 5., or Part 6.
Table of Contents
- 301. Anachronism
- 302. Antithesis
- 303. Apostrophe
- 304. Aside
- 305. Ballad
- 306. Blank Verse
- 307. Caesura
- 308. Catharsis
- 309. Chiasmus
- 310. Cliché
- 311. Climax
- 312. Conceit
- 313. Couplet
- 314. Dactyl
- 315. Didactic Literature
- 316. Elegy
- 317. Enjambment
- 318. Epistolary Novel
- 319. Euphemism
- 320. Exposition
- 321. Flashback
- 322. Foreshadowing
- 323. Free Verse
- 324. Hamartia
- 325. Hubris
- 326. Hyperbole
- 327. Iamb
- 328. Imagery
- 329. In Medias Res
- 330. Irony
- 331. Juxtaposition
- 332. Litotes
- 333. Metaphor
- 334. Metonymy
- 335. Motif
- 336. Ode
- 337. Onomatopoeia
- 338. Oxymoron
- 339. Paradox
- 340. Personification
- 341. Quatrain
- 342. Satire
- 343. Sestet
- 344. Simile
- 345. Sonnet
- 346. Stanza
- 347. Symbolism
- 348. Synecdoche
- 349. Tone
- 350. Tragic Flaw
301. Anachronism
Definition: A chronological inconsistency, placing an object or event in the wrong time period.
Example: A clock in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (1599).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to historical accuracy in drama.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary critique.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Mark Twain.
Additional Details: Often intentional for effect. Exams test its use in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889).
302. Antithesis
Definition: Juxtaposing contrasting ideas in balanced phrases.
Example: “To err is human, to forgive divine” in Pope’s An Essay on Criticism (1711).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to rhetorical devices.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Poets/Writers: Alexander Pope, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Creates balance. Exams test its use in A Tale of Two Cities (1859).
303. Apostrophe
Definition: Addressing an absent or imaginary person or thing.
Example: “O Death, where is thy sting?” in Donne’s Holy Sonnet 10 (1633).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to metaphysical poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from Greek rhetoric.
Famous Poets/Writers: John Donne, William Wordsworth.
Additional Details: Evokes emotion. Exams test its use in Romantic poetry.
304. Aside
Definition: A character’s brief remark to the audience, unheard by others.
Example: Iago’s asides in Shakespeare’s Othello (1604).
Exam Relevance: PGT UP Board 2020, linked to dramatic techniques.
Originator: No single coiner; from Elizabethan drama.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson.
Additional Details: Reveals motives. Exams test its role in tragedies.
305. Ballad
Definition: A narrative poem, often with a simple meter and refrain, telling a story.
Example: Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to Romantic poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from oral tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Anonymous (folk ballads).
Additional Details: Often musical. Exams test its structure in Lyrical Ballads.
306. Blank Verse
Definition: Unrhymed iambic pentameter poetry.
Example: Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to epic poetry.
Originator: Henry Howard (16th century).
Famous Poets/Writers: John Milton, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Mimics speech. Exams test its use in Hamlet (1600).
307. Caesura
Definition: A pause within a line of poetry, often marked by punctuation.
Example: “To be, or not to be, // that is the question” in Hamlet (1600).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2021, linked to prosody.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical poetry.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot.
Additional Details: Adds rhythm. Exams test its effect in modernist poetry.
308. Catharsis
Definition: Emotional purging in the audience through tragedy.
Example: The audience’s response to Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex (429 BCE).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to Aristotle’s Poetics.
Originator: Aristotle (c. 335 BCE).
Famous Poets/Writers: Sophocles, Arthur Miller.
Additional Details: Relieves pity and fear. Exams test its role in Death of a Salesman (1949).
309. Chiasmus
Definition: A rhetorical device reversing the order of words in parallel clauses.
Example: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” (JFK, 1961).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2022, linked to rhetoric.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, John F. Kennedy.
Additional Details: Creates symmetry. Exams test its use in Macbeth (1606).
310. Cliché
Definition: An overused expression or idea lacking originality.
Example: “Time heals all wounds” in popular literature.
Exam Relevance: PGT UP Board 2019, linked to stylistic analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary critique.
