Unit 1 Literary Terms

Question 1

“…like mourning weeds, dark festoons of seagrass slimly swept to and fro over the name with every hearselike roll of the hull.”

Answer 1

Simile

Question 2

Sensory details that make a work vivid—bring it alive—details that appeal to the senses.

Answer 2

Imagery

Question 3

“peered into the darkness”
“furtive silver glintings”
“Water flowed slowly”
Indolent gurgle”

Answer 3

Imagery

Question 4

Implied or stated comparison between two unlike things—one thing IS the other.

Answer 4

Metaphor

Question 5

—The comparison between the plan of life and a sheet:
“…a person could spread out the plan of life and tuck in the edges orderly.”
- Katherine Anne Porter, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”

Answer 5

Metaphor

Question 6

A comparison used throughout a work.

Answer 6

Extended metaphor

Question 7

—in some songs, the constant reference to Mary is really a reference to marijuana

Answer 7

Extended Metaphor

Question 8

Does not directly state that one thing is another.

Answer 8

Implied metaphor

Question 9

Bradstreet’s poem, “Upon the Burning of Our House” implies that heaven is a beautiful house above built by the mightiest architect—God—but is never directly stated.

Answer 9

Implied metaphor

Question 10

A comparison has become so commonplace that it seems literal rather than figurative.

Answer 10

Dead metaphor

Question 11

“foot of a hill”

“Head of the class”

Answer 11

Dead metaphor

Question 12

Use of two or more inconsistent metaphors in one expression (makes no sense if taken literally).

Answer 12

Mixed metaphor

Question 13

“The storm of protest was nipped in the bud.”

Answer 13

Mixed Metaphor

Question 14

A brief reference to person, event, or place (real or fictitious) or a work of art.

Answer 14

Allusion

Question 15

• –a cartoon using caricature of the Mona Lisa

- –a short story set in the present that makes reference to the Coliseum.

Answer 15

Allusion

Question 16

Employs wit to ridicule a subject

Answer 16

Satire

Question 17

—a cartoon in which people visiting an art museum are admiring what they think is a modern painting (square metal piece with horizontal slots) while two men stand to the side, one saying, “I’m not going to be the one to tell ‘em it’s a ventilator shaft cover.”

Answer 17

Satire

Question 18

Something that seems self contradictory but which has valid meaning.

Answer 18

Paradox

Question 19

“In death there is life.”

Answer 19

Paradox

Question 20

Exact repetition of sounds of two or more words.

Answer 20

Rhyme

Question 21

Two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

Answer 21

Couplet

Question 22

Whittier’s “Snowbound”
“The sun that brief December day
Rose cheerless over hills of gray.”

Answer 22

Couplet

Question 23

Author’s attitude toward his subject.

Answer 23

Tone

Question 24

matter-of-fact
Wondering
firm
sympathetic
ridicule
admiration
humor

Answer 24

Tone

Question 25

Distinctive handling of language

Answer 25

Style

Question 26

A kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things.

Answer 26

Conceit

Question 27

Edward Taylor’s “Huswifery”

—his comparison between cloth-making and God’s granting of graces.

Answer 27

Conceit

Question 28

A writer’s choice of words, particularly for clarity, effectiveness, and precision.

Answer 28

Diction

Question 29

A poetic foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Answer 29

Iamb

Question 30

“Within this tomb a patriot lies.” ~Bradstreet, epitaph for her father.

Answer 30

Iamb

Question 31

A humorous story that is outlandishly exaggerated.

Answer 31

Tall Tale

Question 32

“Pecos Bill”

“Paul Bunyan”

Answer 32

Tall Tale

Question 33

Pair of rhymed verse lines in iambic pantameter.

Answer 33

Heroic couplet

Question 34

Edward Taylor’s “Upon what Base?”
“Upon what base was fixed the lathe wherein
He turned this globe and rigolled it so trim?”

(Rigolled: shaped and grooved it so that its various parts fitted snugly together.)

Answer 34

Heroic Couplet

Question 35

Emotionally powerful symbols are used to suggest meaning and mood — also, a movement in France.

Answer 35

Symbolism

Question 36

A comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as” or “resembles.”

Answer 36

Similie