Vocab

Question 1

a group of words containing a subject and its verb that may or may not be a complete sentence

Answer 1

Clause

Question 2

a trite phrase that has become overused. Clichés are considered bad writing and bad literature. (“There’s no place like home.” “The check is in the mail.” “As easy as pie.”)

Answer 2

Cliché

Question 3

the high point of interest of suspense in a literary work. It is usually the crisis in the plot, the point at which the protagonist changes his or her understanding of the situation. Sometimes the climax coincides with the resolution, the point at which the central conflict is resolved.

Answer 3

Clímax

Question 4

Latin phrase meaning “I think, therefore I exist.” This was an axiom (a statement which is regarded as being established, accepted or self-evidently true) of Descartes and his philosophy.

Answer 4

Cogito ergo sum

Question 5

a word or phrase used every day in plain and relaxed speech but rarely found in formal writing, usually pertinent to a given area (“I hear tell that Jake got a new truck.” – southern slang)

Answer 5

Colloquial

Question 6

a work of literature, especially a play that has a happy ending. Comedies often show ordinary characters in conflict with their societies. Comedy is often contrasted with tragedy.

Answer 6

Comedy

Question 7

a play satirizing the fashions, manners and outlook on life of an artificial, highly sophisticated society (Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and Jane Austen’s novels – Pride and Prejudice)

Answer 7

Comedy of manners

Question 8

is the feeling created by a humorous action or speech that appears within a serious work of literature. It is often used to emphasize, by contrast, the seriousness of the main action. (the drunken Porter in Macbeth; the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet)

Answer 8

Comic relief

Question 9

an unusual and surprising comparison between two very different things. This special kind of metaphor or complicated analogy is often the basis for a whole poem. It is also a whimsical, ingenious, extended metaphor in which an object, scene, person, situation or emotion is presented in terms of a simpler analogue, usually from nature or a context familiar to author and reader alike. The metaphysical poets used conceit to startle the reader by showing a very exact correspondence between a thought or emotion and some particular aspect of a seemingly alien and inappropriate object. (John Donne used a drawing compass to describe the bond between the soul of him and his mistress.)

Answer 9

Conceit

Question 10

anything that follows reasonably from something else. In a literary work, the conclusion is the final part, or ending, of the work.

Answer 10

Conclusion

Question 11

a struggle between opposing forces. The struggle can be internal, within the character. The struggle can be external—between the character and some outside force. The four types of conflict in literature are as follows: (1) man against man, (2) man against self, (3) man against nature and (4) man against society.

Answer 11

Conflict

Question 12

an association that a word calls to mind in addition to its dictionary meaning (Home and domicile have the same dictionary meaning, but home has positive and warm connotations while domicile does not.)

Answer 12

Connotation

Question 13

the repetition of consonant sounds in stressed syllables containing dissimilar vowel sounds (“On a hot, hot day, and I in pajamas for the heat…” Note that the consonants are the same, but the vowels are different.)

Answer 13

Consonance

Question 14

the process of observing and pointing out differences

Answer 14

Contrast

Question 15

any device or style or subject matter which has become, in its time and by reason of its habitual use, a recognized means of literary expression, an accepted element in technique. (soliloquy associated with drama, simile with poetry, and catalog with the epic)

Answer 15

Convention

Question 16

a pair of rhyming lines written in the same meter. Shakespeare ended his sonnets with couplets. (“So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.” Sonnet XVIII – Shakespeare)

Answer 16

Couplet

Question 17

in the plot of a story or play is the turning point for the protagonist and often coincides with the climax of the story

Answer 17

Crisis

Question 18

is a cynical attitude or character. Cynical means being contemptuous of the motives or virtues of others—mocking and sneering. (Heathcliff in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights)

Answer 18

Cynicism

Question 19

a metrical foot of three syllables, an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables

Answer 19

Dactyl

Question 20

(fallacy) attacking a person by formally praising him/her, but for an achievement that should not be praised

Answer 20

Damning with faint praise

Question 21

is a metaphor that has been overused to the point that its original impact has been lost (“the foot of the bed” and “toe the line”)

Answer 21

Dead metaphor

Question 22

a term used in literature or art history for the decline that marks the end of a great artistic period. The general characteristics of decadence are often self-consciousness, artificiality, over-refinement and perversity.

Answer 22

Decadence

Question 23

deals with the ideal of propriety. It stemmed from the classical authors and was used widely by the 17th and 18th century writers. It stressed that literary works had to be polished, dignified, clear, rational and elevated.

Answer 23

Decorum

Question 24

is a form of argument in which the conclusion has to be true if the premises are true. (EX. People living in the 18th century had no experience with cars. Dr. Johnson lived in the 18th century. Dr. Johnson had no experience with cars.)