Famous Poets/Writers: Avoided by writers like George Orwell.
Additional Details: Critiqued in essays. Exams test its avoidance in Politics and the English Language (1946).
311. Climax
Definition: The point of highest tension in a narrative.
Example: The duel in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1600).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2018, linked to plot structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from dramatic theory.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Jane Austen.
Additional Details: Turning point. Exams test its role in Pride and Prejudice (1813).
312. Conceit
Definition: An extended, imaginative metaphor, often complex.
Example: Donne’s comparison of lovers to a compass in “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” (1611).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to metaphysical poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from Petrarchan poetry.
Famous Poets/Writers: John Donne, George Herbert.
Additional Details: Intellectual. Exams test its use in Donne’s poems.
313. Couplet
Definition: Two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry.
Example: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee” in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (1609).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2020, linked to poetic structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from medieval poetry.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Alexander Pope.
Additional Details: Often concludes sonnets. Exams test its use in heroic couplets.
314. Dactyl
Definition: A metrical foot with one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones.
Example: “This is the / forest pri / meval” in Longfellow’s Evangeline (1847).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to prosody.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical prosody.
Famous Poets/Writers: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alfred Tennyson.
Additional Details: Falling rhythm. Exams test its scansion in narrative poetry.
315. Didactic Literature
Definition: Works intended to teach moral or practical lessons.
Example: Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to allegorical works.
Originator: No single coiner; from ancient texts.
Famous Poets/Writers: John Bunyan, Samuel Johnson.
Additional Details: Instructive. Exams test its purpose in 17th-century literature.
316. Elegy
Definition: A mournful poem lamenting the dead or a loss.
Example: Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to 18th-century poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from Greek poetry.
Famous Poets/Writers: Thomas Gray, W.H. Auden.
Additional Details: Reflective tone. Exams test its themes in Auden’s elegies.
317. Enjambment
Definition: The continuation of a sentence across a line break in poetry.
Example: “I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high…” in Wordsworth’s Daffodils (1807).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2021, linked to poetic structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot.
Additional Details: Creates flow. Exams test its effect in modernist poetry.
318. Epistolary Novel
Definition: A novel written as a series of letters or documents.
Example: Richardson’s Pamela (1740).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to 18th-century fiction.
Originator: Samuel Richardson (popularized).
Famous Poets/Writers: Samuel Richardson, Bram Stoker.
Additional Details: Intimate narrative. Exams test its style in Dracula (1897).
319. Euphemism
Definition: A mild expression substituted for a harsh one.
Example: “Passed away” instead of “died” in literature.
Exam Relevance: PGT UP Board 2020, linked to stylistic devices.
Originator: No single coiner; from rhetorical tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Used by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Softens tone. Exams test its use in Victorian novels.
320. Exposition
Definition: Background information introducing a narrative’s setting or characters.
Example: The opening of Austen’s Emma (1815).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to narrative structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from dramatic theory.
Famous Poets/Writers: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Sets context. Exams test its role in 19th-century novels.
321. Flashback
Definition: A scene interrupting the narrative to depict past events.
Example: Pip’s childhood memories in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1861).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to narrative techniques.
Originator: No single coiner; from modernist fiction.
Famous Poets/Writers: Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Conrad.
Additional Details: Provides backstory. Exams test its use in modernist literature.
322. Foreshadowing
Definition: Hints of what will occur later in the narrative.
Exam Relevance: PGT UP Board 2021, linked to plot devices.
Originator: No single coiner; from narrative tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Charlotte Brontë.
Additional Details: Builds suspense. Exams test its role in *Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Brontë (1847).
323. Free Verse
Definition: Poetry without regular meter or rhyme.
Example: Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to American poetry.
Originator: Walt Whitman (popularized).
Famous Poets/Writers: Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound.
Additional Details: Flexible form. Exams test its use in modernist poetry.
324. Hamartia
Definition: A tragic hero’s error leading to their downfall.
Example: Oedipus’s ignorance in Oedipus Rex (429 BCE).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to Greek tragedy.
Originator: Aristotle (Poetics).
Famous Poets/Writers: Sophocles, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Drives tragedy. Exams test its role in Hamlet (1600).
