Lit Terms (Rest Of Them)

Question 1

Pastoral

Answer 1

A poem, play, or story that celebrates and idealizes the simple life of shepherds and shepherdesses. The highly conventional form was popular until the late 18th century. The term has also come to refer to an artistic work that portrays rural life in an idyllic or idealistic way.

Question 2

Pathos

Answer 2

The quality of literary work or passage, which appeals to the reader’s or viewer’s emotions – especially pity, compassion, and sympathy. Pathos is different from the pity one feels for a tragic hero in that the pathetic figure seems to suffer through no fault of his/her own.

Question 3

Periodic Sentence

Answer 3

A sentence that delivers its point at the end; usually constructed as a subordinate clause followed by a man clause.

Question 4

Personification

Answer 4

The attribution of human characteristics to an animal or to an inanimate object.

Question 5

Point of View

Answer 5

Perspective of the speaker or narrator in a literary work.

Question 6

Protagonist

Answer 6

The main or principal character in a work; often considered the hero or heroine.

Question 7

Pun

Answer 7

Humorous play on words that have several meanings or words that sound the same but have different meanings.

Question 8

Quatrain

Answer 8

Four-line stanza.

Question 9

Refrain

Answer 9

Repetition of a line, stanza, or phrase.

Question 10

Repetition

Answer 10

A word or phrase used more than once to emphasize an idea.

Question 11

Rhetorical Question

Answer 11

A question with an obvious answer, so no response is expected; used for emphasis or to make a point.

Question 12

Satire

Answer 12

The use of humor to ridicule and expose the shortcomings and failings of society, individuals, and institutions, often in the hope that change and reform are possible.

Question 13

Sestet

Answer 13

A six-line stanza of poetry; also, the last six lines of a sonnet.

Question 14

Shift

Answer 14

In writing, a movement from one thought or idea to another; a change.

Question 15

Simile

Answer 15

A comparison of unlike things using the word “like”, “as”, or “so”.

Question 16

Soliloquy

Answer 16

A character’s speech to the audience, in which emotions and ideas are revealed. A monologue is a soliloquy only if the character is alone on the stage.

Question 17

Sonnet, English or Shakespearean

Answer 17

Traditionally, a fourteen-line love poem in iambic pentameter, but in contemporary poetry, themes and form vary. A conventional Shakespearean sonnet’s prescribed rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, gg. The final couplet (gg) sums up or resolved the situation described in the previous lines. Milton, Donne, Sidney, Rossetti, and the Browings also wrote sonnets, but not necessarily in Shakespearean form.

Question 18

Stanza

Answer 18

A grouping of poetic lines; a deliberate arrangement of lines of poetry.

Question 19

Stock Character

Answer 19

A stereotypical character; a type. The audience expects the character to have certain characteristics. Similar to conventional character and flat character.

Question 20

Stream of Consciousness

Answer 20

A form of writing which replicates the way the human mind works. Ideas are presented in random order; thoughts are often unfinished.

Question 21

Structure

Answer 21

The particular way in which parts of a written work are combined.

Question 22

Style

Answer 22

The way a writer uses language. Takes into account word choice, diction, figures of speech, and so on. The writer’s “voice”.

Question 23

Symbol

Answer 23

A concrete object, scene, or action which has deeper significance because it is associated with something else, often an important idea or theme in the work.

Question 24

Synecdoche

Answer 24

A figure of speech where one part represents the entire object, or vice versa.

Question 25

Syntax

Answer 25

The way in which words, phrases, and sentences are ordered and connected.

Question 26

Theme

Answer 26

The central idea of a literary work.

Question 27

Tone

Answer 27

Refers to the author’s attitude toward the subject, and often sets the mood of the piece.

Question 28

Tongue in Cheek

Answer 28

Expressing a thought in a way that appears to be sincere, but is actually joking.

Question 29

Tragic Flaw

Answer 29

Traditionally, a defect in a hero or heroine that leads to his or her downfall.

Question 30

Transition/Segue

Answer 30

The means to get from one portion of a poem or story to another; for instance, to another setting, to another character’s viewpoint, to a later or earlier time period. It is a way of smoothly connecting different parts of a work. Authors often use transitional sentences or phrases to achieve this.

Question 31

Parody

Answer 31

A comical imitation of a serious piece with the intent of ridiculing the author or his work.