Literary Terms

Question 0

Heroic couplet

Answer 0

pair of rhymed verse lines in iambic pentameter

Question 1

Symbolism

Answer 1

emotionally powerful symbols that are used to suggest meaning and mood

Question 2

Tall Tale

Answer 2

a humorous story that is outlandishly exaggerated.

Question 3

Iamb

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Diction

Answer 4

A writers choice of words, particularly for clarity, effectiveness, and precision

Question 5

conceit

Answer 5

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

Question 6

style

Answer 6

distinctive handling of language

Question 7

Tone

Answer 7

Authors attitude to his subject

Question 8

Couplet

Answer 8

2 consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme

Question 9

Rhyme

Answer 9

exact repetition of sounds of two or more words

Question 10

Paradox

Answer 10

something that seems self-contradictory but which has valid meaning.

Question 11

Satire

Answer 11

employs wit to ridicule a subject

Question 12

Allusion

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Mixed Metaphor

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Dead metaphor

Answer 14

a comparison has become so commonplace that it seems literal rather than figurative
e. g., foot of a hill
head of the class

Question 15

Implied Metaphor

Answer 15

does not directly state that one thing is another
e. g., Bradstreet‟s poem, “Upon the Burning of Our House” implies that heaven is a beautiful house above built by the mightiest architect—God—but it is never directly stated.

Question 16

Extended metaphor

Answer 16

a comparison used throughout a work
e. g., —in some songs, the constant reference to Mary is really a reference to marijuana

Question 17

Metaphor

Answer 17

implied or stated comparison between two unlike things—one thing is the other. e. g., —-a comparison between the plan of life and a sheet:
“. . . a person could spread out the plan of life and tuck in the edges orderly.”

Question 18

Imagery

Answer 18

sensory details that make a work vivid—bring it alive—details that appeal to the senses
e. g., “peered into the darkness” “furtive silver glintings”
“water flowed slowly”
“indolent gurgle”

Question 19

Simile

Answer 19

a comparison of two unlike things using “like” or “as,” “then,” or “resembles.”
e. g., “ . . .like mourning weeds, dark festoons of seagrass slimily swept to and fro over the name with every hearselike roll of the hull.”