Literary Devices

Question 1

Caricature

Answer 1

picture, description, or imitation of person or thing in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create comic or grotesque effect

Question 2

Conceit

Answer 2

figure of speech in which two vastly different objects are likened together with the help of similes or metaphors; develops a comparison

Question 3

Figure of speech

Answer 3

word or phrase used in nonliteral sense to add rhetorical force to a spoken or written passage

Question 4

Foreshadowing

Answer 4

uses images or phrases to hint at what is to come

Question 5

Hyperbole

Answer 5

relies on heavy exaggeration to create bigger-than-life effect

Question 6

Metonymy

Answer 6

Substitution of name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant
Ex: suit for business executive; track for horse racing

Question 7

Synecdoche

Answer 7

uses a part to explain a whole or a whole to explain a part

Ex: lend me an ear

Question 8

Metaphor

Answer 8

figure of speech in which word or phrase is applied to object or action to which it is not literally applicable

Question 9

Stream of consciousness

Answer 9

literary style in which character’s thoughts, feelings, and reactions are depicted in continuous flow uninterrupted by objective description or conventional dialogue
Ex: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust

Question 10

Personification

Answer 10

figure of speech in which object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, attitudes

Question 11

Symbol

Answer 11

thing that represents or stands for something else, esp material object representing something abstract

Question 12

Zeugma

Answer 12

figure of speech in which a word applies to 2 others in different senses (ex: John and his license expired last week) or to 2 others of which it semantically suits only one (ex: with weeping eyes and hearts)

Question 13

Allusion

Answer 13

reference to another work of literature, person, or event

Question 14

Analogy

Answer 14

comparison of two different things that are similar in some way

Question 15

Irony

Answer 15

contrast or discrepancy between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen

Question 16

Epithet

Answer 16

descriptive phrase or word frequently used to characterize person or thing

Question 17

Homonym

Answer 17

one of a group of words that share same spelling and pronunciation but may have different meanings (ex: “bark”)

Question 18

Homophone

Answer 18

word pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning and may differ in spelling (ex: “carrot” and “carat”)