Lit Terms/Devices

Question 1

Aside

Answer 1

Glimpse into a character’s thoughts

Heard by audience but not by characters

Question 2

Blank verse

Answer 2

Unrhymed but metered lines, iambic pentameter

Question 3

Characterization

Answer 3

Description of a characters physical traits, point of view, personality, private thoughts and actions

Question 4

Conflict

Answer 4

To clash with someone/something

Question 5

Couplet

Answer 5

A pair of successive rhyming lines, usually of the same length

Question 6

Epithet

Answer 6

Adjective or phrase that is used to express a characteristic of a person or thing, such as Ivan the Terrible

Question 7

Figurative language

Answer 7

language that’s intended to create an image, association, or other effect in the mind of the listener or reader

Question 8

Foil

Answer 8

a character who is presented as a contrast to a second character so as to point to or show to advantage some aspect of the second character

Question 9

Foreshadowing

Answer 9

suggestions or warnings about events to come are dropped or planted.

Question 10

Iambic meter

Answer 10

type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama.

Question 11

Metaphor

Answer 11

Comparing something without using like or as

Question 12

Simile

Answer 12

Comparing something using like or as

Question 13

Pun

Answer 13

A play on words for a humorous effect

Question 14

Analogy

Answer 14

saying something is like something else to make some sort of explanatory point. For example, “Life is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re gonna get.

Question 15

Imagery

Answer 15

Use of literal or figurative language to add symbolism and enable the reader to imagine the world of the piece of literature

Question 16

Irony

Answer 16

The opposite of what is expected

Question 17

Dramatic Irony

Answer 17

Audience knows but characters don’t

Question 18

Situational irony

Answer 18

Situation where the opposite of what is expected happens

Question 19

Verbal irony

Answer 19

A character says something but means that opposite (sarcasm)

Question 20

Monologue

Answer 20

an extended speech by one person

Question 21

Oxymoron

Answer 21

term that describes words or phrases that, when placed together, create contradictions.

Question 22

Personification

Answer 22

when you give an object or animal human behaviors

Question 23

Allusion

Answer 23

an implied or indirect reference to a person, event, or thing or to a part of another text

Question 24

Climax

Answer 24

the decisive moment, or turning point, at which the rising action of the play is reversed to falling action

Question 25

Dramatic structure

Answer 25

The structure is how the plot or story of a play is laid out, including a beginning, a middle and an end.

Question 26

Symbol

Answer 26

something that stands for something else

Question 27

Protagonist

Answer 27

Main character, heroine

Question 28

Antagonist

Answer 28

the principal opponent or foil of the main character

Question 29

Motivation

Answer 29

the reason compelling a person’s actions and behaviors

Question 30

Theme

Answer 30

The underlying message the author is trying to convey