Literary Terms

Question 0

Analogy

Answer 0

helps to establish a relationship based on similarities between two concepts or ideas

Question 1

Allusion

Answer 1

A reference to some event, person, place, or artistic work outside the work itself

Question 2

Anticlimax

Answer 2

A situation of lesser importance where something greater is expected

Question 3

Antithesis

Answer 3

Using opposite phrases or contrary ideas in a balanced sentence

Question 4

Atmosphere

Answer 4

The prevailing mood of a literary work established by setting or landscape, lending an emotional aura

Question 5

Character

Answer 5

A person portrayed in a work of literature; dynamic/complex (a literary or dramatic character who undergoes an important inner change, as a change in personality or attitude) versus flat (an easily recognized character type in fiction who may not be fully delineated but is useful in carrying out some narrative purpose of the author)

Question 6

Characterization

Answer 6

The character can be described directly by the author or indirectly through the actions, thoughts, and speech of the character. Direct (told something about the character) and indirect (show a character practicing a trait); refers the step by step process where in an author introduces and then describes character

Question 7

Conflict

Answer 7

Struggle between two or more forces providing interest, internal and external

Question 8

Dialogue

Answer 8

Conversation between two or more characters, provides relief from exposition and description

Question 9

Epic

Answer 9

Long narrative poem on a great and serious subject, told in elevated style, and (centered on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depend the fate) recounting a hero’s journey

Question 10

Epiphany

Answer 10

Realization by a character about the essential nature of being

Question 11

Exposition

Answer 11

Writing or speech primarily intended to convey information or explain

Question 12

Foil

Answer 12

another character in a story who contrasts with the main character, usually to highlight one of their attributes

Question 13

Hyperbole

Answer 13

Figure of speech in which ones says more than one means

Question 14

Interior monologue

Answer 14

A recording of internal emotional experiences on a nonverbal

Question 15

Juxtaposition

Answer 15

Placing two things side by side to achieve an effect; sometimes show irony

Question 16

Mock epic

Answer 16

A satiric mode that applies the lofty style of the epic to a trivial subject

Question 17

Mood

Answer 17

The atmosphere suggested by the setting and diction of the piece creates an emotional response from the reader

Question 18

Persona

Answer 18

The second self created by the author, almost like the speaker; an external representation of oneself which might or might not accurately reflect one’s inner self

Question 19

Sentimentalism

Answer 19

Overindulgence and emotion

Question 20

Setting

Answer 20

The background of action, includes location, time of day, season (where and when a story takes place)

Question 21

Stereotype

Answer 21

A character who lacks individualized traits

Question 22

Stream of consciousness

Answer 22

Technique that presents the continues flow of thoughts, ideas, or feeling as; writing in which a character’s perceptions thoughts, and memories are presented in an apparently random form with no logical sequence or syntax

Question 23

Symbol

Answer 23

An image with another level of meaning

Question 24

Understatement

Answer 24

A figure of speech in which the literal sense is short of the subject or circumstance