Figurative Language

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

Question 2

Alliteration

Answer 2

the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

Question 3

Allusion

Answer 3

a figure of speech that refers to a well-known story, event, person, or object in order to make a comparison in the readers’ minds

Question 4

Altruism

Answer 4

the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others

Question 5

Anti-Hero

Answer 5

a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.

Question 6

Antithesis

Answer 6

a figure of speech in which an opposition or contrast of ideas is expressed by parallelism of words that are the opposites of, or strongly contrasted with, each other, such as “hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins”.

Question 7

Analogy

Answer 7

a comparison between two things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

Question 8

Anecdote

Answer 8

a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person.

Question 9

Antecedent Action

Answer 9

an event, circumstance, etc, that happens before another

Question 10

Apostrophe

Answer 10

a punctuation mark ( ’ ) used to indicate either possession (e.g., Harry’s book ; boys’ coats ) or the omission of letters or numbers (e.g., can’t ; he’s ; class of ’99 ).

Question 11

Archetype

Answer 11

a very typical example of a certain person or thing.”the book is a perfect archetype of the genre”
* a recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology.”mythological archetypes of good and evil”

Question 12

Assonance

Answer 12

in poetry, the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in nonrhyming stressed syllables near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible (e.g., penitence, reticence ).

Question 13

Blank Verse

Answer 13

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.

Question 14

Cliché

Answer 14

a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.”the old cliché “one man’s meat is another man’s poison.””

Question 15

Colloquial

Answer 15

(of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary.

Question 16

Connotation

Answer 16

an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

Question 17

Consonance

Answer 17

agreement or compatibility between opinions or actions.

Question 18

Denotation

Answer 18

the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

Question 19

Diction

Answer 19

the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing.

Question 20

Dynamic Character

Answer 20

a literary or dramatic character who undergoes an important inner change, as a change in personality or attitude: Ebeneezer Scrooge is a dynamic character

Question 21

Epiphany

Answer 21

the point in a work of literature where a character has a sudden insight or realization that changes his or her understanding

Question 22

Enjambment

Answer 22

(in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

Question 23

Euphemism

Answer 23

a mild or indirect word or expression substituted for one considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

Question 24

Flat Character

Answer 24

are two-dimensional in that they are relatively uncomplicated and do not change throughout the course of a work

Question 25

Foil (Character)

Answer 25

a foil is a character who contrasts with another character —usually the protagonist— to highlight particular qualities of the other character. In some cases, a subplot can be used as a foil to the main plot.

Question 26

Foreshadowing

Answer 26

be a warning or indication of (a future event).

Question 27

Free Verse

Answer 27

poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular meter.

Question 28

Hyperbole

Answer 28

exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Question 29

Iambic Pentameter

Answer 29

a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable, for example Two households, both alike in dignity.

Question 30

Inference

Answer 30

a conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning.

* the process of inferring something.

Question 31

Imagery

Answer 31

visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.

Question 32

Irony

Answer 32

the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.
* a literary technique, originally used in Greek tragedy, by which the full significance of a character’s words or actions are clear to the audience or reader although unknown to the character.

Question 33

Juxtaposition

Answer 33

the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

Question 34

Malapropism

Answer 34

the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one, often with unintentionally amusing effect, as in, for example, “dance a flamingo ” (instead of flamenco ).

Question 35

Metaphor

Answer 35

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.
““I had fallen through a trapdoor of depression,” said Mark, who was fond of theatrical metaphors”

Question 36

Metonymy

Answer 36

the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant, for example suit for business executive, or the track for horse racing.

Question 37

Motif

Answer 37

can be almost anything: an idea, an object, a concept, a character archetype, the weather, a color, or even a statement. Motifs are used to establish a theme or a certain mood; they have a symbolic meaning.

Question 38

Narrative

Answer 38

a spoken or written account of connected events; a story.

“the hero of his modest narrative”

Question 39

Omniscient

Answer 39

knowing everything.

Question 40

Onomatopoeia (Imitative harmony)

Answer 40

the formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named (e.g., cuckoo, sizzle ).

Question 41

Oxymoron

Answer 41

a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g., faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).

Question 42

Paradox

Answer 42

a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true

Question 43

Parallelism

Answer 43

the state of being parallel or of corresponding in some way.
* the use of successive verbal constructions in poetry or prose that correspond in grammatical structure, sound, meter, meaning, etc.

Question 44

Parody

Answer 44

a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing // an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
“the movie is a parody of the horror genre”

Question 45

Personification

Answer 45

the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form.

Question 46

Pun

Answer 46

a joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words that sound alike but have different meanings.
“the pigs were a squeal (if you’ll forgive the pun)”

Question 47

Round Character

Answer 47

are complex and undergo development, sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader.

Question 48

Simile

Answer 48

a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g., as brave as a lion, crazy like a fox ).

Question 49

Satire

Answer 49

the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

Question 50

Symbolism

Answer 50

the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

Question 51

Synecdoche

Answer 51

a figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole or vice versa, as in Cleveland won by six runs (meaning “Cleveland’s baseball team”).

Question 52

Syntax

Answer 52

the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

Question 53

Theme

Answer 53

the main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work

Question 54

Tragic Flaw

Answer 54

a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of a tragic hero or heroine. // a character trait that brings about the downfall of the protagonist; ironically, in some works, this “flaw” is the character’s greatest strength taken to an extreme. The tragic flaw may be a lack of judgment or self-knowledge, but most often it is pride or hubris.

Question 55

Tone

Answer 55

the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc.
“trust her to lower the tone of the conversation” // the way the author expresses his attitude through his writing.

Question 56

Tragic Hero

Answer 56

a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. In reading Antigone, Medea and Hamlet, look at the role of justice and/or revenge and its influence on each character’s choices when analyzing any “judgment error.”

Question 57

Thesis

Answer 57

a statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved.

Question 58

Understatement

Answer 58

the presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.

Question 59

Verisimilitude

Answer 59

the appearance of being true or real.

“the detail gives the novel some verisimilitude”

Question 60

Voice

Answer 60

Voice is the author’s style, the quality that makes his or her writing unique, and which conveys the author’s attitude, personality, and character. // Voice is the characteristic speech and thought patterns of the narrator of a work of fiction.