Literary Terms

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor, written in the form of fables, parables, poems, stories, and almost any other style or genre.

Question 2

Foreshadowing

Answer 2

A method used to build suspense by providing hints of what’s to come.

Question 3

Antithesis

Answer 3

The rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangement of words, clauses, or sentences.
“They promised freedom and provided slavery” or “actions, not words”
Parallel structure with contrast.

Question 4

Narrative Twist

Answer 4

It is a common practice in narration used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation.

Question 5

Oxymoron

Answer 5

A figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms.

Question 6

Bias

Answer 6

A prejudice in a general or specific sense, usually in the sense for having a preference to one particular view or ideology.

Question 7

Iambic Pentameter

Answer 7

A metric pattern of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable = five feet to a line.

Question 8

Imagery

Answer 8

A word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses.

Question 9

Parallelism

Answer 9

Using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance.

Question 10

Parody

Answer 10

A literary work that imitates the style of another work. Humorous.

Question 11

Setting

Answer 11

The time and place in which a story unfolds.

Question 12

Simile

Answer 12

A comparison using the words like or as.

Question 13

Theme

Answer 13

An ingredient of a literary work that gives the work unity and provides an answer to the question What is the work about?

Question 14

Stereotype

Answer 14

An author’s method of treating a character so that the character is immediately identified with a group.

Question 15

Flashback

Answer 15

A reference to an event which took place prior to the beginning of a story or play.

Question 16

Foil

Answer 16

A character in a play that sets off the main character or other characters by comparison.

Question 17

Narrative Hook

Answer 17

A literary technique in the opening of a story that grabs the reader’s attention so that he will read on.

Question 18

Tone

Answer 18

Expresses the author’s attitude toward his or her subject.

Question 19

Pun

Answer 19

A play on words wherein a word is used to convey two meanings at the same time.

Question 20

Protagonist

Answer 20

The hero or central character of a literary work.

Question 21

Dramatic Irony

Answer 21

In literature, a plot device in which the audience’s or reader’s knowledge of events or individuals surpasses that of the characters.

Question 22

Characterization

Answer 22

The method a writer uses to reveal the personality of a character in a literary work.

Question 23

Alliteration

Answer 23

Used for poetic effect, a repetition of initial sounds of several words in a group.

Question 24

Clumas

Answer 24

The decisive moment in a story, the turning point to which the rising action leads.

Question 25

Allusion

Answer 25

A brief reference to a person, event, place, real or fictitious, or to a work of art.

Question 26

Colloquial Language

Answer 26

Informal words and/or expressions usually only used between friends.

Question 27

Dialogue

Answer 27

Conversation between two characters.

Question 28

Blank Verse

Answer 28

A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Question 29

Resolution

Answer 29

The part of the story or drama which occurs after the climax which establishes a new norm, a new state of affairs- the way things are going to be from then on.

Question 30

Conflict

Answer 30

The occurs when the protagonist is opposed by some person or force.

Question 31

.Hyperbole

Answer 31

A figure of speech in which an overstatement or exaggeration occurs.

Question 32

Repetition

Answer 32

The return of a word, phrase, stanza form, or effect in any form of literature.

Question 33

Assonance

Answer 33

The repetition of vowel sounds in a literary work.

Question 34

Contrast

Answer 34

Assessing the difference between two or more ideas, objects or people.

Question 35

Irony

Answer 35

An action is the reverse of what the actor expected or contrast between the literal meaning of what is said and what is meant.

Question 36

Atmosphere

Answer 36

The mood that is established in a literary work that is often created through the setting and foreshadowing.

Question 37

Antagonist

Answer 37

A person or force which opposes the protagonist in a literary work.

Question 38

Conssonance

Answer 38

The repetition of consonant sounds with differing vowel sounds in words near each other in a line or lines of poetry.

Question 39

Paradox

Answer 39

A situation or a statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, does not.