Lit Terms #61-90

Question 0

Either/or Reasoning

Answer 0

The tendency to see an issue as having only two sides

Question 1

Economy

Answer 1

A style of writing characterized by brevity and conciseness

Question 2

Elegy

Answer 2

A solemn, reflective poem, usually about death, written in a formal style

Question 3

Ellipsis

Answer 3

Omission of an element from a sentence so that the grammatical structure is incomplete but the meaning is clear; often appears in aphorisms, epigrams, proverbs, and maxims

Question 4

End-stopped Lines

Answer 4

Lines of poetry that end with punctuation marks

Question 5

Enjambment

Answer 5

In poetry, the running over of a sentence from one verse or stanza to the next without stopping at the first

Question 6

Epic

Answer 6

Long narrative poem dealing with heroes and adventures; having a national, world-wide, or cosmic setting; involving supernatural forces, and written in a deliberately ceremonial style

Question 7

Epigram

Answer 7

A short witty verse or saying, often ending with a wry twist

Question 8

Epigraph

Answer 8

A motto or quotation at the beginning of a story, novel, or chapter, often indicating theme

Question 9

Epistolary Novel

Answer 9

A novel in a letter form written by one or more of the characters

Question 10

Ethos

Answer 10

Ethical appeal in argumentation

Question 11

Euphemism

Answer 11

Describing something distasteful in a positive way

Question 12

Euphony

Answer 12

A choice and arrangement of words creating a pleasant sound

Question 13

Exemplum

Answer 13

A short medieval story illustrating a moral

Question 14

Exposition

Answer 14

One of the four major types of writing (comparison, contrast, cause and effect, classification, division, definition); in drama, exposition is the initial part of the play when the background information is presented to the audience

Question 15

Fable

Answer 15

Brief tale which teaches a moral truth and which contains characters who are often animals

Question 16

Figures of Speech

Answer 16

Imaginative comparisons (ex. metaphors, similes, personification, etc.) to convey tone, purpose, or effect

Question 17

Fixed Form

Answer 17

Poem which have specific rhyme, meter, and/or stanza arrangement

Question 18

Flashback

Answer 18

Going back in time to reveal past history that is important to the work

Question 19

Flat Character

Answer 19

A one-dimensional character who remains the same throughout the work and about whom little is revealed

Question 20

Foil

Answer 20

A character who contrasts another character

Question 21

Foot

Answer 21

A unit of meter that contains a measure of syllables (ex. analyst, dactyl, iamb, spondee, trochee)

Question 22

Form

Answer 22

External pattern of the poem (ex. continuous form, stanzaic form, free verse, fixed form, blank verse)

Question 23

Foreshadowing

Answer 23

A literary technique in which the author gives hints about future events

Question 24

Frame

Answer 24

A narrative device presenting a story or group of stories within the context of a larger work

Question 25

Free Verse

Answer 25

Poetry with no set rhyme and no set meter

Question 26

Genre

Answer 26

Form or type of literary work: novel, poetry, dram, essay, etc.

Question 27

Gerund

Answer 27

The -ing form of the verb used as a noun

Question 28

Gothic

Answer 28

Narrative which combines a desolate setting and mysterious events to create an atmosphere of terror

Question 29

Grotesque

Answer 29

An element of gothic Romanticism in which bizarre, fantastically ugly or absurd elements are important to the overall effect