Lit Terms (29-32)

Question 1

Hubris

Answer 1

Insolence, arrogance, or pride. In Greek tragedy, the protagonist’s hubris is usually the tragic flaw that leads to his or her downfall.

Question 2

Hyperbole

Answer 2

An extreme exaggeration for literary effect that is not meant to be interpreted literally.

Question 3

Iambic Pentameter

Answer 3

A five-foot line made up of an unaccented followed by an accented syllable. It is the most common metric foot in English-language poetry.

Question 4

Imagery

Answer 4

Anything that affects or appeals to the reader’s senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell.

Question 5

Interior Monologue

Answer 5

A literary technique used in poetry and prose that reveals a character’s unspoken thoughts and feelings. An interior monologue may be presented directly by the character, or through a narrator.

Question 6

Internal Rhyme

Answer 6

A rhyme that is within the line, rather than at the end. The rhyming may also be within two lines, but again, each rhyming word will be within its line, rather than at the beginning or end.

Question 7

Inversion

Answer 7

Switch in the normal, word order, often used for emphasis or for rhyme scheme.

Question 8

Itallan Sonnet

Answer 8

(Petrarchan) sonnet: Fourteen-line poem divided into two parts: the first eight lines (abbaabba) and the second is six (cdcdcd or cdecde).

Question 9

Litotes

Answer 9

Affirmation of an idea by using a negative understatement. The opposite of hyperbole.

Question 10

Lyric Poem

Answer 10

A fairly short, emotionally expressive poem that expresses the feelings and observations of a single speaker.

Question 11

Metamorphosis

Answer 11

A radical change in character, either physical or emotional.

Question 12

Metaphor

Answer 12

A figure of speech which compares two dissimilar things, asserting that one thing IS another thing, not just that one is LIKE another. Compare with analogy and simile.

Question 13

Meter

Answer 13

The rhythmical pattern of a poem. Just as all words are pronounced with accented (or stressed) syllables and unaccepted (or unstressed) syllables, lines of petty are assigned similar rhythms. English petty uses five basic metric feet.

Question 14

Metonymy

Answer 14

A figure of speech that replaces the name of something with a word or phrase closely associated with it. Similar to synecdoche (many authors do not distinguish between the two).

Question 15

Myth

Answer 15

A story, usually with supernatural significance, that explains the origins of gods, heroes, or natural phenomena. Although myths are fictional stories, they contain deeper truths, particularly about the nature of humankind.

Question 16

Narrative Poem

Answer 16

A poem that tells a story.

Question 17

Near, off, or slant rhyme

Answer 17

A rhyme based on an imperfect or incomplete correspondence of end syllable sounds.

Question 18

Onomatopoeia

Answer 18

Words that imitate sounds.

Question 19

Oxymoron

Answer 19

A figure of speech that combines two contradictory words, placed side by side: bitter sweet, wise fool, living death.

Question 20

Parable

Answer 20

A short story illustrating a moral or religious lesson.

Question 21

Paradox

Answer 21

A statement or situation that at first seems impossible or oxymoronic, but which solves itself and reveals meaning.

Question 22

Parallelism

Answer 22

The repeated use of the same grammatical structure in a sentence or a series of sentences. This device tends to emphasize what is said and thus underscores the meaning. Can also refer to two or more stories within a literary work that are told simultaneously and that reinforce one another.

Question 23

In Medias Res

Answer 23

In literature, a work that begins in the middle of the story.

Question 24

Heroic Couplet

Answer 24

In poetry, a rhymed couplet written in iambic pentameter (five feet, each with one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable).