52 cardsLeaving Cert Ireland
Leaving Cert English Critical Concepts
52 flashcards covering language genres, comparative study modes, rhetorical devices, poetic techniques, and prescribed poets for Leaving Cert English.
PDF study sheet
Free account needed to save, copy or download. We bring you back here.
1 / 52
0 known
TermClick or press Space to flip
Five Language Genres in Paper 1
GetMyMockTestQuestion side
Full list
Terms in this deck (52)
1
Five Language Genres in Paper 1
1. Language of Information
2. Language of Argument
3. Language of Persuasion
4. Language of Narration
5. The Aesthetic Use of Language
2. Language of Argument
3. Language of Persuasion
4. Language of Narration
5. The Aesthetic Use of Language
2
Language of Information Features
Objective, factual, neutral tone, passive verbs, clear definitions, absence of emotional hyperbole.
3
Language of Argument Features
Logical deductive/inductive structure, premises, counter-arguments, rhetorical balance, appeals to reason.
4
Language of Persuasion Features
Emotive vocabulary, rhetorical questions, personal pronouns (we, you), anaphora, triadic phrasing (rule of three).
5
Aesthetic Use of Language Features
Sensory imagery, poetic cadence, metaphor, symbolism, emotional resonance, personal reflection.
6
Comparative Study Mode: Cultural Context
The world in which characters live: social values, rituals, economic constraints, gender roles, and class structures.
7
Comparative Study Mode: General Vision and Viewpoint
The author's overall outlook on life conveyed by the narrative (optimistic, tragic, cynical, bleak, or hopeful).
8
Comparative Study Mode: Theme or Issue
Tracking how a universal human question (e.g., freedom, corruption, familial loyalty) is explored across texts.
9
Rhetorical Device: Anaphora
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive sentences or clauses.
10
Rhetorical Device: Chiasmus
A rhetorical inversion of grammatical structure in successive phrases: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
11
Poetic Device: Alliteration
The repetition of initial consonant sounds in close proximity: "silent sea", "proud pavement".
12
Poetic Device: Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words: "the crumbling thunder of seas".
13
Poetic Device: Sibilance
The repeated use of hissing 's', 'sh', and 'z' sounds creating a whispering or ominous effect.
14
Poetic Device: Onomatopoeia
Words whose pronunciation mimics the actual sound they describe: buzz, murmur, clatter, hiss.
15
Figure of Speech: Metaphor vs Simile
Simile: comparison using like or as; Metaphor: direct identification of one thing as another.
16
Figure of Speech: Personification
Attributing human traits, intentions, or emotions to non-human entities or abstractions.
17
Figure of Speech: Synecdoche
Using a physical part to represent the entire whole: "all hands on deck", "hired wheels".
18
Figure of Speech: Metonymy
Substituting an associated attribute for the entity itself: "the crown" for the monarch; "the press" for journalists.
19
Figure of Speech: Oxymoron
Placing two contradictory terms side-by-side: "deafening silence", "tragic comedy", "bitter sweet".
20
Figure of Speech: Hyperbole
Intentional and extreme exaggeration used for dramatic emphasis or satirical ridicule.
21
Poetic Structure: Caesura
A rhythmic pause or fracture in the interior of a line of verse, marked by punctuation.
22
Poetic Structure: Enjambment
A run-on line where a syntactic clause spills over the verse boundary without terminating punctuation.
23
Drama: Soliloquy
A dramatic convention where an isolated character articulates their inner motives and mental conflicts aloud to the audience.
24
Drama: Dramatic Irony
When the theater audience possesses critical knowledge that the characters onstage remain ignorant of.
25
Classical Tragedy: Hamartia and Catharsis
Hamartia: the tragic error or fatal flaw of the protagonist; Catharsis: emotional purging of pity and terror.
26
Dramatic Technique: Peripeteia (Reversal of Fortune)
A sudden and decisive reversal of circumstances or fortune for the protagonist in classical or Renaissance drama.
27
Poetic Device: Personification
Giving human qualities, emotions, or actions to inanimate objects, animals, or abstract concepts.
28
Poetic Device: Enjambment
The continuation of a sentence without a pause or punctuation beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
29
Poetic Device: Caesura
A strong rhythmic pause or break within a line of poetry, usually created by punctuation.
