Literary Devices

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

repetition of consonant sounds within close proximity, usually in consecutive words within the same sentence or line.

Question 2

Anthropomorphism

Answer 2

Where animals or inanimate objects are portrayed in a story as people, such as by walking, talking, or being given arms, legs and/or facial features.

Question 3

Blank Verse

Answer 3

Non-rhyming poetry, usually written in iambic pentameter.

Question 4

Creative License

Answer 4

Exaggeration or alteration of objective facts or reality for the purpose of enhancing meaning in a fictional context.

Question 5

Dialogue

Answer 5

Where characters speak to one another; may often be used to substitute for exposition.

Question 6

Dramatic Irony

Answer 6

Where the audience or reader is aware of something important, of which the characters in the story are not aware.

Question 7

Exposition

Answer 7

Where an author interrupts a story in order to explain something, usually to provide important background information.

Question 8

Figurative Language

Answer 8

Any use of language where the intended meaning differs from the actual literal meaning of the words themselves. There are many techniques which can rightly be called figurative language, including metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, verbal irony, and oxymoron.

Question 9

Foreshadowing

Answer 9

Where future events in a story, or perhaps the outcome, are suggested by the author before they happen. Foreshadowing can take many forms and be accomplished in many ways, with varying degrees of subtlety. However, if the outcome is deliberately and explicitly revealed early in a story (such as by the use of a narrator or flashback structure), such information does not constitute foreshadowing.

Question 10

Hyperbole

Answer 10

description which exaggerates.

Question 11

Iambic Pentameter

Answer 11

Poetry written with each line containing ten syllables, in five repetitions of a two-syllable pattern wherein the pronunciation emphasis is on the second syllable.

Question 12

Imagery

Answer 12

Language which describes something in detail, using words to substitute for and create sensory stimulation, including visual imagery and sound imagery. Also refers to specific and recurring types of images, such as food imagery and nature imagery.

Question 13

Irony

Answer 13

Where an event occurs which is unexpected, and which is in absurd or mocking opposition to what is expected or appropriate.

Question 14

Metaphor

Answer 14

direct relationship where one thing or idea substitutes for another.

Question 15

Onomatopoeia

Answer 15

Where sounds are spelled out as words; or, when words describing sounds actually sound like the sounds they describe.

Question 16

Oxymoron

Answer 16

contradiction in terms.

Question 17

Paradox

Answer 17

Where a situation is created which cannot possibly exist, because different elements of it cancel each other out.

Question 18

Parallelism

Answer 18

Use of similar or identical language, structures, events, or ideas in different parts of a text.

Question 19

Personification

Answer 19

Where inanimate objects or abstract concepts are seemingly endowed with human self-awareness; where human thoughts, actions and perceptions are directly attributed to inanimate objects or abstract ideas.

Question 20

Personification 2

Answer 20

Where an abstract concept, such as a particular human behavior or a force of nature, is represented as a person.

Question 21

Repetition

Answer 21

Where a specific word, phrase, or structure is repeated several times, to emphasize a particular idea.

Question 22

Simile

Answer 22

indirect relationship where one thing or idea is described as being similar to another.
Similes usually contain the words “like” or “as,” but not always.

Question 23

Symbolism

Answer 23

use of specific objects or images to represent abstract ideas. This term is commonly misused, describing any and all representational relationships, which in fact are more often metaphorical than symbolic. A symbol must be something tangible or visible, while the idea it symbolizes must be something abstract or universal.

Question 24

Verbal irony

Answer 24

Where the meaning is intended to be the exact opposite of what the words actually mean.