Poetic Devices & Literary Terms/Techniques

Question 1

Allegory

Answer 1

• A narrative that can be interpreted to reveal two distinct but correlated levels of meaning
• Ex. Tortoise and the Hair
• Can sometimes be moral or political

Question 2

Alliteration

Answer 2

• Repetition of sounds, usually first letters of consonants

Question 3

Allusion

Answer 3

• An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference
• Four different kinds: religious, literary, mythological, and historical
• Ex. I’m the Juliet to your Romeo: Alludes Shakespeare

Question 4

Anaphora

Answer 4

• The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of consecutive lines, phrases, or sentences
• Ex. Martin Luther King Speech. 8 of his lines start with “I Have a Dream”

Question 5

Analogy

Answer 5

• A literary device that creates connections between parallel concepts to create an understanding of a new concept
• Ex. Life is like a box of chocolates: Life is full of suprises and you never know what you’re going to get, similar to the different flavors in a box of chocolate

Question 6

Assonance

Answer 6

• The repetition of vowel sounds in consecutive words near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible

Question 7

Caesura

Answer 7

• A pause or break within a line of verse, often marked by punctuation, that creates a natural break in the flow of the line

Question 8

Conceit

Answer 8

• Extended Metaphor
• The use of a single metaphor or analogy at length in a word of literature

Question 9

Consonance

Answer 9

• The repetition of the same consonant sounds in a line of text

Question 10

Couplet

Answer 10

• Two lines of verse, usually in the same meter and joined by rhyme, that form a unit

Question 11

Enjambment

Answer 11

• The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line or stanza

Question 12

Epigraph

Answer 12

• brief quotation at the beginning of a poem that sets a specific tone, suggests a theme, or creates a larger context; often taken from other works of literature

Question 13

Frame story/Narrative frame

Answer 13

• A story in which another story is enclosed or embedded as a “story within a story”
• Ex. The Princess Bride

Question 14

Heroic Couplet

Answer 14

• A traditional form for English poetry, commonly used in epic and narrative poetry, that consists of a rhyming pair of lines in iambic pentameter

Question 15

Hyperbole

Answer 15

• Exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally
• Ex. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse

Question 16

Imagery

Answer 16

• Visually descriptive or figurative language and/or symbolism

Question 17

Irony

Answer 17

• A figure of speech in which words are used in such a way that their intended meaning is different from their actual meaning
• There are three types of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic

Question 18

Juxtaposition

Answer 18

• the close placement of contrasting ideas, images, or entities with the intent of highlighting the contrast between them
• Ex. War and Peace

Question 19

Metaphor

Answer 19

• A comparison between two dissimilar things

Question 20

Mock-epic/mock-heroic

Answer 20

• A form to satire that adapts the elevated heroic style of the classical epic poem to a trivial subject

Question 21

Mood

Answer 21

• A reader’s emotions toward a specific subject or idea when reading a specific piece for literature

Question 22

Motif

Answer 22

• A distinctive feature or dominant idea in an artistic or literary composition that appears consistently in the piece
• Ex. yellow brick road

Question 23

Octave

Answer 23

• A stanza composed of eight lines

Question 24

Oxymoron

Answer 24

• A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction
• Awfully good

Question 25

Paradox

Answer 25

- A statement or situation that appears to contradict itself, upon closer examination, reveals a deeper truth, meaning, or insight - Ex. Youth is wasted on the young, Less is more, You have to spend money to make money

Question 26

Personification

Answer 26

- The attribution of a human characteristics to something nonhuman or abstract

Question 27

Quatrain

Answer 27

- A stanza of four lines or verses

Question 28

Refrain

Answer 28

- A line, phrase, or single word that is repeated periodically within the poem to build drama, emphasis or rhythm

Question 29

Repetition

Answer 29

- The use of the same words, phrases, lines or stanzas multiple times

Question 30

Satire

Answer 30

- A literary technique that uses humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to criticize or mock individuals, societal norms, institutions, or political issues, with the purpose of proving thought and encouraging change by highlighting flaws or absurdities in the subject matter

Question 31

Septet

Answer 31

- A stanza of seven lines of verse that can be rhymed or unrhymed

Question 32

Sestet

Answer 32

- A stanza composed of six lines

Question 33

Simile

Answer 33

- A comparison of two unlike things using "like" or "as"

Question 34

Stream of Consciousness

Answer 34

- A narrative technique that aims to capture the continuous flow of a character's' thoughts, feelings, and perceptions as they occur

Question 35

Tercet

Answer 35

A stanza of three lines or verse

Question 36

Volta

Answer 36

- The rhetorical shift or "turn" of thought that occurs in a poem, often signaling a change in direction or presentive - Ex. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

Question 37

Wit

Answer 37

- The use of clever statements, sarcasm, irony, and other human-based statements, often resulting in puns, paradoxes, and humorous comparisons, to pass judgement on a situation and add humor to a piece of writing