Literary Terms

Question 1

the name given to a thought, feeling, idea or concept e.g. happiness, imagination, destiny

Answer 1

ABSTRACT NOUN

Question 2

the characteristic pronunciation features and speech rhythms of a speaker, usually related to regional or social influences

Answer 2

ACCENT

Question 3

a pattern of speech in which one utterance is followed by an appropriate linked response

Answer 3

ADJACENCY PAIR

Question 4

the repetition of an initial consonant sound

Answer 4

ALLITERATION

Question 5

a reference to another work of literature or other source by a writer. The writer may well assume that the reader has some knowledge of the work referred to and will understand the allusion

Answer 5

ALLUSION

Question 6

a character who is in opposition to the protagonist, who creates conflict with the main character

Answer 6

ANTAGONIST

Question 7

the main character of text who lacks the conventional heroic qualities

Answer 7

ANTIHERO

Question 8

the juxtaposition of contrasting words or phrases to create a balance or opposition between conflicting ideas.

Answer 8

ANTITHESIS

Question 9

a word or phrase which is opposite in meaning to another, e.g. hot and cold

Answer 9

ANTONYM

Question 10

a brief line or speech spoken by a character to the audience, and unheard by the other characters on stage, in which the speaker reveals inner thoughts and intentions

Answer 10

ASIDE

Question 11

repeated vowel sounds

Answer 11

ASSONANCE

Question 12

a form of list, in which there is no ‘and’ and ‘but’ seperating the final two items. this can give an open-ended feel to the list, perhaps suggesting there is more that could be added. the opposite to this is a sydentic list

Answer 12

ASYNDETIC LIST

Question 13

AMBIGUITY

Answer 13

Words, phrases or whole texts which have several or unclear meanings.

Question 14

ALLEGORY

Answer 14

A type of narrative which makes literal sense in its own right but also has a double meaning

Question 15

BLANK VERSE

Answer 15

Unrhymes poetry written in Iambic Pentameter

Question 16

CHORUS

Answer 16

a character or group in the play who comments on the action

Question 17

COMEDY

Answer 17

nowadays a work which makes us laugh but used to be a work with a happy ending

Question 18

double-barrelled words made by combining two existing, often unrelated words, they are often used to condense description. e.g. sea-dog, white-mossed

Answer 18

COMPOUND WORDS

Question 19

the suggestion or implication evoked by a word, phrase or statement

Answer 19

CONNOTATION

Question 20

COUPLET

Answer 20

two lines of poetry together. a rhyming couplet is two lines of poetry which rhyme

Question 21

two or more characters speaking to eachother

Answer 21

DIALOGUE

Question 22

the vocabulary chosen by a writer

Answer 22

DICTION

Question 23

the shape or pattern in which a poem is written eg. sonnet, ballad, dramatic monologue

Answer 23

FORM

Question 24

poetry which seems to have no set pattern, stanzas, rhyme scheme.

Answer 24

FREE VERSE

Question 25

HYPERBOLE

Answer 25

huge exaggeration or statement

Question 26

a line of poetry made up of ten syllables with alternating light or heavy beats e.g. Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?

Answer 26

IAMBIC PENTAMETER

Question 27

saying one thing but meaning the opposite

Answer 27

IRONY

Question 28

writing that creates a picture in the mind using comparisons

Answer 28

IMAGERY

Question 29

putting two things side by side in order to show a relationship between them

Answer 29

JUXTAPOSITION

Question 30

a regular rhythm in verse; the measurement of poetry

Answer 30

METRE

Question 31

the overall feeling generated by a written or spoken piece

Answer 31

MOOD / TONE

Question 32

words which describe sounds and also sound like that which they describe eg. splash, crash, howl

Answer 32

ONOMATOPOEIA

Question 33

the linking together of contradictory words e.g. bitter sweet

Answer 33

OXYMORON

Question 34

the joining together of ideas or concepts which appear to be contradictory but actually makes sense in another way

Answer 34

JUXTAPOSITION

Question 35

PERSONIFCATION

Answer 35

objects given human characteristics

Question 36

PROTAGONIST

Answer 36

leading character in a play or novel

Question 37

a play on words which sound the same or similar which is usually used for comic effect

Answer 37

PUN

Question 38

four lines of poetry

Answer 38

QUATRAIN

Question 39

the movement of language in speech, verse or prose often with a regular beat

Answer 39

RHYTHM

Question 40

a poem of 14 lines written in iambic pentameter

Answer 40

SONNET

Question 41

objects which are used to represent something else

Answer 41

SYMBOLISM

Question 42

the central idea or message the writer is trying to put across

Answer 42

THEME

Question 43

a work with an unhappy ending. it must be serious and often shows the downfall of a great character.

Answer 43

TRAGEDY

Question 44

a protagonist who begins as a great character and is destroyed by a combination of a fatal flaw in his character and the workings of fate

Answer 44

TRAGIC HERO

Question 45

when a poem talks to the reader eg. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Answer 45

DIRECT ADDRESS

Question 46

an imaginary speaker addressing an imaginary audience ( ADD PHOTO HERE )

Answer 46

DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE

Question 47

when a sentence runs over from one line of verse into the next, usually found in a play or a poem

Answer 47

ENJAMBEMENT

Question 48

words that almost rhyme but not quite: very similar to assonance

Answer 48

HALF-RHYME

Question 49

language does not mean directly what it states ( opposite of literal language ) eg. i laughed my head off

Answer 49

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Question 50

a recurring phase or lines at the end of each stanza of poetry, like a one-line chorus

Answer 50

REFRAIN

Question 51

SIBILANCE

Answer 51

alliteration of the 's' sound

Question 52

SPEAKER

Answer 52

the 'voice' that is speaking in a poem written in the first person

Question 53

how the poet has organised his work into patterns eg. the number of stanzas / verses and their line lengths

Answer 53

STRUCTURE