M-R

Question 1

Metaphor

Answer 1

A figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things or the substitution of one for the other, suggesting some similarity.

Question 2

Meter

Answer 2

regularized rhythm; an arrangement of language in which the accents occur at apparently equal intervals in time.

Question 3

metonymy

Answer 3

a figure of speech in which the name of one object is substituted for that of another closely associated with it. For example, a news release that claims “the White House declared” rather than “the President declared”

Question 4

monologue

Answer 4

a speech made by a single person

Question 5

mood

Answer 5

Feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader

Question 6

myth

Answer 6

any story that attempts to explain how the world was created or why the world is the way that it is

Question 7

narrative poem

Answer 7

a poem that tells a story

Question 8

narrator

Answer 8

the speaker or the “voice” of an oral or written work. This is one of three types of characters in a given work, (1) participant (protagonist or participant in any action that may take place in the story), (2) observer (someone who is indirectly involved in the action of a story), or (3) non participant (one who is not at all involved in any action of the story). This is the direct window into a piece of work.

Question 9

novella

Answer 9

Written, fictional, prose narrative- longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel

Question 10

objective point of view

Answer 10

the narrator does not enter the mind of any character but describes events from the outside

Question 11

octave

Answer 11

8 line stanza & first 8 of a sonnet (usually Italian)

Question 12

ode

Answer 12

a lyric poem of moderate length, with a serious subject, an elevated style, and an elaborate stanza pattern. It often praises people, the arts of music and poetry, natural scenes, or abstract concepts.

Question 13

Omniscient point of view

Answer 13

the narrator is capable of knowing, telling, and seeing all. The author tells the story, using the third person, knowing all and free to tell us anything, including what the characters are thinking or feeling and why they act as they do.

Question 14

onomatopoeia

Answer 14

A word that imitates the sound it represents.

Question 15

oxymoron

Answer 15

a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction

Question 16

parable

Answer 16

A simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson

Question 17

paradox

Answer 17

A statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity. (Think of the beginning of Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….”)

Question 18

parallelism

Answer 18

the grammatical or rhetorical framing of words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs to give structural similarity.

Question 19

paraody

Answer 19

A work that closely imitates the style or content of another with the specific aim of comic effect and/or ridicule.

Question 20

pentameter

Answer 20

a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet

Question 21

perfect rhyme

Answer 21

(exact rhyme) involves sounds that are exactly the same
Example: groaned/moaned

Question 22

periodic sentence

Answer 22

sentence whose main clause is withheld until the end

Question 23

personification

Answer 23

A figure of speech in which the author presents or describes concepts, animals, or inanimate objects by endowing them with human attributes or emotions.

Question 24

plot manipulation

Answer 24

an author who includes a turn in the plot that is unjustified by the situation or the characters

Question 25

plot device

Answer 25

an object, character, or event whose only reason for existing is to advance the story

Question 26

point of view

Answer 26

the perspective from which a story is told

Question 27

prologue

Answer 27

(n) introductory part to a book, play, etc.

Question 28

protagonist

Answer 28

the main character

Question 29

proverb

Answer 29

A short pithy statement of general truth that condenses common experience into memorable form.

Question 30

pun

Answer 30

A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.

Question 31

Quatrain

Answer 31

4 line stanza or a 4 line division of a sonnet marked off by rhyme scheme

Question 32

refrain

Answer 32

a regularly repeated line or group of lines in a poem or song

Question 33

repetition

Answer 33

Repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis

Question 34

rhetoric

Answer 34

The art of using language effectively and persuasively

Question 35

round character

Answer 35

A character who demonstrates some complexity and who develops or changes in the course of a work

Question 36

rhyme

Answer 36

The repetition of an identical or similarly accented sound or sounds in a work.

Question 37

rhyme scheme

Answer 37

Any fixed pattern of rhymes characterizing a whole poem or its stanzas.

Question 38

masculine rhyme

Answer 38

A rhyme in which the stress is on the final syllable of the word (rhyme, sublime)

Question 39

motif

Answer 39

a phrase, idea, or event that through repetition serves to unify or convey a theme in a work of literature.

Question 40

persona

Answer 40

the person who is understood to be speaking (or thinking or writing) a particular work. It is the role or facade that a character assumes or depicts to a reader