Literary Terms List 2

Question 1

Satire

Answer 1

Any form of literature that blends ironic humor and with with criticism directed at a particular folly, vice or stupidity. This kind of writing seeks to correct, improve, or reform through ridicule

Question 2

Parable

Answer 2

A usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle

Question 3

Inversion

Answer 3

Reversal of normal sentence order for poetic effect

Question 4

Refrain

Answer 4

Word or group of words that are repeated in a poem, usually a lyrical poem

Question 5

Exact Rhyme

Answer 5

The identical sounds which occur between two or more words

Question 6

Theme

Answer 6

An abstract idea that emerges from a literary work’s treatment of its subject-matter, or a topic recurring in a number of literary works (Common ex. include love, war, revenge, betrayal, fate, etc.). However, the strongest are dynamic and involve a kind of action (e.g. love kills, war is dehumanizing, revenge leads to tragedy, etc.)

Question 7

Slant Rhyme

Answer 7

Rhyme based on spelling rather than sounds (Near rhyme, approximate rhyme, e.g. love and move)

Question 8

Onomatopoeia

Answer 8

Words that seem to imitate the sound to which they refer

Question 9

Metaphysical

Answer 9

(The prefix with this word [Greek] means about or beyond what follows; loosely translated the prefix means thinking about or beyond the main part of the world) Thinking beyond the physical world to gain a greater and higher understanding of the world ad human existence–In literature, these authors tended to write particularly difficult and complicated subject matter

Question 10

Rhyme

Answer 10

The similarity of sound between two words

Question 11

Rhyme Sceme

Answer 11

A structure or system where pattern is established to identify how the rhymes will be used in a poem (Most commonly used with sonnets; most common kinds of these patterns are called Shakespearean in English)

Question 12

Internal Rhyme

Answer 12

When the identical or similar sound occurs within the same line

Question 13

Verbal Irony

Answer 13

A contrast between what is said and what is intended

Question 14

Oxymoron

Answer 14

Placing two relatively contrasting words right next to each other (e.g. bittersweet) (sometimes considered a figure of speech)

Question 15

Plain Style

Answer 15

Direct or straight forward text using few or no examples of figures of speech

Question 16

Parallelism

Answer 16

Syntactical element or an element of sentence structure where similar ideas are used in a similar grammatical structure (e.g. a series such as “he enjoyed walking, running, and swimming” where the -ing is a parallelism)

Question 17

Situational Irony

Answer 17

The contrast between what is intended or expected and what actually occurs

Question 18

Pseudonym

Answer 18

Pen name, nom de plume, alias; a fictitious name assumed by a writer who wished to remain anonymous or chooses not to use his/her real name professionally

Question 19

Vernacular

Answer 19

The spoken language; informal speech

Question 20

Irony

Answer 20

In its broadest sense, the incongruity, or difference, between reality (what is) and appearance (what seems to be)

Question 21

Setting

Answer 21

The time and place of a story including historic features

Question 22

Tragedy

Answer 22

Serious story or play; plays usually have some structured features within the plot and character development all leading to a violent end where one or several characters die

Question 23

Tone

Answer 23

The feeling or emotion that the author is trying to pass on to the reader

Question 24

Pastoral

Answer 24

A poem or story dealing with shepherds or rural life (country setting) making this location idealistc

Question 25

Parodx

Answer 25

When two contradictory and almost completely opposite situations or things are placed together or near each other as a kind of truth that the audience has to seek to understand fully

Question 26

Dramatic Irony

Answer 26

When the audience knows that the character or characters fail to understand, allowing the audience to foresee a result that the character(s) would not

Question 27

Hypocrisy

Answer 27

A pretending to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially with respect to false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion

Question 28

End Rhyme

Answer 28

When the same sound ends successive lines of poetry