English literary terms

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

a story, poem, or picture that it used to convey a hidden meaning or lesson

Question 2

Alliteration

Answer 2

The repetition of initial sounds in successive words.

Question 3

Allusion

Answer 3

an indirect reference

Question 4

Analogy

Answer 4

A partial similarity on which a comparison may be based.

Question 5

Analysis

Answer 5

A type of writing that seeks to explain or understand a text by examining in detail how its parts work in relation to each and to the whole.

Question 6

Aside

Answer 6

A dramatic device that occurs when an actor directly addresses the audience, but is not supposed to be heard by the other actors on stage.

Question 7

Atmosphere

Answer 7

The mood that is created in the work.

Question 8

Ballad

Answer 8

A story told in verse form. Originally ballads were anonymous songs passed orally from generation to generation.

Question 9

Blank verse

Answer 9

Unrhymed, regular verse, usually iambic pentameter. It is commonly used by Shakespeare.

Question 10

Catastrophe

Answer 10

The unhappy conclusion of a tragedy.

Question 11

Cliche

Answer 11

An expression or work that has lost its freshness through overuse (ex: “there is nothing to fear but fear itself”).

Question 11

Climax

Answer 11

The point of highest interest in a short story or novel, where the reader makes the greatest emotional response. In drama, especially Shakespearean tragedy, the climax occurs when the rising action give way to the falling action. (i.e. when things begin going against the protagonist).

Question 12

Comic relief

Answer 12

A humorous scene, incident, or speech introduced in a serious fiction or drama to relieve emotional intensity.

Question 12

Comparison / contrast

Answer 12

A way or organizing ideas in prose by pointing out similarities and differences between subjects of the same type.

Question 13

Colloquialism

Answer 13

Language that is acceptable in informal conversation or writing but not in formal writing.

Question 14

Conflict

Answer 14

The struggle of opposing forces (external/internal)

Question 15

Connotative diction

Answer 15

Words that have additional meaning or associations beyond the denotative meaning (dictionary meaning).

Question 16

Contrast

Answer 16

The contrast of images or words (opposite)

Question 17

Couplet

Answer 17

Two consecutive lines of poetry with end rhymes.

Question 17

Crisis

Answer 17

The decisive action on which the plot of a short story or novel will turn. It occurs when the situation of the protagonist is certain to either improve or worsen. The crisis is not an index of emotional response, but a structural element of plot. (to confuse matters, the turning point of a dramatic structure, e.g., Romeo and Juliet, is referred to as the climax!)

Question 18

Euphemism

Answer 18

A mild expression used instead of a harsh one (e.g. perspire instead of sweat).

Question 19

Denouement

Answer 19

The final “unknotting” of the plot, the outcome of the story.

Question 20

Figures of speech

Answer 20

Literary or poetic devices used to achieve vivid description, to deepen insight, or to add emphasis. Similes, metaphors, personification, and hyperbole are figure of speech.

Question 20

Diction

Answer 20

The choice of words used in writing. (connotative diction).

Question 21

Falling action

Answer 21

The “fall” of a plot to resolution, denouement, or catastrophe. In Shakespearian tragedy, the falling action occurs after the climax, when things begin to go against the protagonist.

Question 22

Foil

Answer 22

A character though, through contrast, emphasizes the distinctive characteristics of another.

Question 23

Free verse

Answer 23

Poetry without a set rhyme scheme or meter.

Question 24

Foreshadow

Answer 24

Material in a book that hints, or prepares us for later events

Question 25

Iambic pentameter

Answer 25

The meter of much english poetry before the twentieth century. Shakespeare uses this meter in his blank verse. Each line consists of five iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable).

Question 26

Imagery

Answer 26

Words and phrases that appeal to our senses and create a mental picture

Question 26

Irony

Answer 26

A figure of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words that carry the opposite meaning; a passage in a literary work where the reader recognizes a deeper meaning than the apparent meaning.
Verbal irony: refers to the difference in what was said and what was intended.
Situational irony: refers to the difference between what actually happens and what was expected to happen.

