Test 1

Question 1

Alliteration

Answer 1

the repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable: “descending dew drops”

Question 2

Allusion

Answer 2

A brief reference to a person, place, thing, even, or idea in history or literature. Allusions imply reading and cultural experiences

Question 3

Cacophony

Answer 3

is language that is discordant and difficult to pronounce “never my numb plunker fumbles.”

Question 4

Caesura

Answer 4

A pause within a line of poetry that contributes to the rhythm of the line. A caesura can occur anywhere within a line and need not be indicated by punctuation. In scanning a line, we indicate caesuras by double vertical line (||).

Question 5

Colloquial

Answer 5

Refers to a type of informal diction that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang expressions.

Question 6

Connotation

Answer 6

Associations and implications that go beyond a word’s literalmeaning and deriving from how the word has been commonly used the associations people make with it. For example, the word eagle connotes ideas of liberty and freedom

Question 7

Consonance

Answer 7

A common type of near rhyme that consists of identical consonant sounds preceded by different vowel sounds: home, same; worth, breath.

Question 8

Convention

Answer 8

characteristic of a literary genre (often unrealistic) that is understood and accepted by readers because it has come, through usage and time, to be recognized as a familiar technique. For use of meter and rhyme are poetic conventions.

Question 9

Denotation

Answer 9

The dictionary meaning of a word

Question 10

Dialect

Answer 10

type of informal diction. Dialects are spoken by definable groups ofpeople from particular geographic region, economic group, or social class

Question 11

Cliche

Answer 11

phrase that has been used so often that it appears trite

Question 12

Diction

Answer 12

the choice of words, phrases, sentence structures, and figurative language, which combine to create meaning.

Question 13

Formal diction

Answer 13

consists of a dignified, impersonal, and elevated use of language; it follows the rules of syntax exactly and is often characterized by complex words and lofty tone.

Question 14

Middle diction

Answer 14

maintains correct language usage but is less elevated than formal diction; it reflects the way most educated people speak.

Question 15

Informal diction

Answer 15

represents the plain language of everyday use and often includes idiomatic expressions, slang, contractions, and many simple, common words.

Question 16

Poetic diction

Answer 16

refers to the way poets sometimes use an elevated diction that deviates significantly from the common speech and writing of their time, choosing words for their supposedly inherent poetic qualities.

Question 17

Didactic poetry

Answer 17

Poetry designed to teach an ethical, moral, or religious lesson.

Question 18

Figures of speech

Answer 18

Ways of using language that deviate from the literal, denotative meanings of words in order to suggest additional meanings or effects.

Question 19

Form

Answer 19

The overall structure or shape of work, which frequently follows an established design. Forms may refer to a literary type , or to patterns of meter, lines, andrhymes.

Question 20

Free verse

Answer 20

free verse refers to poems characterized by the nonconformity to established patterns of meter, rhyme, and stanza

Question 21

Genre

Answer 21

A French word meaning kind or type. The major genres in literature are poetry, fiction, drama, and essays. Genre can also refer to more specific types of literature.

Question 22

Hyperbole

Answer 22

boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true, as in the statement

Question 23

Image

Answer 23

word, phrase, or figure of speech (especially a simile or metaphor) that addresses the senses, suggesting mental pictures of sights, sounds, smells,tastes, feelings or actions.

Question 24

Irony

Answer 24

literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveala reality different from what appears to be true.

Question 25

Verbal irony

Answer 25

figure of speech that occurs when a person says one thing but means the opposite

Question 26

Sarcasm

Answer 26

strong form of verbal irony that is calculated to hurt someone through, for example, false praise

Question 27

Dramatic irony

Answer 27

creates a discrepancy between what a character believes or saysand what the reader or audience member knows to be true

Question 28

Situational irony

Answer 28

exists when there is an incongruity between what is expected to happen and what actually happens owing to forces beyond human comprehensionor control

Question 29

Metaphor

Answer 29

metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without using the words like or as

Question 30

Implied metaphor

Answer 30

more subtle comparison; the terms being compared are not so specifically explained

Question 31

Extended metaphor

Answer 31

sustained comparison in which part or all of a poem consists of a series of related metaphors

Question 32

Direct metaphor

Answer 32

metaphor that directly compares two things with a verb such as “is”

Question 33

Synecdoche

Answer 33

metaphor in which a part of something is used to signifythe whole

Question 34

Metonymy

Answer 34

type of metaphor in which something closely associated with a subject is substituted for it

Question 35

Onomatopoeia

Answer 35

term referring to the use of a word that resembles the sound it denotes

Question 36

Oxymoron

Answer 36

A condensed form of paradox in which two contradictory words are used together

Question 37

Paradox

Answer 37

statement that initially appears to be contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns out to make sense

Question 38

Paraphrase

Answer 38

prose restatement of the central ideas of a work, in your own language

Question 39

Parody

Answer 39

humorous imitation of another, usually serious, work. It can take any fixed or open form, because parodists imitate the tone, language, and shape of the original in order to deflate the subject matter, making the original work seem absurd.

Question 40

Persona

Answer 40

speaker created by a writer to tell a story or to speak in a poem.

Question 41

Personification

Answer 41

form of metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things

Question 42

Pun

Answer 42

play on words that relies on a word’s having more than one meaning or sounding like another word

Question 43

Rhyme scheme

Answer 43

the pattern of similar-sounding words used at the end of the lines ofa verse

Question 44

Refrain

Answer 44

lines repeated at intervals in a poem

Question 45

Satire

Answer 45

literary art of ridiculing a folly or vice in order to expose or correct it.

Question 46

Setting

Answer 46

physical and social context in which the action occurs

Question 47

Simile

Answer 47

common figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two things by using words such as like, as, than, appears, and seems

Question 48

Speaker

Answer 48

voiced used by the author in the poem; like the narrator in a work of fiction, the speaker is often a created identity rather than the author`s actual self. The two should not automatically be equated.

Question 49

Stanza

Answer 49

group of lines in a poem whose content and form distinguish them as a single unit

Question 50

Style

Answer 50

distinctive and unique manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular effects

Question 51

Symbol

Answer 51

person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than its literal significance

Question 52

Syntax

Answer 52

ordering of words into meaningful verbal patterns such as phrases clauses, and sentences.

Question 53

Theme

Answer 53

central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work. A theme provides a unifying point around which the plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other element of a work are organized

Question 54

Thesis

Answer 54

central idea of an essay. The thesis is a complete sentence (although sometimes it may require more than one sentence) that establishes the topic of the essay in clear, unambiguous language.

Question 55

Tone

Answer 55

author’s implicit attitude toward the reader or the people, places and events in a work as revealed by the elements of the author’s style.