Literary Terms

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor

Question 2

Alliteration

Answer 2

A repetition of the initial sounds of several words in a group

Question 3

Allusion

Answer 3

A brief reference to a person/event/place, real or fictitious

Question 4

Antagonist

Answer 4

A person or force which opposes the protagonist

Question 5

Antithesis

Answer 5

The rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences

Question 6

Assonance

Answer 6

The repetition of vowel sounds

Question 7

Atmosphere

Answer 7

The mood that is established through the setting and foreshadowing

Question 8

Bias

Answer 8

A prejudice in a general or specific sense

Question 9

Blank verse

Answer 9

A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

Question 10

Characterization

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Climax

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Colloquial language

Answer 12

Informal words/expressions usually only used between friends

Question 13

Comparison

Answer 13

Assessing the similarities between two or more ideas/object/people

Question 14

Conflict

Answer 14

This occurs when the protagonist is opposed by some person or force

Question 15

Consonance

Answer 15

The repetition of consonant sounds with differing vowel sounds in a line or lines of poetry

Question 16

Contrast

Answer 16

Assessing the differences between two or more ideas/objects/people

Question 17

Dialogue

Answer 17

Conversation between characters

Question 18

Dramatic irony

Answer 18

A plot device in which the audience’s knowledge of the events/individuals surpasses that of the character’s

Question 19

Flashback

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Foil

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Foreshadowing

Answer 21

A method used to build suspense by providing hints of what is to come

Question 22

Hyperbole

Answer 22

A figure of speech in which an overstatement or exaggeration occurs

Question 23

Iambic pentameter

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Imagery

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Irony

Answer 25

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 26

Metaphor

Answer 26

A figure of speech wherein a comparison is used without the words like or as

Question 27

Mood

Answer 27

The atmosphere or feeling created by a literary work by a description of the objects or the style of the descriptions

Question 28

Narrative hook

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Narrative twist

Answer 29

Device used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation

Question 30

Oxymoron

Answer 30

A figure of speech that combines two normally contradictory terms

Question 31

Paradox

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Parallelism

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Parody

Answer 33

A literary work that imitates the style of another literary work

Question 34

Personification

Answer 34

A figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human characteristics

Question 35

Plot

Answer 35

The structure of a story

Question 36

Protagonist

Answer 36

The hero or central character of a literary work

Question 37

Pun

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Repetition

Answer 38

The return of a word, phrase, stanza form, or effect

Question 39

Resolution

Answer 39

The part of a story which occus after the climax and which establishes a new norm

Question 40

Rhyme

Answer 40

The repetition of sounds in two or more words/phrases in a poem

Question 41

Rhythm

Answer 41

The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern

Question 42

Satire

Answer 42

A piece of literature designed to ridicule the subject of the work

Question 43

Setting

Answer 43

The time and place in which a story unfolds

Question 44

Simile

Answer 44

A comparison using like or as

Question 45

Stereotype

Answer 45

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

Question 46

Suspense

Answer 46

A quality that makes the audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events

Question 47

Symbolism

Answer 47

A device in literature where an object represents an idea

Question 48

Theme

Answer 48

An ingredient of a literary work that gives the work unity, answers the question “What is the work about”

Question 49

Tone

Answer 49

Expresses the author’s attitude toward his or her subject