Literary Terms

Question 1

alliteration

Answer 1

the repetition of initial sounds in successive or neighboring words

Question 2

assonance

Answer 2

The repetition of vowel sounds.

Question 3

consonance

Answer 3

the repetition of consonant sounds within or at the end of a word

Question 4

cacophony

Answer 4

harsh, non-melodic, unpleasant sounding arrangement of words

Question 5

euphony

Answer 5

any agreeable (pleasing and harmonious) sounds

Question 6

onomatopoeia

Answer 6

words that sound like what they mean

Question 7

sibilance

Answer 7

hissing sounds represented by s, z, sh

Question 8

allegory

Answer 8

a literary work in which the characters represent abstract ideas; a symbolic representation

Question 9

apostrophe

Answer 9

someone absent, dead, or imaginary, or an abstraction, is being addressed as if it could reply

Question 10

didactic poetry

Answer 10

poetry with the primary purpose of teaching or preaching

Question 11

dramatic monologue

Answer 11

character “speaks” through the poem; a character study

Question 12

elegy

Answer 12

poem which expresses sorow over a death of someone for whom the poet cared, or on another solemn theme

Question 13

sonnet

Answer 13

14 line poem, fixed rhyme scheme, fixed meter (usually 10 syllables per line)

Question 14

connotation

Answer 14

what a word suggests beyond its surface definition

Question 15

denotation

Answer 15

basic definition or dictionary meaning of a word

Question 16

diction

Answer 16

choice of words for effect

Question 17

syntax

Answer 17

word order or grammatical appropriateness

Question 18

blank verse

Answer 18

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Question 19

caesura

Answer 19

a natural pause in the middle of a line, sometimes coinciding with punctuation

Question 20

couplet

Answer 20

two successive lines which rhyme, usually at the end of a work

Question 21

enjambment

Answer 21

describes a line of poetry in which the sense and grammatical construction continues on to the next line

Question 22

feminine rhyme

Answer 22

latter two syllables of first word rhyme with latter two syllables of second word (ceiling appealing)

Question 23

free verse

Answer 23

no fixed meter or rhyme

Question 24

iambic pentameter

Answer 24

70% of verse is written this way; ten syllables per line, following an order of unaccented-accented syllables

Question 25

internal rhyme

Answer 25

repetition of sounds within a line (but not at the end of the line)

Question 26

masculine rhyme

Answer 26

final syllable of first word rhymes with final syllable of second word (scald recalled)

Question 27

meter

Answer 27

regularized rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables; accents occur at approx. equal intervals of time

Question 28

refrain

Answer 28

repeated word, phrase, line, or group of lines in a pattern

Question 29

rhyme

Answer 29

repetition of end sounds

Question 30

rhythm

Answer 30

the pattern or beat of a poem.

Question 31

stanza

Answer 31

group of lines

Question 32

structure

Answer 32

internal organization of a poem’s content

Question 33

allusion

Answer 33

a reference to something in literature or history

Question 34

anaphora

Answer 34

repetition of the same word or words at the start of two or more lines

Question 35

archetype

Answer 35

a character or personality type found in every society

Question 36

conceit

Answer 36

an extended witty, paradoxical, or startling metaphor

Question 37

hyperbole

Answer 37

exaggeration, overstatement

Question 38

imagery

Answer 38

representation through language of a sensory experience

Question 39

irony

Answer 39

incongruity or discrepancy between the implied and expected; verbal, dramatic, situational

Question 40

metaphor

Answer 40

implied or direct comparison

Question 41

metonymy

Answer 41

symbolism; one thing is used as a substitute for another with which it is closely identified (the White House)

Question 42

mood

Answer 42

the atmosphere suggested by the structure and style of the poem

Question 43

oxymoron

Answer 43

a figure of speech consisting of two apparently contradictory terms

Question 44

pace

Answer 44

tempo or rate implied by the structure and style of the poem

Question 45

paradox

Answer 45

statement or situation containing seemingly contradictory elements

Question 46

parallelism

Answer 46

presents coordinating ideas in a coordinating manner

Question 47

persona

Answer 47

assumed speaker of the poem; typically used synonymously with ‘speaker’

Question 48

personification

Answer 48

giving a non-human the characteristics of a human

Question 49

simile

Answer 49

comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’

Question 50

style

Answer 50

a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period

Question 51

symbolism

Answer 51

something (object, person, situation, etc.) means more than what it is

Question 52

synecdoche

Answer 52

symbolism; the part signifies the whole, or the whole the part (all hands on board)

Question 53

theme

Answer 53

the general idea or insight about life that a work of literature reveals

Question 54

tone

Answer 54

writer’s attitude toward the audience or subject, implied or related directly

Question 55

understatement

Answer 55

saying less than one means, for effect