Lit Devices Pt 1: Diction & Genre

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

Story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities

Question 2

Bildungsroman

Answer 2

A coming of age story that follows a youth from childhood through manhood or womanhood; often involves one or more rights of passage

Question 3

Cacophony

Answer 3

The usage of several unharmonious or dissonant sounds in a line or passage; include the explosive consonants k, t, g, d, p, and b, and the hissing sounds ch, sh, and s;

this is the opposite of euphony, i.e. “To be, or not to be: that is the question/whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/ And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep,” -Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Question 4

Canon

Answer 4

What is generally considered by scholars, critics, and teachers to be the most important to study or read, which collectively constitutes the “masterpieces” or “”classics” of literature

Question 5

Colloquialism

Answer 5

A word or phrase used in every day conversation and informal writing but is inappropriate for formal situations

Question 6

Connotation

Answer 6

The associates and emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase, in addition to its strict dictionary definition; this is the opposite of denotation

Question 7

Dialect

Answer 7

A way of speaking that is characteristic of a certain social group or geographical region, i.e. a Southern accent or a Boston accent

Question 8

Diction

Answer 8

A speaker or writer‘s choice of words

Question 9

Didactic

Answer 9

A description for fiction or nonfiction that teaches a specific lesson or moral or provides a model of correct behavior or thinking; the most common usage is it didactic verse

Question 10

Euphemism

Answer 10

Substitute words that sound less offensive or more neutral than others, i.e. when a person says pass away instead of die

Question 11

Euphony

Answer 11

The quality of being pleasing to the ear, especially through a harmonious combination of words and sounds; the opposite of cacophony, i.e. “the woods are lovely, dark and deep,/but I have promises to keep,/and miles to go before I sleep,/and miles to go before I sleep.“ – Robert Frost

Question 12

Microcosm

Answer 12

A small “world“ that stands for the larger one, i.e. in lord of the flies, the island is representative of the worlds political realm

Question 13

Mood

Answer 13

An atmosphere created by a writer’s diction and the details selected; the feeling the reader gets, not to be confused with the feeling of the writer towards a subject which is called tone

Question 14

Rhetoric

Answer 14

The art of speaking or writing effectively; skill in the eloquent use of language

Question 15

Rhetorical Device

Answer 15

A device used to produce effective speaking or writing

Question 16

Stream of Consciousness

Answer 16

Writing that portrays the inner (often chaotic) workings of a character’s mind

Question 17

Style

Answer 17

A writer’s typical way of expressing himself or herself; a writer’s distinctive use of diction, tone, and syntax

Question 18

Vernacular

Answer 18

The language spoken by the people who live in a particular locality

Question 19

Denotation

Answer 19

[fill in later]