Virtuous English AcademyLiterature & Writing — B2 English Vocabulary
This B2 vocabulary list gathers 50 upper-intermediate English words about literature & writing — narrative, style and the written word. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using literature & writing words in English
Literary terminology is precise, and two pairs on this page account for most of the errors. Metaphor and simile are not interchangeable — one uses like or as and the other does not. And the narrator is not the author, a distinction that essays about fiction are expected to observe. The page also settles prose and verse, which divide all writing between them.
What to watch out for
A simile says like; a metaphor does not
Her voice was like velvet is a simile, because it compares openly using like or as. Her voice was velvet is a metaphor, because it states the identity directly. Both are forms of figurative comparison, and a metaphor is generally the stronger. Personification is a further kind again, giving human qualities to something that is not human.
The narrator is not the author
The author is the real person who wrote the book. The narrator is the voice inside it telling the story, and the two are separate even in the first person. An unreliable narrator is one the reader is meant to distrust — a device that only makes sense once the distinction is clear. The protagonist is the main character and the antagonist opposes them.
Prose, verse, genre, stanza
Prose is ordinary written language without a metrical pattern; verse is poetry. Both are uncountable in these senses. A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, the poetic equivalent of a paragraph. Note that genre keeps a French pronunciation, beginning with the sound in the middle of measure, and that imagery is uncountable: rich imagery, never imageries.
Words learners mix up
A literature essay is marked partly on whether you can name what a text is doing. These three clusters cover the parts of a story, the kinds of true-life book, and the devices that carry meaning without stating it.
The parts of a story, in order
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| prologue | A section before the main story begins, often setting up background. Note the pro-: before. | The prologue is set thirty years earlier. |
| subplot | A secondary storyline running alongside the main one, usually commenting on it. | The subplot mirrors the main betrayal. |
| climax | The point of greatest tension, where the central conflict comes to a head. | The trial scene is the climax of the novel. |
| twist | An unexpected turn that changes how you read what came before. Informal but standard in criticism. | A twist that rewards a second reading. |
| epilogue | A closing section after the story has ended, showing what became of everyone. | The epilogue jumps forward a decade. |
A synopsis is not part of the story at all — it is a short summary of the whole plot, written for publishers or readers, and it belongs outside the work. The same distinction separates the setting, which is where and when the story happens, from the theme, which is what it is about.
Books about real lives
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| biography | An account of someone’s life written by someone else. | A definitive biography of the composer. |
| autobiography | The same, written by the subject, and normally covering the whole life. | She published her autobiography at seventy. |
| memoir | Also self-written, but focused on one period or theme rather than the whole life. More personal and more selective. | A memoir of her three years as a war reporter. |
| nonfiction | The whole category of writing about fact. One word in current British usage, and uncountable. | The prize is open to nonfiction only. |
| anthology | A collection of pieces by different authors, chosen by an editor. | An anthology of postwar poetry. |
The line that matters in reviews is autobiography against memoir: the first claims completeness, the second admits to being partial and shaped. A ghostwriter can write either — the named author still counts as the subject, and the practice is disclosed only sometimes.
Saying it without saying it
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| imagery | The descriptive language that appeals to the senses. Uncountable, and it covers a whole passage rather than one phrase. | The imagery of cold runs through the chapter. |
| symbolism | Using an object to stand for an idea. The object stays itself as well — the ring is still a ring. | The symbolism of the locked garden. |
| allegory | A whole work in which everything stands for something else, usually a moral or political scheme. | The novel is an allegory of totalitarianism. |
| foreshadow | To hint early at something that will happen later. A verb, and the noun is foreshadowing. | The storm foreshadows the collapse of the family. |
The difference in scale is what examiners test: symbolism can occur in one image, while an allegory governs the entire work. Saying a novel “uses allegory” when you mean one symbolic object is the commonest overreach in a B2 literature answer.