325. Hubris
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to tragic flaws.
Originator: No single coiner; from Greek tragedy.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Sophocles.
Additional Details: Defeated by fate. Exams test its role in King Lear (1606).
326. Hyperbole
Definition: Exaggeration for emphasis or effect.
Example: “I’ve told you a million times” in literature.
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2020, linked to figurative language.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Mark Twain.
Additional Details: Adds drama. Exams test its use in Romeo and Juliet (1597).
327. Iamb
Definition: A metrical foot with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one.
Example: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (1609).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to prosody.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical prosody.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, John Milton.
Additional Details: Natural rhythm. Exams test its scansion in sonnets.
328. Imagery
Definition: Vivid descriptive language appealing to the senses.
Example: “The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window- panes” in Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to modernist poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: T.S. Eliot, John Keats.
Additional Details: Sensory appeal. Exams test its role in Romantic poetry.
329. In Medias Res
Definition: Starting a narrative in the middle of the action.
Example: Homer’s The Odyssey (8th century BCE).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to epic structure.
Originator: Horace (in Ars Poetica, c. 19 BCE).
Famous Poets/Writers: Homer, Virgil.
Additional Details: Engages readers. Exams test its use in The Aeneid (19 BCE).
330. Irony
Definition: A contrast between expectation and reality.
Example: The gift exchange in O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” (1905).
Exam Relevance: PGT UP Board 2021, linked to short stories.
Originator: No single coiner; from Greek drama.
Famous Poets/Writers: O. Henry, Jonathan Swift.
Additional Details: Includes verbal and situational irony. Exams test its types in satire.
331. Juxtaposition
Definition: Placing contrasting elements side by side for effect.
Example: The rich and corruption in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to modernist fiction.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary analysis.
Famous Poets/Writers: Writers/F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Highlights differences. Exams test its role in themes.
332. Litotes
Definition: Understatement using double negatives for effect.
Example: “Not bad” meaning “good” in literature.
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to rhetorical devices.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Poets/Writers: Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway.
Additional Details: Subtle emphasis. Exams test its use in Pride and Prejudice (1813).
333. Metaphor
Definition: A direct comparison between two unlike things.
Example: “All the world’s a stage” in Shakespeare’s As You Like It (1599).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to figurative language.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson.
Additional Details: Creates imagery. Exams test its use in poetry.
334. Metonymy
Definition: Substituting a related term for the thing itself.
Example: “The crown” for the monarchy in literature.
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2020, linked to figurative language.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Concise. Exams test its use in Julius Caesar (1599).
335. Motif
Definition: A recurring element with symbolic significance.
Example: The green light in The Great Gatsby (1925).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to thematic analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary criticism.
Famous Poets/Writers: F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Reinforces themes. Exams test its role in Hamlet (1600).
336. Ode
Definition: A lyric poem addressing a subject with elevated language.
Example: Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” (1819).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2021, linked to Romantic poetry.
Originator: Pindar (5th century BCE).
Famous Poets/Writers: John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Additional Details: Expressive. Exams test its structure in Keats’ odes.
337. Onomatopoeia
Definition: Words mimicking the sound they describe.
Example: “Buzz” or “crash” in Poe’s The Bells (1849).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2021, linked to sound devices.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Tennyson.
Additional Details: Enhances sound. Exams test its use in narrative poetry.
338. Oxymoron
Definition: Combining contradictory terms for effect.
Example: “Sweet sorrow” in Romeo and Juliet (1597).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to figurative language.
Originator: No single coiner; from rhetorical tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, John Milton.
Additional Details: Creates tension. Exams test its use in poetry.
339. Paradox
Definition: A statement that appears contradictory but reveals truth.
Example: “The child is father of the man” in Wordsworth’s poem (1802).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to Romanticism.
Originator: No single coiner; from philosophical literature.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Wordsworth, G.K. Chesterton.
Additional Details: Provokes thought. Exams test its use in metaphysical poetry.
340. Personification
Definition: Attributing human traits to non-human entities.
Example: “The trees danced” in Shelley’s poetry.
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2020, linked to figurative language.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth.