30
Poetic Device: Iambic Pentameter
A metrical line of ten syllables consisting of five iambs (unstressed followed by stressed syllable: da-DUM da-DUM).
31
Poetic Structure: Petrarchan vs Shakespearean Sonnet
Petrarchan: octave (abbaabba) presenting problem, volta at line 9, sestet resolving. Shakespearean: three quatrains (abab cdcd efef) and concluding rhyming couplet (gg).
32
Dramatic Technique: Soliloquy
A speech delivered by a character alone on stage expressing innermost thoughts and psychological state directly to the audience.
33
Dramatic Technique: Aside
A short comment delivered by a character directly to the audience that other characters on stage are presumed not to hear.
34
Dramatic Technique: Dramatic Irony
A situation where the audience or reader knows important facts of which the characters are unaware.
35
Dramatic Technique: Catharsis
The release or purging of pity and terror experienced by the audience at the climax of a classical tragedy.
36
Dramatic Technique: Hamartia (Tragic Flaw)
A fatal flaw, error of judgment, or weakness in a noble protagonist that precipitates their downfall (e.g. Macbeth's vaulting ambition).
37
Comparative Study Mode: Literary Genre
Examining how authors use literary conventions, plot architecture, characterisation, setting, and narrative perspective to shape meaning.
38
Comparative Study Mode: Hero, Heroine or Villain
Analysing how central protagonists or antagonists are constructed, their motivations, moral choices, and responses to crisis across texts.
39
Narrative Perspective: First-Person Narrative Voice
Story told from the personal viewpoint of a narrator using 'I', offering intimate subjective interiority but limited perspective.
40
Narrative Perspective: Omniscient Third-Person Narrator
An all-knowing narrator who moves freely through time and space, revealing the inner thoughts and motivations of multiple characters.
41
Rhetorical Device: Hyperbole
Deliberate and extravagant exaggeration used for rhetorical emphasis, humour, or heightened emotional impact.
42
Rhetorical Device: Oxymoron
A figure of speech in which contradictory or incongruous terms appear side by side: "deafening silence", "cruel kindness".
43
Rhetorical Device: Paradox
A seemingly self-contradictory statement that upon closer inspection reveals a deeper, profound truth.
44
Rhetorical Device: Antithesis
The juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in balanced grammatical phrases: "To err is human; to forgive, divine."
45
Rhetorical Device: Litotes
A deliberate understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by negating its contrary: "he is no fool".
46
Stylistic Feature: Motif
A recurring element, image, phrase, or idea in a work of literature that reinforces the central theme.
47
Stylistic Feature: Tone and Register
Tone is the author's attitude toward the subject (cynical, wistful, elegiac); register is the level of formality and vocabulary adapted to context.
48
Leaving Cert Poet: W.B. Yeats Key Themes
Irish political history, the Easter 1916 rebellion, romantic disillusionment, aging and mortality, the spiritual world and the permanence of art.
49
Leaving Cert Poet: Seamus Heaney Key Themes
Childhood and family memory, traditional agricultural labour (Digging), Northern Ireland Troubles, personal grief, and the physical power of language.
50
Leaving Cert Poet: Emily Dickinson Key Themes
Solitude, death and the afterlife, intense psychological distress, nature's majesty, unconventional slant rhyme, and idiosyncratic dash punctuation.
51
Leaving Cert Poet: Sylvia Plath Key Themes
Psychic pain, patriarchal oppression, motherhood, anger, transformation, death, and vivid, startling domestic imagery.
52
Leaving Cert Poet: Eavan Boland Key Themes
The subversion of myth, giving voice to silenced Irish women, suburban domestic experience, and redefining Irish female identity in history.
Leaving Cert Ireland in Ireland
In Ireland, Leaving Cert Ireland is part of: School exams and leaving cert.
Students on the same pathway also practise:
More Leaving Cert Ireland practice
Leaving Cert Ireland mock tests
- Leaving Cert English Higher Paper 1 Practice20 questions · 40 min
- Leaving Cert Practice Test 179 questions · 150 min
- Leaving Cert Practice Test 279 questions · 150 min
- Leaving Cert Practice Test 383 questions · 150 min
- Leaving Certificate Biology Practice Test 136 questions · 45 min
- Leaving Certificate English Practice Test 158 questions · 45 min