Literary Terms Review Quiz Key

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Literary Terms Review QuizKey

• Mark your paper honorably where you missed the
  answer, mark it wrong, and write in the correct
  meaning, samples, etc.

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1 Alliteration

• The repetition of initial sounds. This is a
  sound device. You have seen these in their
• extreme form in tongue twisters like She sells
  seashells by the seashore.

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2 Personification

• Giving human characteristics to a non-human
  object or animal.
• This is another form of figurative language. Ex.
  The willows whispered in the wind.
  Anthropomorphism is a specialized type of
  personification wherein we attribute human
  emotions to animals the puppy cried all night.

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3 Flat Character

• A character that is one-dimensional. A
  stereotype. We have no clue about the hopes,
  dreams, etc., of these characters, nor do we care
  to.
• Examples dumb jock, ditzy blond, absent-minded
  professor, pencil-necked geek, macho cop, kooky
  artist, etc.

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4 Theme

• The message about life or the universe that the
  author wants you to see. U.M. Universal
  meaning. The theme is always expressed in a
  complete sentence. For instance, love is not a
  theme. Love is a beautiful thing that makes
  life complete is a theme.

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5 Setting

• Time and place of a story. This can be city,
  state, nation, continent, classroom, daytime,
  nighttime, 1900, the future, etc.

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6 Protagonist

• Main character in a story. Usually we like the
  protagonist and he/she is a good person animals
  like him/her, etc. In films where the characters
  are stereotypes or archetypes, the protagonist
  wears white.

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7 Round Character

• A three-dimensional character who is well
  fleshed-out for us. We understand who they are,
  what they love, dream, hate, etc. These are the
  memorable characters that we think of almost as
  real people we know.

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8 Hyperbole

• Extreme Exaggeration
• Another form of figurative language that you use
• frequently in your world.
• Ex. I told you one million times to learn
• hyperbole!
• That guy called one thousand times last night.

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9 Simile

• An indirect comparison between two unlike things
  that share some
• quality or attribute using like, as, seems, or
  than.
• This is figurative, not literal,
• language.
• You use it all the time in common speech.
• Ex. That man acts like a dog she is meaner than
  a witch.

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10 Tone

• The author/speaker's attitude toward the subject.
  Some tone descriptors
• angry,
• sarcastic, amused, serious, curious, etc.

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11 Imagery

• Words and images intended to help you imagine
  with your senses.
• Visualhelps you imagine what something looks
  like.
• Auralhelps you imagine how something sounds.
• Tactile feels like
• Gustatory-- ' tastes like
• Olfactory-- smells like
• Kinetic-- moves like
• Thermal-- how warm/cold something is

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12 Exposition

• Background information
• you learn about setting, characters, and history
  to the story. Ex. A long, long time ago in a
  fairy forest, there lived a kindly old woman and
  her grandson who loved bunnies.P.S. Sometimes a
  story begins in the middle of the action instead
  of with Expositionthat's called In Medias Res.

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13 External Conflict

• A character has a conflict/problem with another
  force outside of himself/herself.
• ex. Character v. Nature, Character v. Another
  Character,
• or Character v. Society.

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14 Third Person Omniscient Point of View

• Narrative style wherein the speaker knows the
  thoughts and feelings of ALL characters. The
  God-like narrative technique.

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15 Symbol

• Words and images that represent something deeper
  and more important than themselves. Ex. A flag is
  never just a piece of materialit means something
  to the people who fly it. That's why people get
  testy if you rip theirs down and stomp on it. )

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16 Internal Conflict

• One of two types of conflict. This one takes
  place within the mind of one of the characters.
  Should he stay or should he go?
• Should she jog the mile or take a nap?

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17 Static Characters

• These characters do not change as a result of the
  action or conflict. They stay the same from the
  beginning to the end. These static characters
  are most often also the flat
• characters.

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18 Antagonist

• The character that is in conflict with the
  protagonist. Sometimes the antagonist is a
  person/character, but it can be nature, or
  society, etc. Stereotypically the antagonist
  wears black in film.

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19 First Person Point of View

• Narrative told from the point of view of the
  speaker/narrator/author. First clue you are
  reading first
• person I and me and we, etc.

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20 Onomatopoeia

• Sound Device
• When words sound like what they are. This is also
  a sound device like...
• Examples boom, tinkle, thud, jingle, gulp,
  creak, slap, etc.

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21 Third Person LimitedPoint of View

• Narration wherein the speaker knows the thoughts
  and
• feelings of ONLY ONE
• character. Speaker uses
• pronouns, he, she, and they.

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22 Metaphor

• Direct comparison between two unlike things that
  share some commonality or characteristic. This
  is also figurative language, and you also use
  this technique in everyday speech.
• Ex. My dad is the rock in the
• family. The linebacker is a house.

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Additional Point of ViewSecond Person Point of
View

• Narrator speaks directly to the audience using
  the personal pronoun You.
• Should be avoided in your own writing.
• A technique that is used sparingly to create a
  particular tone/mood.

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Additional Sound Devices Cacophony

• Sound device wherein an author uses harsh,
  clashing sounds to evoke a particular mood in
  his/her audience
• Often used in works dealing with violence, or
  aggression
• Example from the war poem, Dulce et Decorum
  Est Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed
  through sludge

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Additional Sound DevicesEuphony

• Sound device wherein an author uses soft, smooth,
  liquid sounds to create a mood
• Often used to describe things the author sees as
  beautiful, gentle, loving, etc.
• Example from Robert Herricks Upon Julias
  Voice So smooth, so sweet, so silvry is thy
  voice,

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Additional Poetic DescriptorsStructured Verse
Poetry

• Poetry written in regular rhythmical pattern or
  meter
• Usually has a structured rhyme scheme
• Examples are Haiku, Sonnets, Acrostics,

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Additional Poetic Descriptors Free Verse Poetry

• Poetry NOT written in a regular rhyme scheme or
  meter
• It seeks to capture the rhythms of speech
• It is the dominant form of contemporary poetry