Key Words and Meanings - Year 9 English

• Term 1 & 2: Romeo & Juliet – William Shakespeare.

  Sonnet	A sonnet (pronounced son-it) is a fourteen line poem with a fixed rhyme scheme. Often, sonnets use iambic pentameter: five sets of unstressed syllables followed by stressed syllables for a ten-syllable line.
  Prologue	A separate introductory section of a literary, dramatic, or musical work.
  Hamartia	A hero or heroine's fatal flaw / weakness that will eventually destroy them.
  Protagonist / antagonist	A protagonist is the main character in a story. An antagonist is their main enemy / rival. Romeo and Juliet are the eponymous (their names are in the title) protagonists, Tybalt is the antagonist.
  Foreshadowing	Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, or a chapter, and it helps the reader develop expectations about the upcoming events.

• Term 1 & 2: Voice, Intent, and Perspective

  (Non) Chronological narrative	A chronological narrative is a story told in the order that events happened. A non-chronological narrative may start in "the present" before using a flashback to talk about events in the past.
  Dual perspective narrative	A narrative (story) told from two different viewpoints e.g. a third person narrator and from a character's perspective.
  Motif / extended metaphor	Motif is a literary technique that consists of a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a literary work. Sometimes, a motif is a recurring image. Other times, it's a repeated word, phrase, or topic expressed in language.
  Tone	Formal or less formal? Serious or humorous? Factual or full of opinions? Balanced or biased?
  Standalone paragraph	A one sentence paragraph - normally used for emphasis.

• Term 3 & 4: The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night Time – Mark Haddon

  Atypical	Something that is different to others of the same type, group, or class.
  Neurodivergent	A relatively new term, neurodivergent simply means someone who thinks differently from the way the majority (referred to as neurotypical) expect. Neurotypical means the opposite –someone whose brain behaves in the same way as the majority of society.
  duality	When one person has two sides to their personality or character.
  Protagonist	The leading character or one of the major characters in a play, film, novel.
  Epistolary novel	An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings, blogs, and e-mai

• Term 3 & 4: Writer’s craft: Evaluation & transactional writing.

  Motif / extended metaphor	Motif is a literary technique that consists of a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a literary work. Sometimes, a motif is a recurring image. Other times, it's a repeated word, phrase, or topic expressed in language.
  Tone	Formal or less formal? Serious or humorous? Factual or full of opinions? Balanced or biased?
  Credible / expert opinions	Including statements / quotations from experts or others, to make your writing / arguments seem more believable.
  Standalone paragraph	A one sentence paragraph - normally used for emphasis.
  Ironic / irony	Express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning, usually for humorous effect / to emphasise an idea.
  Inclusive pronouns	Using pronouns such as you / your, we / us / our to engage an audience.
  Authorial intent	The aim that a writer is trying to achieve e.g. to persuade their audience to take a certain action, to point out a particular issue.
  Overview	A brief summary of an idea, text or issue.

• Term 5 & 6: “Belonging” Anthology Poetry & Comparison skills: revision for end of year assessment.

  Romanticism	A literary, artistic, and philosophical movement originating in the 18th century. Often focussed on autobiographical material, thoughts and feelings, common human values, and an appreciation of nature.
  Literary allusion	Ideas, characters, imagery etc. referencing another famous book, poem, play etc.
  Dual heritage	A person from two or more cultural or ethnic backgrounds.
  Authorial voice	A character or narrator voicing an author or poet's own personal opinions.
  Dramatic monologue	Writing a poem to tell a story from the perspecive or viewpoint of a specific character or historical figure.