Literary Terms

Question 1

What is alliteration?

Answer 1

Words that begin with the same sound are placed close together.

Question 2

Alliteration: Alliteration happens when words that begin with the same sound are placed close to one another. For example

Answer 2

“the silly snake silently slinked by” is a form of alliteration. Try saying that ten times fast.

Question 3

What is this an example of?: Alice’s aunt ate apples and acorns around August.

Answer 3

Alliteration

Question 4

This happens when a speaker or character makes a brief and/or casual reference to a famous historical or literary figure or event. What do you call this?

Answer 4

Allusion

Question 5

Example: “I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio’s”. This refers to the story of Pinocchio

Answer 5

where his nose grew whenever he told a lie.

Question 7

Cliché: Clichés are phrases or expressions that are used so much in everyday life

Answer 7

that people roll their eyes when they hear them. For example

Question 9

Example: Time will tell: This means that something will be revealed or become clear over time.

Question 11

Connotation: The suggestive meaning of a word – the associations it brings up. Connotations depend a lot on the culture and experience of the person reading the word. For some people

Answer 11

the word “liberal” has positive connotation. For others

Question 13

Example: Childlike. Meaning the action is like a child.

Question 15

Denotation: The literal

Answer 15

straightforward meaning of a word. It’s “dictionary definition”

Question 17

Example: The word “cat” denotes an animal with four legs and a habit of coughing up furballs.

Question 19

Extended Metaphor: A central metaphor that acts like an umbrella to connect other metaphors or comparisons within it. It can span several lines or an entire poem.

Question 20

When one of Shakespeare’s characters delivers an entire speech about how all the world is a stage and people are just actors

Answer 20

that’s an extended metaphor

Question 22

Example: “Bobby Holloway says my imagination is a three-hundred-ring circus. Currently I was in ring two hundred and ninety-nine

Answer 22

with elephants dancing and clowns cart wheeling and tigers leaping through rings of fire. The time had come to step back

Question 24

Hyperbole: A hyperbole is an over-exaggeration.

Question 26

Example: “I am so hungry I could eat a horse.”

Question 28

Imagery: Imagery is intense

Answer 28

descriptive language in a poem that helps to trigger our senses and our memories when we read it.

Question 30

Example: “On a starry winter night in Portugal

Answer 30

where the ocean kissed the southern shore

Question 32

Irony: Irony involves saying one thing while really meaning another

Answer 32

contradictory thing.

Question 34

Example: “Exclaiming “oh great” after failing an exam”.

Question 36

Metaphor: A metaphor happens when one thing is described as being another thing. “You’re a toad!” is a metaphor – although not a very nice one. A metaphor is different from simile because it leaves out the words “like” or “as”. For example

Answer 36

a simile would be

Question 38

Example: “The alligator’s teeth were white daggers”

Question 40

Onomatopoeia: Besides being a really fun word to say aloud

Answer 40

onomatopoeia refers either to words that resemble in sound what they represent. For example

Question 42

Example: “Bam! Pow! Kaplow!” or “Snap

Answer 42

Crackle and Pop”

Question 44

Oxymoron: An oxymoron is a combination of two terms ordinarily seen as opposites.

Question 46

Example: “terribly good” is an oxymoron.

Question 48

Paradox: A statement that contradicts itself and nonetheless seems true. It’s a paradox when John Donne writes

Answer 48

“Death

Question 50

Example: “Nobody goes to the restaurant because it’s too crowded.”

Question 52

Personification: Personification involves giving human traits (qualities

Answer 52

feelings

Question 54

Example: “She did not realize that opportunity was knocking at her door.”

Question 56

Simile: Similes compare one thing directly to another.

Question 58

Example: “My love is like a burning flame” is a simile. You can quickly identify similes when you see the words “like” or “as” used

Answer 58

as in “x is like y.” Similes are different from metaphors – for example

Question 60

Symbol: Generally speaking

Answer 60

a symbol is a sign representing something other than itself.