Answer 24

Deduction

Question 25

a belief in the existence of a personal God who is manifested neither supernaturally in history nor in nature

Answer 25

Deism

Question 26

French for “already seen” – an experience involving a feeling of familiarity in a place where one has never been before or in a situation one has not before experienced

Answer 26

Deja vu

Question 27

a word’s actual dictionary meaning as opposed to a word’s connotative meaning

Answer 27

Denotation

Question 28

in a literary work, it is anything that happens after the resolution of the plot. At this point the central conflict is resolved, and the consequences for the protagonist are already decided. It is the tying up of loose ends.

Answer 28

Denouement

Question 29

the belief that all apparent acts of the will are actually the result of causes which determine them. In classical literature, it may be fate. In Calvinistic teachings, it may be the predestined will of God. (Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles)

Answer 29

Determinism

Question 30

one who deliberately takes the opposite in an argument to prove a point; a destructive critic who searches for flaws to bring out the whole truth

Answer 30

Devils advocate

Question 31

a variety of speech characterized by its own particular grammar or pronunciation, often associated with a particular geographical region

Answer 31

Dialect

Question 32

In classical literature, it refers to the tradition of continuing debate or discussion of eternally unresolved issues, such as beauty vs. truth or the individual vs. the state.

Answer 32

Dialectic

Question 33

is word choice. Diction can be formal or informal, abstract or concrete, plain or ornate, ordinary or technical. A writer’s choice of words has great impact in a literary work. Hemingway stated that he had to rewrite the ending to A Farewell to Arms 39 times. When asked why, he answered, “Getting the words right.” (Archaic diction refers to words that are no longer in everyday use.)

Answer 33

Diction

Question 34

instructiveness in a literary work, one of the purposes of which appears to be to give guidance, particularly in moral, ethical or religious matters. Didactic literature (especially poetry) teaches moral lessons. (Chaucer’s “The Pardoner’s Tale”)

Answer 34

Didactic

Question 35

to stray from the main subject in speaking or writing

Answer 35

Digression

Question 36

a situation that requires a person to decide between two equally attractive or equally unattractive alternatives

Answer 36

Dilemma

Question 37

a cheaply made, often sensational and melodramatic paperback novel of history, crime or adventure, printed in America in the latter half of the 19th century. These novels were priced at ten cents each.

Answer 37

Dime novel

Question 38

a lamentation sung or recited at a funeral or composed in commemoration of a death; a sad song

Answer 38

Dirge

Question 39

digressing from subject to subject; relating to discourse or modes of discourse

Answer 39

Discursive

Question 40

harsh and inharmonious sounds that are discordant with the words and the rhythms surrounding them in a line or sentence

Answer 40

Dissonance

Question 41

a type of drama allied to comedy, radically nonrealistic in both content and presentation, that emphasizes the absurdity, emptiness or meaninglessness of life (Kafka’s The Metamorphosis where Gregor, whose life seems empty, morphs into a gigantic beetle – and R&G Are Dead)

Answer 41

Drama of the absurd

Question 42

when there is a contradiction between what a character thinks and what the reader or audience knows to be true (Oedipus is unaware that he killed his own father and married his mother.)

Answer 42

Dramatic irony

Question 43

a lyric poem in which a speaker addresses a silent or absent listener in a moment of high intensity or deep emotion, as if engaged in private conversation. The speaker proceeds without interruption or argument, and the effect on the reader is that of hearing just one side of a conversation. This takes the reader inside the speaker’s mind. (Robert Browning’s “The Last Duchess”)

Answer 43

Dramatic monologue

Question 44

a character who is different at the end of the book than he/she was at the beginning of the book. The character has undergone changes and has matured greatly, usually learning harsh lessons along the way. (Pip in Great Expectations or Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird)

Answer 44

Dynamic character

Question 45

a solemn and formal lyric poem about death—often in tribute to a person who has died recently. Most elegies are written in formal, dignified language and are serious in tone. (Tennyson’s In Memoriam and Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”) (elegiac is the adjective form)

Answer 45

Elegy

Question 46

English comic and tragic plays produced during the Renaissance—during the last years of and the few years after Queen Elizabeth’s reign. Thus, Shakespeare is an Elizabethan dramatist, although more than one-third of his active career lies in the reign of James I who succeeded Queen Elizabeth I to the throne. Modern English drama developed so rapidly and brilliantly that the Elizabethan Era is the golden age of English drama.

Answer 46

Elizabeth drama

Question 47

the omission of a word or phrase which is grammatically necessary but can be deduced from the context (“Some people prefer cats; others, dogs.”) – A series of marks used in writing to show omission of words (“To be…that is the question.”)

Answer 47

Ellipsis

Question 48

a philosophical movement of the 18th century, particularly in France but effectively over much of Europe and America. The Enlightenment celebrated reason, the scientific method and human beings’ ability to perfect themselves and society. In England, Swift (Gulliver’s Travels), Pope and others responded to the elements of Enlightenment thought.

Answer 48

Enlightenment, the

Question 49

a line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, comma, colon, semicolon, exclamation point, or question mark are end-stopped lines.

Answer 49

End stopped

Question 50

a long, narrative poem about the adventures of gods or of a hero. The epic usually presents an encyclopedic portrait of the culture in which it was produced (The Odyssey and Beowulf).

Answer 50

Epic