Literary Terms (Part 4)

Question 1

A play on words, often achieved through the use of words with similar sounds but different meanings (i.e., In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio says, “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.” Grave carries the double meaning of serious/sad and dead.)

Answer 1

pun

Question 2

The part of the story’s plot line in which the problem of the story is resolved or worked out. This occurs after the falling action and is typically where the story ends.

Answer 2

resolution

Question 3

the art of e ffective or persuasive speaking or writing

Answer 3

rhetoric

Question 4

a set pattern of rhyming words found at the ends of lines of poetry. The rhyme scheme is indicated by assigning capital letters to pinpoint the pattern (i.e., ABAB CDCD EFEF GG)

Answer 4

rhyme scheme

Question 5

A character who, like a real person, possesses many di fferent, even contradictory, character traits

Answer 5

round character

Question 6

ridicule intended to expose truth

Answer 6

satire

Question 7

time and place in which the plot takes place

Answer 7

setting

Question 8

the comparison of two or more related objects or events using the words like or as in the phrasing

Answer 8

simile

Question 9

when a character is alone (solo) on stage, speaking aloud her thoughts or emotions. Soliloquies often reveal motivation and/or foreshadowing

Answer 9

soliloquy

Question 10

a fourteen-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme

Answer 10

sonnet

Question 11

the natural divisions of a poem, similar to a paragraph in a work of prose

Answer 11

stanza

Question 12

a character who does not change through the course of a story

Answer 12

static character

Question 13

a technique in which prose follows the logic and flow of a character’s (or multiple characters’) thought processes—their associations, tangents, and seemingly strange transitions—rather than a more ordered narrative

Answer 13

stream of consciousness

Question 14

all the distinctive ways an author uses language to create a literary work; style can involve diction, imagery, tone, syntax, and figurative language

Answer 14

style

Question 15

a building or rising sense of concern or interest in what will happen in a plot

Answer 15

suspense

Question 16

an object that is used to represent something else

Answer 16

symbol

Question 17

the use of objects, animals (especially birds), colors, etc. that have a greater or universal meaning beyond their simple existence. The symbols can off er information and even create foreshadowing if the reader understands or notes their meaning

Answer 17

symbolism

Question 18

sentence structure

Answer 18

syntax

Question 19

The message, advice, or warning about life and/or relationships the author shares through the characters’ experiences. This message is often inferred; it is more than a simplistic moral to the story.

Answer 19

theme

Question 20

the primary position taken by a writer or speaker

Answer 20

thesis

Question 21

the narrator of the story exists outside of the story’s events and uses the pronouns “he,” “she,” “they,” etc.

Answer 21

third-person point of view

Question 22

the attitude of a writer, usually implied, toward the subject or audience

Answer 22

tone

Question 23

a work in which the protagonist, a person of high degree, is engaged in a significant struggle, which ends in ruin or destruction

Answer 23

tragedy

Question 24

a habit, personality trait, or practice that repeatedly causes a character problems in his/her life and ultimately causes his or her downfall or destruction

Answer 24

tragic fall

Question 25

the point in a work in which a very significant change occurs

Answer 25

turning point