Additional Details: Vivid imagery. Exams test its use in Romantic poetry.
341. Quatrain
Definition: A four-line stanza, often with a rhyme scheme.
Example: Stanzas in Shakespeare’s sonnets (1609).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to poetic structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Alfred Tennyson.
Additional Details: Common in sonnets. Exams test its rhyme schemes.
342. Satire
Definition: Using humor or irony to critique society or individuals.
Example: Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to 18th-century literature.
Originator: No single coiner; from Roman satire.
Famous Poets/Writers: Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope.
Additional Details: Social critique. Exams test its types (Horatian, Juvenalian).
343. Sestet
Definition: A six-line stanza or the final six lines of a sonnet.
Example: The sestet in Petrarchan sonnets, e.g., Milton’s When I Consider (1655).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2020, linked to sonnet structure.
Originator: No single coiner; from Italian poetry.
Famous Poets/Writers: John Milton, Petrarch.
Additional Details: Resolves themes. Exams test its role in sonnets.
344. Simile
Definition: A comparison using “like” or “as.”
Example: “My love is like a red, red rose” in Burns’ poem (1794).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to figurative language.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Robert Burns, William Shakespeare.
Additional Details: Clarifies imagery. Exams test its use in poetry.
345. Sonnet
Definition: A 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme, often about love.
Example: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 (1609).
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2020, linked to Renaissance poetry.
Originator: Giacomo da Lentini (13th century).
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Petrarch.
Additional Details: Types include Petrarchan and Shakespearean. Exams test structure.
346. Stanza
Definition: A grouped set of lines in a poem.
Example: Four-line stanzas in Tennyson’s In Memoriam (1850).
Exam Relevance: TGT UP Board 2021, linked to poetic form.
Originator: No single coiner; from poetic tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Alfred Tennyson, William Wordsworth.
Additional Details: Organizes poetry. Exams test its types (e.g., quatrain).
347. Symbolism
Definition: Using symbols to represent abstract ideas.
Example: The albatross in Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to Romantic poetry.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary tradition.
Famous Poets/Writers: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Additional Details: Deepens meaning. Exams test its use in The Scarlet Letter (1850).
348. Synecdoche
Definition: A part representing the whole or vice versa.
Example: “All hands on deck” for sailors.
Exam Relevance: SET Maharashtra 2021, linked to figurative language.
Originator: No single coiner; from classical rhetoric.
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens.
Additional Details: Concise imagery. Exams test its use in Julius Caesar (1599).
349. Tone
Definition: The author’s attitude toward the subject or audience.
Example: Satirical tone in Swift’s A Modest Proposal (1729).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2019, linked to stylistic analysis.
Originator: No single coiner; from literary criticism.
Famous Poets/Writers: Jonathan Swift, Jane Austen.
Additional Details: Shapes mood. Exams test its role in satire.
350. Tragic Flaw
Definition: A character trait leading to a tragic hero’s downfall.
Example: Othello’s jealousy in Othello (1604).
Exam Relevance: UGC NET 2020, linked to Shakespearean tragedy.
Originator: Aristotle (Poetics, c. 335 BCE).
Famous Poets/Writers: William Shakespeare, Sophocles.
Additional Details: Synonymous with hamartia. Exams test its role in King Lear (1606).
Why These Terms Matter for Competitive Exams
These literary definitions, literary forms, poetry terms, and literary devices are crucial for UGC NET, SET, PGT, TGT, and other exams, appearing in:
- Poetry Analysis: Terms like iamb or enjambment in Shakespeare or Wordsworth.
- Drama: Catharsis or tragic flaw in Sophocles or Othello.
- Novels: Epistolary form or flashback in Richardson or Woolf.
- Rhetoric: Antithesis or chiasmus in Pope or Swift.
Master these types of literary terms to excel in MCQs, essays, and short answers.
Tips to Use This Guide
- Create flashcards for terms like chiasmus or synecdoche.
- Apply to texts (e.g., find imagery in Keats’ odes).
- Align with exam syllabi (e.g., UGC NET’s poetry section).
- Practice past MCQs from UGC NET 2018–2024.
- Read texts like Pamela or The Great Gatsby.
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