Literary Terms & Devices

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

story or poem in which characters, settings, and events stand for other people or events or for abstract ideas or qualities

Question 2

Alliteration

Answer 2

repetition of the same initial consonant sound of words that are close in proximity

Question 3

Allusion

Answer 3

reference to someone/something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or another branch of culture; an indirect reference to something, usually from literature

Question 4

Analogy

Answer 4

comparison made between two things to show how they are alike

Question 5

Ambiguity

Answer 5

deliberately suggesting two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work

Question 6

Anaphora

Answer 6

a deliberate repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row to help make the writer’s point more coherent

Question 7

Anastrophe

Answer 7

inversion of the usual, normal or logical order of the parts of a sentence in order to create rhythm, emphasis or euphony

Question 8

Anecdote

Answer 8

brief story, told to illustrate a point or serve as an example of something, often shows character of an individual

Question 9

Antagonist

Answer 9

opponent who struggles against or blocks the protagonist in a story; not always a human

Question 10

Antimetabole

Answer 10

a figure of speech in which words or clauses from the first half of a sentence are repeated in the second half of the sentence in reverse order, (“fair is foul and foul is fair”)

Question 11

Antithesis

Answer 11

figure of speech in which a thought is balanced with a contrasting thought in parallel arrangement (e.g it was the best of times, it was the worst of times; Keep your mouth closed and your eyes open; Speech is silver, but silence is gold. Keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer)

Question 12

Antihero

Answer 12

Central character who lacks all the qualities traditionally associated with heroes. may lack courage, grace, intelligence, or morality (Jay Gatsby, Deadpool)

Question 13

Anthropomorphism

Answer 13

A type of personification where human characteristics are attributed to an animal; fables almost always use this literary technique (the tortoise and the hare, Mickey & Minnie Mouse)

Question 14

Aphorism

Answer 14

A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life or of a principle or general truth (e.g “the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step -Lao Tau; “He who hesitates is lost.” “Easy come, easy go.” “The early bird gets the worm.” “ ‘Tis better to have loved and lost/ than never to have loved at all.”) also known as maxim or epigram

Question 15

Apostrophe

Answer 15

calling out to an imaginary, dead, or absent person, or to a place or thing, or a personified abstract idea as if they/it can hear you or answer you; if the character is asking a deity or supernatural power for help or inspiration, it is called invocation (e.g. “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Juliet believes she is alone and addresses Romeo, thinking that he is absent.)

Question 16

Assonance

Answer 16

the repetition of similar vowel sounds of words that are close proximity; usually only recognized in verse (e.g. “His tender heir might bear his memory”, No pain, no gain - Repetition of the /ai/ vowel sound)

Question 17

Asyndeton

Answer 17

commas used without conjunction to separate a series of words, thus emphasizing the parts equally (e.g. “are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils/ Shrunk to this little measure?” “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Question 18

Cacophony

Answer 18

the usage of several unharmonious or dissonant sounds in a line or passage; include the explosive consonants k, t, g, d, p and b, and the hissing sounds ch, sh and s; this is the opposite of euphony, (e.g. “to be, or not to be: that is the question/ Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,/ And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep,” “Klarissa Klein drives an old, grumbling Cadillac which has a crumpled bumper and screaming, honking horn.”

Question 19

Caesura

Answer 19

a pause for effect in the middle of a line of poetry, usually marked with a period, dash or semi-colon, (e.g. “And I - I took the road less travelled by,” “To be, or not to be — that is the question”