Home

About

News
Links

Forum

Archive

Moodle : English
Literary Term Quiz

Agon
A dialogue or confrontation
between the major characters in
Greek tragedy.
The concept or attitude that
man's position in the world is
essentially comical, pointless or
ludicrous pervades the theatre of
the absurd.
Division of a play.
Story in which the characters are
abstracts, symbols or
personifications.

Alliteration
A metaphor where the point of
comparison is expanded beyond
one simple connection
Slippery word which can refer
simply to drama or can imply a
situation which is full of excitement
or tension.
Uses the same sound at the
beginnings of words which are
close together
The storyline of a play or novel.

Ambiguity

Double meaning either as a

humorous device, or to enrich
meaning, or to reflect the
complexity of life; vagueness in
meaning, or the possibility of
having more than one meaning.
A character who develops or
changes during the course of a
literary work.
When a word within a line of
poetry rhymes with the word at
the end.
Long narrative poetry dealing
with the deeds of heroes

Anaphora
A mimed performance which
usually prepares the audience for
the main action which is to follow.
Special kind of repetition where
the words or phrase beginning
several lines in poetry or units in
prose are repeated.
When a word within a line of
poetry rhymes with the word at
the end.
A monosyllabic rhyme.

Anecdote
Virulent form of satire.
A metrical foot of two stressed
syllables which is used to vary
other feet, such as iambs or
trochees
section of eight lines in a
sonnet.
A brief story usually based on a
personal experience.

Anecdote

Virulent form of satire.

A metrical foot of two stressed
syllables which is used to vary
other feet, such as iambs or
trochees
A section of eight lines in a
sonnet.
A brief story usually based on a
personal experience.

Anticlimax
A deflation or disappointment
after expectations have been
raised.
When a word within a line of
poetry rhymes with the word at
the end
The regular pattern of accented
and unaccented syllables, like the
beat in music.
A character who does not change
or develop in the course of the
work

Antithesis
Opposition, or contrast of ideas
or words in a balanced or parallel
construction.
When a word within a line of
poetry rhymes with the word at
the end.
A monosyllabic rhyme.
A word or sentence which reads
the same backwards and forwards.

Apostrophe
Lines in poetry where the full

stop does not come at the end of

the line and the sentence
continues on the next line.
The peak of tension.
A poem or speech to a dead or
absent person, to an abstract or a
personification.
Spoken by an actor who is alone
on stage, and speaks his or her
thoughts aloud.

Archetype
A metrical foot of two stressed
syllables which is used to vary
other feet, such as iambs or
trochees.
A rhyme that is not true.
A universal and timeless image,
symbol or story pattern.
Story which seeks to teach a
moral or message.

Assonance
A dialogue or confrontation
between the major characters in
Greek tragedy.
Elaborate form of alliteration
where two or more consonant
sounds per word repeat.
The repetition of identical or
similar vowel sounds, especially in
stressed syllables, with changes in
the intervening consonants.
A metaphor where the point of
comparison is expanded beyond
one simple connection.

Bathos

A poem where the first letter of

each line spells a word when read
vertically.
A type of poem which wistfully
encourages the young to make the
best of their youth and beauty.
The hero of the above type of
narrative poetry.
A form of anticlimax which
always has a humorous effect.

Colloquial
Term used for the main character
in a play
Describing everyday
conversational language rather
than the formal language of essays
or literature.
More a psychological term than a
literary one, this refers to what
causes a character to carry out
particular actions.
Poem or speech giving praise.

Consonance
Elaborate form of alliteration
where two or more consonant
sounds per word repeat.
The method by which an author
conveys a sense of personality.
Adjective or adjectival cluster
that is associated with a particular
person or thing and that usually
seems to capture their prominent
characteristics.
Uses the same sound at the
beginnings of words which are
close together.

Didactic

A clash or mismatch; putting

things together which do not suit.
A truism or pithy remark; a brief
witty comment on human nature.
Clumsy, trivial verse or loose,
irregular measure.
Written in a tone intending to
instruct.

Double entendre
Suggestive ambiguity or double
meaning.
A mimed performance which
usually prepares the audience for
the main action which is to follow.
A phrase which is so overused
that it has lost all imaginative
impact.
A form of poetry which uses
rhythm but not rhyme.