Question 26

Lyric

Answer 26

A brief subjective poem strongly marked by imagination, melody, and emotion, and creating a single unified impression. It is often opposed to narrative verse, i.e., verse tells a story.

Question 27

Metaphor

Answer 27

A comparison which imaginatively identifies one object or thing with another.

Question 28

Meter

Answer 28

The rhythm of poetry generally determined by the number of stresses or accented syllables (feet) in a line of poetry: one foot, monometer; two feet, dimeter; three feet, trimeter; four feet, tetrameter; five feet, pentameter, etc.

Question 29

Mood

Answer 29

The emotional attitude or feeling of the audience toward the subject, e.g. suspenseful, romantic.

Question 30

Onomatopoeia

Answer 30

The word’s sounds suggest its meaning (e.g. buzz, hiss).

Question 31

Oxymoron

Answer 31

Contradictory terms appear together (e.g. jumbo shrimp, deafening silence).

Question 31

Paradox

Answer 31

Two contradictory statements that contain an element of truth if examined closely.

Question 31

Parody

Answer 31

A word mimicking the language, style, or idea of another for comic or satiric effect.

Question 32

Pathetic fallacy

Answer 32

A dramatic device in which the heavens respond to the tragedy on earth (e.g. storms, earthquakes, eclipse, etc.)

Question 33

Pathos

Answer 33

In drama, to stimulate pity or sorrow in the audience.

Question 34

Personification

Answer 34

A figure of speech in which objects, ideas, or animals are given human characteristics.

Question 35

Plot

Answer 35

The orderly arrangement of events or episodes in a literary work, i.e., what happens in a story.

Question 36

Pun

Answer 36

A humorous play on words, popular in Shakespearian times.

Question 37

Quatrain

Answer 37

A four line stanza.

Question 38

Retributive justice

Answer 38

Occurs when an evil act brings about a fitting or appropriate punishment, or a virtuous act results in a positive reward.

Question 38

Rhetorical question

Answer 38

A question which requires no answer usually because the answer is self-evident or because the answer is not known.

Question 39

Rhyme scheme

Answer 39

The pattern in which rhyme sounds occur within a poem or stanza. Can be presented by assigning each rhyme a letter of the alphabet.

Question 39

Rising action

Answer 39

The part of the plot that has to do with introducing conflict and complication; in Shakespearian tragedy the rising action usually sees things going well for the protagonist.

Question 40

Soliloquy

Answer 40

A speech delivered in a drama when the speaker is alone on stage. It informs the audience what is passing through the character’s mind.

Question 40

Sonnet

Answer 40

A fourteen line poem following a set of rhyme scheme. The two basic types are the Shakespearean and the Petrarchan. The Shakespearean sonnet is characterized by three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet, with a rhyme scheme of abab cd cd efef gg.
The Petrarchan sonnet is characterized by an octave and a sestet, with the rhyming scheme of abbaabba cdecde.

Question 41

Stanza

Answer 41

A group of two or more lines of poetry

Question 42

Symbol

Answer 42

Something which is itself, but which stands for, suggests, or means something else (e.g. the dove is a symbol of peace)

Question 43

Suspense

Answer 43

A combination of qualities in a story that compel us to read on

Question 44

Theme

Answer 44

The central idea behind the play, poem, short story, or novel

Question 45

Thesis

Answer 45

The main idea, the focus, or the position of a writer. The main point that the writer intends to argue. It must be supported by direct evidence from the text.

Question 46

Tragedy

Answer 46

A serious play that recounts a casually related series of events in the life of a person of significance, culminating in a catastrophe.

Question 47

Tragic flaw

Answer 47

A flaw in the character of the tragic hero that causes his downfall (e.g. Macbeth’s ambition, Othello’s jealousy, or Hamlet’s tendency to procrastinate).