Literature Technical Terms

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

Successive words start with the same sound

Question 2

Anaphora

Answer 2

Pointed repetition of a specific word, often used in the same point within successive clauses

Question 3

Apostrophe

Answer 3

A sudden address to an absent person/place/concept

Question 4

Assonance

Answer 4

The repeated use of a certain vowel sound

Question 5

Asyndeton

Answer 5

The absence of conjunctions

Question 6

Caesura

Answer 6

A break between words in the middle of a foot. Every line of poetry has a main caesura which creates a pause, allowing a narrator to draw a breath if they so choose

Question 7

Chiasmus

Answer 7

When one idea is an inversion of the previous idea. This could also apply to vocabulary or grammar

Question 8

Dactyl

Answer 8

A foot containing one long syllable followed by two short syllables

Question 9

Ekphrasis

Answer 9

A section of a poem which breaks off the narrative to set the scene for the next episode

Question 10

Elision

Answer 10

When one word ends in a vowel or the letter “m” and the next word starts with “h” or a vowel, they slur together

Question 11

Ellipsis

Answer 11

The omission of a word which is considered unnecessary (usually because of context)

Question 12

Enjambment

Answer 12

When one line runs into the next by a single word, isolating and therefore emphasising that particular word

Question 13

Hendiadys

Answer 13

When a single idea is expressed by two coequal parts, often using two nouns where we might expect an adjective and a noun

Question 14

Hyperbole

Answer 14

Rhetorical exaggeration

Question 15

Hyperbaton

Answer 15

Drawing attention to a word by moving it from its expected position

Question 16

Litotes

Answer 16

Understatement or the “diplomatic” underplaying of meaning; when less is said than is meant

Question 17

Onomatopoeia

Answer 17

Words whose sound reflects their meaning

Question 18

Pleonasm

Answer 18

The use of more than one word or phrase with the same meaning

Question 19

Polyptoton

Answer 19

The successive use of two alternative forms of the same word

Question 20

Polysyndeton

Answer 20

The use of numerous conjunctions within one sentence

Question 21

Sibilance

Answer 21

When a group of words combine to suggest a hissing sound (created by sibilants - mainly “s”)

Question 22

Spondee

Answer 22

A foot containing two long syllables

Question 23

Synecdoche

Answer 23

Use of a “part” to represent the “whole”

Question 24

Transferred epithet

Answer 24

Describing a noun with an adjective which would normally be applied to a different noun, and this has a dramatic impact on our impression of the noun

Question 25

Tricolon

Answer 25

When an idea is built on in two successive clauses or sentences. If these increase in length, it is a “tricolon crescendo”, if they decrease it is a “tricolon diminuendo”

Question 26

Zeugma

Answer 26

Many words have more than one sense or meaning. If such a word appears only once in a sentence, but more than one of its meanings is implied, this is “zeugma”