Literary Terms

Question 1

ALLITERATION

Answer 1

A sequence of repeated consonantal sounds, to add rhetorical or descriptive effect: “the bare black cliff clang’d around him”

Question 2

ANTITHESIS

Answer 2

Contrasting of opposite ideas in parallel phrases or sentences e.g. “rich in goods, but ragged in spirit”

Question 3

ASSONANCE

Answer 3

The rhyming or near-rhyming of vowel sounds but without the consonants agreeing (unlike rhyme)

Question 4

BATHOS

Answer 4

An abrupt descent from the solemn or serious to the trivial or ridiculous.

Question 5

BILDUNGSROMAN

Answer 5

A novel which describes the protagonist’s progress from childhood to maturity e.g. Jane Eyre

Question 6

CAESURA

Answer 6

A heavy pause during a line of metrical verse (see Enjambement)

Question 7

CLIMAX

Answer 7

A point at which the protagonist’s fortunes reach a critical stage; a turning point; a moment of intense excitement or emotion. A work may have more than one climax.

Question 8

COLLOQUIALISM

Answer 8

Everyday speech, including slang, as opposed to more formal expression, indicating a relaxed, conversational or familiar tone.

Question 9

DICTION

Answer 9

The writer’s choice of words, use of vocabulary.

Question 10

DRAMATIC IRONY

Answer 10

arises whenever the audience knows more than one or more of the characters. Thus, they can foresee the possible consequences of an action, tragic or comic, or errors in the character’s judgement.

Question 11

DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE

Answer 11

A poem in the voice of one character, who unintentionally reveals himself through his own words. Best-known through Robert Browning.

Question 12

END-STOPPED

Answer 12

A line of verse in which the end of the line is marked with a grammatical pause.

Question 13

ENJAMBEMENT

Answer 13

A line of verse which is not end-stopped, that is, the sense continues on to the next line without a pause at the end. Also called run-on lines. The pause is delayed to the middle of a succeeding line (see Caesura). Note the combination of enjambement and caesura

Question 14

EUPHEMISM

Answer 14

The avoidance of unpleasant concepts by careful expression, e.g. “passed away” instead of “died”.

Question 15

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Answer 15

Any form of expression or grammar which deviates from the plain statement of meaning for the sake of an effect. Most commonly refers to simile or metaphor but also included hyperbole and other rhetorical devices.

Question 16

FIRST PERSON NARRATIVE

Answer 16

Stories told in the first person singular, “I”, like Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Question 17

FORM

Answer 17

Shape, pattern or structure - the way in which a piece of writing is organised.

Question 18

GOTHIC

Answer 18

Originally, works set in medieval castles or monasteries, with a gloomy, violent and spine-chilling atmosphere, which became popular at the same time as the revival of interest in the medieval age during the Romantic period. Nowadays anything with a bizarre, macabre interest in aberrant psychology.

Question 19

IMAGE/IMAGERY

Answer 19

A word-picture, as well as language which appeals to the eye and other senses, often specifically referring to simile or metaphor.

Question 20

IRONY

Answer 20

Whenever a further meaning, significance or judgement implied by the author can be deduced from the use of words, or from a pattern of events.

Question 21

JARGON

Answer 21

The special technical language of any trade or profession, often unintelligible to the layman.

Question 22

JUXTAPOSITION

Answer 22

Placing ideas, words, incidents, characters etc. next to one another in such a way as to highlight similarity or contrast, or for ironic effect

Question 23

METAPHOR

Answer 23

Figure of speech in which one thing is described as being another thing i.e. the comparison is stated as a fact e.g. Love “is the star to every wandering bark.” Compare to simile

Question 24

METRE

Answer 24

The regular arrangement of strong stresses in a line of verse, creating a pattern.

Question 25

NARRATIVE

Answer 25

An account of a connected serie of incidents.

Question 26

OMNISCIENT NARRATOR

Answer 26

Method of narration in which the narrator has a God-like knowledge of all the characters’ thoughts and feelings.

Question 27

ONOMATOPOEIA

Answer 27

Words which sound like the noise which they describe: swish; cuckoo; smack; bang. Sustained onomatopoeia is quite common in verse and prose, incorporating rhythm.

Question 28

OXYMORON

Answer 28

A variety of paradox in which contradictory or unexpected terms are brought together - “Parting is such a sweet sorrow” (Romeo and Juliet)

Question 29

PARADOX

Answer 29

An apparently self-contradictory statement which on closer examination yields a surprising truth or meaning. “the child is father to the man.”

Question 30

PARALLELISM

Answer 30

The building up of a statement using repeated patterns of language, so achieving an effect of balance or antithesis.

Question 31

PATHOS

Answer 31

Strong feelings of pity or sorrow, falling short of full tragedy.

Question 32

PERSONA

Answer 32

A character created by the writer who narrates in the first person.

Question 33

PERSONIFICATION

Answer 33

When abstractions, ideas or inanimate objects are spoken of as if they had human attributes: “Death be not proud” (Donne); the trees “laid their dark arms about the field” (Hardy)

Question 34

POINT OF VIEW

Answer 34

The narrator’s perspective through which events and characters are described. Questions arise as to the extent to which we share the point of view of the narrator, whether we can trust his judgement, whether it is objective, limited or prejudiced etc. Also see PERSONA