General Literary Terms

Question 0

Visual imagery

Answer 0

Appealing to the site

Question 1

Imagery

Answer 1

Concrete details assigned to appeal to the readers five senses. By itself, the term imagery implies a reference to sight; only referred to visual imagery if you’re distinguishing it from the other types.

Question 2

Olfactory imagery

Answer 2

Appealing to the sense of smell

Question 3

Tactile imagery

Answer 3

Appealing to the sense of touch

Question 4

Auditory imagery

Answer 4

Appealing to the sense of hearing

Question 5

Gustatory imagery

Answer 5

Appealing to the sense of taste

Question 6

Simile

Answer 6

A comparison of two unlike things using like or as, such as “my love is like a red, red rose.”

Question 7

Synesthesia

Answer 7

A blending or intermingling of different senses and description. “Light laughs in the breeze in her castle of sunshine,”

Question 8

Metaphor

Answer 8

A comparison of two things not using like or as

Question 9

Verbal irony

Answer 9

A form in wordplay that is used to signify it’s opposite for example, “war is kind”

Question 10

Dramatic irony

Answer 10

Dramatic irony occurs when a character is left ignorant of facts revealed to the audience

Question 11

Situational irony

Answer 11

When the outcome is different than what the author has been leading you towards

Question 12

Symbolism

Answer 12

A device in literature when an object represents an idea

Question 13

Alliteration

Answer 13

A literary device that repeats a speech sound in a sequence of words that is closer to each other. Alliteration typically uses consonants at the beginning of the word to give stress to its syllable. For example “I pondered weak and weary to the rare and radiant maiden”

Question 14

Assonance

Answer 14

When a writer repeats the vowel sounds in the stressed syllables of words. For example, in the line, “my rabbit walked my ear,” the words rabbit and why aren’t example of assonance because they both contain a short “a” sound on the stressed syllable

Question 15

Consonance

Answer 15

A literary device in which the same consonant sound is repeated two or more times in short succession

Question 16

Onomatopoeia

Answer 16

Refers to words that sound exactly or almost like the thing that they represent. Many words that we use for animal or machine noises on onomatopoeia words, such as “moo” for the sound of a cow

Question 17

End stop

Answer 17

When a sentence of a poem is ended with punctuation or thought at the end of the line

Question 18

Enjambment

Answer 18

When a sentence from a poem spans across several ends of lines and most likely stops in the middle

Question 19

Caesura

Answer 19

A Stop or pause in a metrical line, often marked by punctuation or By a grammatical boundary such as a phrase or clause. “Dead! One of them shot by the sea in the East

Question 20

Foreshadowing

Answer 20

Hints of events to come

Question 21

Allusion

Answer 21

A reference to a person, place, or thing from literature, history, art, religion, politics, or popular culture. The author expects the reader to be familiar with this reference. For example, honest Abe

Question 22

Synecdoche

Answer 22

I figure of speech which expresses either more, or less, then it literally denotes. For example: “the world treated him badly.” The whole world did not treat him badly, only a part. The whole is used as a part.

Question 23

Atmosphere

Answer 23

The mood established by the setting and action

Question 24

Tone

Answer 24

The authors attitude towards a subject

Question 25

Mood

Answer 25

I feeling, emotional state, or disposition of mind

Question 26

Parallelism

Answer 26

Phrases, clauses, or words of similar construction placed side-by-side. For example, “what a grand thing to love, what a grander thing to be loved.”