Enjambment
The omission of letters or words
whose absence does not prevent
the reader from understanding.
Traditional story or tale,
springing from oral tradition.
A line which ends before the
sentence does and so the reader
must carry on to the next line
without a pause to find the sense.
Poem about rural life and
farming.

Enumeration
Virulent form of satire.
Another word for exaggeration.

Letters which create a hissing

sound.
Listing.

Eulogy
Novel constructed from letters
exchanged by the various
characters.
Exaggeration for emphasis or
other rhetorical effect.
Poem or speech giving praise.
Type of play including music and
dance, often a courtly
entertainment involving mythical
or allegorical figures with
sumptuous costumes.

Euphemism
Story which seeks to teach a
moral or message.
A mimed performance which
usually prepares the audience for
the main action which is to follow.
A word or phrase used as a
polite substitute for something
unpleasant.
A metaphor which is so overused
that it has lost all imaginative
impact.

Extended metaphor
A metaphor which is so overused
that it has lost all imaginative
impact.
Imagery, any poetic devices
which appeal to the imagination
such as metaphor, simile etc.
A metaphor where the point of

comparison is expanded beyond

one simple connection.
Common figurative device in
which one thing is described
imaginatively in terms of another.

Georgic
Poetry which rejects restrictions
of meter, rhythm and line length.
Metrical foot consisting of one
unstressed and one stressed
syllable.
Either a picture summoned up in
one's mind or an example of a
simile or a metaphor.
A poem about rural life and
farming.

Hyperbole
Exaggeration for emphasis or
other rhetorical effect.
Uncountable noun which cannot
be made plural which means
figurative language.
The misuse of polysyllabic words
which produces amusing nonsense
or the mistaken use of one word
which sounds similar to the one
actually intended.
A monosyllabic rhyme.

In medias res
Means in the beginning of things
a sudden start to a poem or story.
Poetry which rejects restrictions
of meter, rhythm and line length.
Either a pastoral poem about
shepherds and the ideal world of

the countryside or a brief epic that

depicts a heroic episode.
asic element of a poem.

Incongruity
A clash or mismatch; putting
things together which do not suit.
Attempting to identify causes.
The opening part of a play where
the character(s) introduce the
situation of the play.
A metaphor where the point of
comparison is expanded beyond
one simple connection.

Juxtaposition
Literally meaning placing next to.
Existing words joined together to
force the reader to see something
familiar in a new light.
The shape or structure of a work.
The world or universe, containing
many smaller cosmic bodies.

Metaphor
Type of play including music and
dance, often a courtly
entertainment involving mythical
or allegorical figures with
sumptuous costumes.
Common figurative device in
which one thing is described
imaginatively in terms of another.
Type of poem originally written
to commemorate some
momentous occasion, stately in
tone and style.
A statement which appears

nonsensical, absurd or
contradictory but on further
inspection in fact makes sense.

Onomatopoeia
Suggestive ambiguity or double
meaning.
Use of words which imitate the
sound they mean e.g. splash,
rustle, clatter, bang, crunch.
A veering away from the main
topic of discussion.
A character who develops or
changes during the course of a
literary work.

Overstatement
Use of words which imitate the
sound they mean.
Message or meaning which is
often made explicit at the end of a
story as in Aesop?s fables.
A kind of metaphor in which a
thing is replaced by an aspect or
attribute of it.
Another word for exaggeration.

Oxymoron
A figure of speech in which
opposite ideas are combined.
An archetypal theme in literature
that passionate love brings death
for the lovers.
Humorous poem containing five
lines and rhyming AABBA.
Type of poem originally written
to commemorate some
momentous occasion, stately in

tone and style.

Paradox
Type of poem originally written
to commemorate some
momentous occasion, stately in
tone and style.
A statement which appears
nonsensical, absurd or
contradictory but on further
inspection in fact makes sense.
The unvoiced thoughts of a
character in a novel
Existing words joined together to
force the reader to see something
familiar in a new light

Paradox
A work which gives a close
imitation of the style, tone, theme
etc of another author in order to
mock the original.
Uncountable noun which cannot
be made plural which means
figurative language.
A statement which appears
nonsensical, absurd or
contradictory but on further
inspection in fact makes sense.
A clash or mismatch; putting
things together which do not suit.