Collocations that sound natural
Criticism and publishing both run on set phrases. These are the ones that appear in reviews, blurbs and exam questions, and several take a preposition worth memorising.
draft
a first draftthe final draftwork on a draftdraft a chapter
Noun and verb. British English also uses draught — but only for beer and cold air, never for writing.
manuscript
submit a manuscriptan unpublished manuscriptthe original manuscript
Abbreviated MS in the singular and MSS in the plural in scholarly notes.
climax
reach a climaxbuild to a climaxthe climax of the novela dramatic climax
The verb is reach or build to. As a verb on its own, climax takes in: the story climaxes in a trial.
theme
explore a themea recurring themethe central themethemes of loss and exile
Themes are explored or developed, not told or said. The preposition for naming them is of.
excerpt
an excerpt fromread an excerpta short excerpt
Always from, never of. A passage is a section of a text considered in place; an excerpt has been lifted out.
characterisation
strong characterisationsubtle characterisationthin characterisation
Uncountable, and British English spells it -isation. It names how a writer builds character, not the characters themselves.
Formal, neutral or informal?
Several words here look like everyday vocabulary and are technical terms in criticism, and one pair is among the most reliable errors in a literature essay.
- classic vs classicalConstantly confusedA classic is a work of lasting quality — a classic novel — and the adjective also means typical: a classic mistake. Classical refers to ancient Greece and Rome, or to the European art-music tradition. Classical literature means Homer and Virgil, not Dickens.
- verseThree sensesPoetry as a form, opposed to prose; one stanza of a song or hymn; and a numbered division of a chapter in the Bible. Uncountable in the first sense, countable in the other two.
- fable vs parableDifferent traditionsA fable is a short tale with animals as characters and an explicit moral, in the tradition of Aesop. A parable is a short story illustrating a spiritual or moral lesson, associated above all with the Gospels. Both are on the allegorical end of storytelling.
- proofreadNarrow · technicalThe last check for typographical and spelling errors — not the same as editing, which reshapes content, or copy-editing, which fixes grammar and style. Past tense proofread, spelled the same and pronounced proof-red.
- literaryTwo sensesRelating to literature — literary criticism — but also describing writing that has artistic ambition: literary fiction as a market category opposed to genre fiction. The second is a judgement dressed as a label.
- bestsellerCommercial · not criticalOne word in current usage, and it reports sales only. Using it as praise in an essay confuses commercial success with quality, which is precisely the distinction criticism exists to make.
- narrateNeutral · watch the nounTo tell a story. The person is a narrator and the act is narration; the abstract noun narrative means the story as constructed. Note that a book has one narrator and possibly several narratives.
- poeticCompliment or hedgeHaving the qualities of poetry — vivid, rhythmic, condensed. Applied to prose it is praise; the phrase poetic licence, however, excuses a departure from fact.
Sentences to try
Four frames from a literature essay. Check that each technical term is used exactly.
- The poem opens with a simile and closes with a sustained metaphor.
- The narrator is unreliable, which the author signals from the first page.
- The protagonist is defined almost entirely by her antagonist.
- Each stanza repeats the same pattern of rhyme.
Questions about literature & writing vocabulary
What is the difference between a metaphor and a simile?
A simile makes the comparison explicit using like or as: He fought like a lion. A metaphor states the comparison as an identity, with no comparing word: He was a lion in the courtroom. Both are figures of speech that describe one thing in terms of another, and a metaphor is usually felt to be the bolder of the two. Related terms include personification, which gives human qualities to non-human things, and symbolism, where an object stands for an abstract idea throughout a work.
Is the narrator the same as the author?
No, and treating them as the same is one of the most common weaknesses in essays about fiction. The author is the real historical person who wrote the text. The narrator is the constructed voice that tells the story within it. Even in a first-person novel, the I is a character rather than the writer. Keeping them apart is what allows you to discuss an unreliable narrator, or to note that the author is criticising the very attitudes the narrator expresses.
What is the difference between prose and verse?
Prose is writing in ordinary sentences and paragraphs, without a regular metrical pattern — novels, essays and articles are all prose. Verse is writing arranged in lines with rhythm, and often rhyme; it is the technical word for poetry. Both are uncountable in this sense, so you would write written in prose rather than in a prose. Note that verse also has a countable meaning as one section of a song or a poem, which is closer to stanza.