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🇬🇧 GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels) · flashcards
GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels) English Literature Flashcards
52 question-and-answer cards covering English Literature as it is examined in GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels). 24 of them are printed below, taken from across the deck — no signup, no paywall on the preview.
24 sample cards from the English Literature deck
Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.
Distinguish a metaphor from a simile.
A simile compares two things using 'like' or 'as'; a metaphor states one thing is another, asserting identity without 'like' or 'as'.
Define 'metonymy' and give an example.
A figure of speech in which a thing is referred to by something closely associated with it, e.g. 'the crown' for the monarchy.
What is the difference between 'metonymy' and 'synecdoche'?
Metonymy substitutes an associated term for a thing; synecdoche uses a part to represent the whole (or vice versa), e.g. 'all hands on deck'.
Define 'personification'.
Attributing human qualities, feelings or actions to non-human things or abstractions (e.g. 'the wind whispered').
What is an 'extended metaphor' (conceit)?
A metaphor developed at length across several lines or a whole poem; a 'conceit' is an elaborate, often surprising extended metaphor characteristic of metaphysical poetry.
Distinguish assonance, consonance and alliteration.
Alliteration = repetition of initial consonant sounds; consonance = repetition of consonant sounds (often within/at ends of words); assonance = repetition of vowel sounds.
What is onomatopoeia?
A word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning (e.g. 'buzz', 'crash', 'hiss').
Define 'sibilance'.
A type of consonance featuring the repetition of soft 's', 'sh' and 'z' sounds, often creating a hissing or soothing effect.
What is 'imagery' in poetry?
Descriptive language appealing to the senses (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory) to create mental pictures or evoke sensory experience.
When comparing two poems, what key elements should a comparison address?
Form and structure, language and imagery, tone and mood, voice/speaker, theme, and context — identifying both similarities and differences and their effects.
What is a useful structural model for a comparative poetry essay?
A thematic/integrated approach: organise paragraphs by point of comparison (e.g. each addressing both poems on a shared theme or technique) rather than discussing each poem separately in turn.
What is 'tone' in poetry and how does it differ from 'mood'?
Tone is the speaker's or poet's attitude toward the subject; mood is the emotional atmosphere created in the reader.
Define a first-person versus third-person narrative voice.
First-person narrates using 'I/we' from within the story; third-person narrates using 'he/she/they', either limited (one character's perspective) or omniscient (all-knowing).
What is an 'unreliable narrator'?
A narrator whose account cannot be fully trusted, due to bias, limited knowledge, naivety or deliberate deception, requiring the reader to read between the lines.
Distinguish 'story' (fabula) from 'plot' (syuzhet).
Story is the chronological sequence of all events; plot is the arrangement of those events as actually presented in the narrative, including ordering and causation.
Define 'free indirect discourse'.
A narrative technique blending third-person narration with a character's own thoughts and idiom, without quotation marks or 'he thought', merging narrator and character voice.
What is the 'bildungsroman' genre?
A 'novel of formation' tracing the psychological and moral growth of a protagonist from youth to maturity (e.g. 'Great Expectations', 'Jane Eyre').
What is the difference between an epistolary novel and a frame narrative?
An epistolary novel is told through documents such as letters or diaries; a frame narrative encloses one or more stories within an outer 'framing' narrative (a story within a story).
In comparative prose study, what does it mean to analyse texts 'across time'?
Comparing how writers from different periods treat shared themes, genres or forms, accounting for the differing literary, social and historical contexts that shape each text.
What is the difference between 'context of production' and 'context of reception'?
Context of production is the historical, social and biographical circumstances in which a text was written; context of reception is how readers in different times and places interpret it.
Outline the core focus of a feminist critical approach to literature.
Examining how texts construct, reinforce or challenge gender roles and patriarchal power, foregrounding the representation, agency and silencing of women.
What is a Marxist critical approach concerned with?
Reading literature in terms of class conflict, economic power, ideology and material conditions, exposing how texts reflect or contest social and economic structures.
What does a post-colonial critical approach examine?
How literature represents the legacies of empire and colonisation — issues of power, race, identity, 'othering', and the perspectives of colonised peoples.
What is the central method of 'unseen' textual analysis under timed conditions?
Close reading of a previously unstudied passage: identifying form, structure, language and tone, and analysing how these features create meaning and effect, supported by precise textual evidence.
What this deck covers
The English Literature deck follows the GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels) English Literature syllabus — 4 chapters and 13 topics — so questions land on material that is genuinely examinable rather than trivia around it. That works out to roughly 13.0 cards per chapter.
Answers are written to be recallable, not just readable — averaging about 155 characters, which is long enough to carry the reasoning and short enough to say out loud.
A deck like this earns its keep on the second and third pass. Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then use the cards to find the specific facts that have not stuck.
English Literature flashcards FAQ
How many English Literature flashcards are in this GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels) deck?
52 cards. This page previews 24 of them, sampled evenly across the deck so you can judge the difficulty before installing anything.
Are these GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels) flashcards free?
Yes. The preview here is free to read with no signup, and the full 52-card deck is free inside the Examius app.
What do the English Literature cards cover?
They follow the GCE Advanced Level (A-Levels) English Literature syllabus — 4 chapters and 13 topics — so the questions track what is actually examinable.
How should I use these flashcards?
Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then drill the deck. Examius schedules each card with spaced repetition, so cards you keep missing come back sooner and ones you know drift further apart.