Personification
A figure of speech in which
inanimate objects or abstractions
are endowed with human qualities
or are represented as possessing
human form.
The concept or attitude that

man's position in the world is

essentially comical, pointless or
ludicrous pervades the theatre of
the absurd.
A dialogue or confrontation
between the major characters in
Greek tragedy.
The inclusion of something which
does not belong in the historical
period of the work.

Plosive
Term from phonetics which
describes the way the letters B and
P are formed (by exploding the
lips).
Rhythm intended to be close to
natural speech.
Group of six lines in a sonnet.
The secondary story line.

Rhetorical Question
The opening stages of a play
leading up to the climax.
A question that does not expect
an answer.
Lines in poetry where the full
stop does not come at the end of
the line and the sentence
continues on the next line.
Spoken by an actor who is alone
on stage, and speaks his or her
thoughts aloud.

Sibilant
Applied to nouns which refer to
ideas and concepts such as
brotherhood, justice.

Letters which create a hissing

sound (s, sh, f etc).
A form of anticlimax which
always has a humorous effect.
Speech made by an actor to the
audience, with other characters on
stage who do not hear his or her
words.

Simile
Common figurative device in
which one thing is described
imaginatively in terms of another.
Imaginative comparison which
uses as, like or than.
Exaggeration for emphasis or
other rhetorical effect.
Suggestive ambiguity or double
meaning.

Stereotype
A person that represents a fixed
set of ideas (wrongly) believed to
be shared by all people of a group.
A character who does not change
or develop in the course of the
work.
A character who belongs to an
established theatrical type.
The literary art of diminishing a
subject by making it ridiculous:
mockery of vice or folly.

Symbolism
The yoking of a word to two
other words which have different
standing.
Letters which create a hissing

sound (s, sh, f etc).

A rhyme that is not true.
The practice of representing
things by means of symbols or of
attributing symbolic meanings or
significance to objects, events, or
relationships.

Synecdoche
An event or incident or section of
a narrative work.
Meaning by association which is
evoked by a word, as opposed to
the literal sense of a word or its
strict dictionary definition which is
called its denotation.
A kind of image or metaphor
where substitution of a significant
part of something for the thing
itself.
The juxtaposition of differing or
opposite ideas, images, characters.

Tactile imagery
Imagery, any poetic devices
which appeal to the imagination
such as metaphor, simile etc.
Uncountable noun which cannot
be made plural which means
figurative language: i.e.
metaphors, similes, personification
and so on.
Traditional story or tale,
springing from oral tradition.
Imagery which appeals to the
sense of touch.

Literary Techniques Quiz

1. State the literary technique(s) used in

this extract:
'When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my
tongue
Could scarcely cry 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!
'weep!
So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I
sleep.'
William Blake, 'The Chimney Sweeper'
from 'Songs of Innocence'
Answer:
2. State the literary technique(s) used in
this extract:
Antigone:
'No funeral hymn; no marriage music;
No sun from this day forth, no light,
No friend to weep at my departing.'
Euripides, 'Antigone'
Answer:
3. State the literary technique(s) used in
this extract:
'Bent double, like old beggars under
sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we
cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our
backs
And towards our distant rest began to
trudge.'
Wilfred Owen, 'Dulce Et Decorum Est'
Answer:
4. State the literary technique(s) used in
this extract:
'The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the
yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length
sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze
drew across it.

And from there those that lifted eyes

could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the
other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.'
Robert Frost, 'Out, Out'
Answer:
5. State the literary technique(s) used in
the extract:
'I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved ? were we not wean'd till
then ?
But suck'd on country pleasures,
childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers' den?
'Twas so ; but this, all pleasures fancies
be;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a
dream of thee.'
John Donne, 'The Good Morrow'
Answer:
6. What is the literarty technique used in
these two different lines from 'Romeo and
Juliet' by William Shakespeare?
Juliet: 'My only love sprung from my only
hate'
Romeo: 'O brawling love, O loving hate.'
Answer:
7. State the literary technique(s) used in
this extract:
'Sudden successive flights of bullets
streak the silence.
Less deadly than the air that shudders
black with snow,'
Wilfred Owen, 'Exposure'
Answer:
Copyright: Marie Buda, August 2008