GCSE English Literature

Overview

For parents: AQA writes your child's English Literature course and exams. AQA writes the specifications and exams for most GCSE subjects taught in English state schools. If your school uses AQA, every topic, paper and mark scheme follows AQA's specification.

Topics

English Literature key terms

Original definitions for core course vocabulary, informed by the references below. Not an official or exhaustive board-specific glossary.

40 of 40 terms

Narrator

The voice that tells a story; it is not necessarily the author.

Narrative and character

First-person narration

Storytelling using I or we, presenting events through a participating narrator.

Narrative and character

Omniscient narrator

A narrator able to reveal events and thoughts beyond a single character's knowledge.

Narrative and character

Unreliable narrator

A storyteller whose account gives readers reasons to question its accuracy or interpretation.

Narrative and character

Protagonist

The central character whose experiences drive much of a work's action.

Narrative and character

Antagonist

A character or force that opposes the protagonist.

Narrative and character

Characterisation

The ways a writer develops a character through description, action, speech and others' responses.

Narrative and character

Foil

A character whose contrast with another highlights particular qualities.

Narrative and character

Setting

The time, place and social surroundings in which a work's events occur.

Narrative and character

Flashback

A movement back to earlier events within a narrative.

Narrative and character

Stanza

A grouping of lines within a poem.

Poetic form and sound

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence or phrase across a line break without a completing pause.

Poetic form and sound

Caesura

A marked pause within a line of poetry, often indicated by punctuation.

Poetic form and sound

End-stopped line

A poetic line ending with a grammatical pause or completion.

Poetic form and sound

Rhyme scheme

The pattern of end rhymes, commonly represented by letters such as ABAB.

Poetic form and sound

Metre

An organised pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse.

Poetic form and sound

Iambic pentameter

A line built from five iambic feet, each normally an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one.

Poetic form and sound

Blank verse

Unrhymed verse written in iambic pentameter.

Poetic form and sound

Free verse

Poetry without a regular metrical pattern or fixed rhyme scheme.

Poetic form and sound

Sonnet

A fourteen-line poem, usually following an established pattern of rhyme and argument.

Poetic form and sound

Soliloquy

A speech revealing a character's thoughts, conventionally spoken without other characters hearing.

Drama and plot

Aside

Words addressed to the audience or a selected character that others on stage conventionally do not hear.

Drama and plot

Dramatic irony

A situation in which the audience understands something a character does not.

Drama and plot

Stage direction

A script instruction about action, delivery, setting or other aspects of performance.

Drama and plot

Exposition

Information establishing characters, circumstances or background needed to understand a work.

Drama and plot

Conflict

A struggle between opposing characters, forces, desires or values.

Drama and plot

Climax

A point of greatest tension or decisive change in a plot.

Drama and plot

Denouement

The concluding stage in which consequences or remaining plot questions are resolved.

Drama and plot

Tragedy

A dramatic form involving serious suffering or downfall, often centred on a significant protagonist.

Drama and plot

Comic relief

A humorous moment that briefly eases tension within a serious work.

Drama and plot

Theme

An important idea explored across a literary work.

Interpretation and ideas

Motif

A recurring image, phrase, situation or other element that develops meaning.

Interpretation and ideas

Symbol

An element that suggests meanings beyond its literal presence.

Interpretation and ideas

Allegory

A narrative whose characters and events also represent a wider system of ideas.

Interpretation and ideas

Imagery

Descriptive language that evokes sensory experiences or mental pictures.

Interpretation and ideas

Pathetic fallacy

The attribution of human feelings to nature, often reflecting a character's mood.

Interpretation and ideas

Foreshadowing

An earlier detail that hints at a later event.

Interpretation and ideas

Context

Historical, social, cultural or literary circumstances relevant to interpreting a work.

Interpretation and ideas

Allusion

An indirect reference to another text, person, event or cultural idea.

Interpretation and ideas

Ambiguity

The presence of more than one plausible meaning in a word, passage or situation.

Interpretation and ideas

Exams

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Revision

Tell GCSE.es which English Literature topics feel weak. Your dashboard then picks a short, timed next step — learn the key idea, check yourself, review mistakes.

Practice

• ✓ Key terms you tap to reveal
• ✓ Quick multiple-choice quizzes
• ✓ 3, 6, 9 and 12-mark exam-style questions
• ✓ Marking with feedback and a model answer

Available free inside your GCSE journey. Questions are written by GCSE.es, not taken from real past papers.

Resources

Short, focused tasks for the English Literature topics you find hardest — learn the key idea, check yourself, then try a marked exam-style question.