10th Grade Lit. Vocab 1

Question 1

epanalepsis

Answer 1

A repetition of a word or phrase with intervening words setting off the repetition, sometimes occurring with a phrase used at the beginning and end of a sentence.
Ex: Only the poor really know what it is to suffer; only the poor.

Question 2

epigraph

Answer 2

a relevant quotation at the beginning of a book, chapter, etc.

Question 3

explication

Answer 3

an explanation; interpretation

Question 4

flashback

Answer 4

a device in a novel by which an event or scene taking place before the present time in the narrative is inserted into the chronological structure of the work

Question 5

foil

Answer 5

a person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast

Question 6

irony

Answer 6

the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning; an outcome of events contrary to what was, or what might have been, expected

Question 7

juxtaposition

Answer 7

an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast

Question 8

litotes

Answer 8

understatement, especially that in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary
Ex: not bad at all

Question 9

metonymy

Answer 9

a figure of speech that consists of the use of the name of one object or concept for that of another to which it is related, or of which it is part
Ex: “scepter” for sovereignty, “count heads” for count people

Question 10

understatement

Answer 10

a device which states or represents less strongly or strikingly than the facts would bear out; set forth in weak, moderate, or restrained terms