0% Home School Partners - CLEP - Analyzing & Interpreting Literature - Literary Terms 3

Question 1

Personification

Answer 1

A figure of speech that gives a non-human object (like an animal or the sun) human-like qualities:

• “The fire resisted our attempts to put it out.”
• “Because I could not stop for Death–He kindly stopped for me…”

Question 2

Plot 1 - Exposition

Answer 2

The events at the story’s beginning (introduction of the setting, revealing of characters, etc.).

Question 3

Plot 2 - Rising Action

Answer 3

The events in a story where conflict develops and things start happening.

Question 4

Plot 3 - Climax

Answer 4

Where the action, conflict, or suspense in a story reaches a high point.

Question 5

Plot 4 - Falling Action

Answer 5

The point in a story after the climax, where things level off and the story “begins to end.”

Question 6

Plot 5 - Resolution (Denouement)

Answer 6

The end of the story, where loose ends get tied up and the story wraps up.

Question 7

Point Of View - First Person

Answer 7

A story is told from the narrator’s viewpoint (using “I” or “we”). The narrator knows only what he sees around himself, and can’t know others’ thoughts or feelings.

Question 8

Point Of View - Third Person Limited

Answer 8

A story is told in the third person (the narrator talks about the characters like this: “He walked down the street” or “The girls grabbed their lunches”), but the narrator can’t read the characters’ minds.

Question 9

Point Of View - Third Person Omniscient

Answer 9

“Omniscient” means “all-knowing.” This narrator not only tells about the action in the story, but can tell the reader all the characters’ thoughts and inner feelings.

Question 10

Sarcasm

Answer 10

Using irony to mock or show disapproval of something:

“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.” (Mark Twain)

Question 11

Simile

Answer 11

A comparison of two items using the word “like” or “as”:

• “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (2 Peter 3:10).
• “My love is like a red, red rose….”

Question 12

Soliloquy

Answer 12

A speech made by a character by himself (the word “soliloquy” is related to the word “solo”). It’s usually in a play and often reveals the character’s inner feelings.

Question 13

Stereotype

Answer 13

A character that is a simple, common “type,” like a grouchy old man, texting-obsessed teenager, or dumb jock.

Question 14

Symbol

Answer 14

Something in a story or poem that represents something else.

Question 15

Synecdoche

Answer 15

A figure of speech that uses the name of a part of something to represent the whole, or the whole to represent a part:

• “The White House” as a phrase refers to the President and his advisers.
• “He asked for her hand” means someone asked a woman (all of her, we hope) to marry him.

Question 16

Syntax

Answer 16

The order that words are arranged into phrases and sentences.

Question 17

Thesis

Answer 17

An overall statement or point that an author tries to prove in fiction or non-fiction.

Question 18

Theme

Answer 18

The main idea of a literary work. This is not the plot, which is used to develop the author’s theme. The author might, for example, tell about a new soldier’s struggles and combat experience to show the THEME of the dangers and stupidity of war.

Question 19

Understatement

Answer 19

A figure of speech where something is made to seem smaller or less important than it actually is, often for ironic or humorous effect:

• An entire class averages a 20% on a final exam, and the teacher says, “We have a little room for improvement.”
• “For, truth to tell, she was not undergrown” (Geoffrey Chaucer describing an obese woman in “The Canterbury Tales”).