IGCSE English 9 Vocab

Anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse--- The man's comments were such a cliche.

Genre of dramatic comedy that focuses on a character or range of characters, each of whom has one overriding trait or "humour" that dominates their personality---- A Midsummer's Night Dream is considered a comedy of humours.

Genre of play which satirizes the manners and affections of a social class, often represented by stock characters----The Miles Gloriosus was considered comedy of manners.

The inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension---- The musician scene in Romeo and Juliet is a comic relief.

• Poetical- An elaborate Metaphor---- There are many poetical conceits in Romeo and Juliet
• Metaphysical- A type of conceit often used by metaphysical poets
• Petrarchan- Hyperbolic comparison most often made by a suffering lover of his beautiful mistress to some physical object

Poetry in which effects are created by the physical arrangement of words in patterns or forms rather than by the use of traditional language structure---- An acrostic is an example of concrete poetry.

Emphasizes the intimate, and sometimes unflattering, information about details of the poet's personal life---- Romeo and Juliet contains has some confessional poetry throughout the play.

Correspondence of sounds----- Consonance is present throughout Romeo and Juliet.

A metaphor that has occured so often that it has become a new meaning of the expression---- "He is a snake" is a dead metaphor.

A strategy of critical analysis directed towards exposing unquestioned metaphysical assumptions and internal contradictions in philosophical and literary language----Deconstruction was popularised through it's usage by Jacques Derrida in the 1960's.

Proving directly---- The woman gave a deictic response to the math question.

Something or someone that comes in the nick of time to solve a difficulty, especially in works of fiction---- Romeo can be considered a deus ex machine in act 3 of Romeo and Juliet.