Literary Terms L to J Quiz

1. Literary TermsL to J Quiz L to J Hannah Harris and Jacob Kluch Horizon High School Paradise Valley Unified School District Phoenix, Arizona

3. What is a wise saying or proverb; also a short but memorable saying which holds some important fact of experience that is considered true by many people, or that has gained some credibility through its long useEx: “There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.”“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” Adage 1 Menu

4. What is a form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself? It communicates the message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation.Ex: "There are obvious layers of _______ [in the movie Avatar]. The Pandora woods is a lot like the Amazon rainforest (the movie stops in its tracks for a heavy ecological speech or two), and the attempt to get the Na'vi to 'cooperate' carries overtones of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan." 2 Allegory Menu

5. What is the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words?Ex:"The soul selects her own society.”Ex: ”A peck of pickled peppers." Alliteration 3 Menu

6. What is a brief reference to a person, event, or place, that can be real or fictitious, or can be related to a work of art?Ex: Reference to Shakespeare, the Bible, The Declaration of Independence, etc. Allusion 4 Menu

7. What is a rhetorical term for all the ways that an argument, explanation, or description can be expanded and enriched?("In ___________, writers repeat something they've just said, while adding more details and information to the original description. . . .)Ex: "Mr. and Mrs. Veneering were brand-new people in a brand-new house in a brand-new quarter of London.” Amplification 5 Menu

8. What is a word or phrase made by transposing the letters?Ex: Debit Card = Bad CreditSchool Master = The ClassroomElection results = Lies – Let's Recount Anagram 6 Menu

9. What is the transposition of normal word order; most often found in Latin in the case of prepositions and the words they control? Ex: "Intelligent she was not. In fact, she veered in the opposite direction.” 7 Anastrophe Menu

10. What is a little story, often amusing, inserted in an essay or speech to help reinforce the thesis?Side note: A(n) ________ is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place. 8 Anecdote Menu

11. What is a figure of speech that uses an opposition or contrast of ideas for effect?(It usually creates tension)Ex: "When there is need of silence, you speak, and when there is need of speech, you are dumb; when you are present, you wish to be absent, and when absent, you desire to be present; in peace you are for war, and in war you long for peace; in council you descant on bravery, and in the battle you tremble." 9 Antithesis Menu

12. What is a figure of speech in which the speaker expresses real or simulated doubt or perplexity?This rhetorical ploy can make the audience sympathetic towards the speaker or his dilemma.Ex: "I don't think it's proving anything, Doc. As a matter of fact, I don't even know what it means. It's just one of those things that gets in my head and keeps rolling around in there like a marble." 10 Aporia Menu

13. What is an universal symbol, story pattern, theme, or character that appears often in literature, film, and art and is easily recognizable?Ex: The HeroA larger-than-life character that often goes on some kind of journey or quest. In the course of his journey, the hero demonstrates the qualities and abilities valued by his culture-King Arthur, Odysseus, Luke Skywalker, Frodo 11 Archetype Menu

14. What is an actor’s speech, directed to the audience, not to be heard by others in the story?Ex: Fight Club, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off use this technique throughout. Aside 12 Menu

15. What is the repetition of vowel sounds? (Different than the repetition of consonant sounds as in “consonance”)Ex: "Flash with a rash gimme my cash flickin' my ashRunnin with my money, son, go out with a blast."(Busta Rhymes, "Gimme Some More") 13 Assonance Menu

16. What is a stylistic scheme in which conjunctions are deliberately omitted from a series of related causes?Ex: Are veni, vidi, vici and its English translation "I came, I saw, I conquered." Its use can have the effect of speeding up the rhythm of a passage and making a single idea more memorable. 14 Asyndeton Menu

17. What is a prediction based on a Bible Verse or literary passage chosen at random?Ex: "What the Vedas were to the Hindus, Homer to the Greeks, and Ovid and Virgil to the Romans, the Old Testament was to the Jews, the Old and New Testaments to the Christians, and the Koran.” 15 Bibliomancy Menu

18. What is the term in poetry referring to the use of words that combine sharp, harsh, hissing, or unmelodious sounds? (It is the opposite of euphony)Ex:"She sells sea shells by the sea shore." 16 Cacophony Menu

19. What is a natural pause or break in poetry, reading, or music?In musical notation, _______ denotes a brief, silent pause, during which metrical time is not counted. Caesura 17 Menu

20. What is a method used by a writer to develop a character?There can be indirect or direct __________.Examples(Direct) The author literally tells the audience what a character is like. This may be done via the narrator, another character or by the character him- or herself.(Indirect) The audience must induce for themselves what the character is like through the character’s thoughts, actions, speech (choice of words, way of talking), looks and interaction with other characters, including other characters’ reactions to that particular person. 18 Characterization Menu

21. In rhetoric, a verbal pattern (a type of antithesis) in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first with the parts reversed. What is this called?Ex: "In the end, the true test is not the speeches a president delivers; it’s whether the president delivers on the speeches." 19 Chiasmus Menu

22. What is placing events in a story by order of how they happened?Side Note: You can also have Reverse __________ which is a method of story-telling whereby the plot is revealed in reverse order. Chronology 20 Menu

23. What is the use of a long phrasing in place of a possible shorter form of expression; a roundabout or indirect manner of writing or speaking?Think inflammatory language.Ex: “Body of liquid Hydrogen bonding molecules mixed with Oxygen in a blue state of liquid above 32 degrees.” 21 Circumlocution Menu

24. What is an overused expression that has lost it’s freshness, force, and appeal?Ex: “Happy as a lark.”"I'm high on life!" Cliché 22 Menu

25. What is the point in the story that generates the most interest; the most exciting part of a story, drama, play, etc? The turning point in a literary work. 23 Climax Menu

26. What is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics?These are sometimes referred to collectively as "youknowhatitis language" 24 Colloquialism Menu

27. What is the struggle found in fiction?It is a concept in literary studies that seeks to analyze plots by finding their driving sources of _______.Ex: Man v. Man, Man v. SelfMan v. Nature, Man v. Society 25 Conflict Menu

28. What is the emotional implications and associations that a word may carry, in contrast to its denotative meanings?An implied meaning of a word. Think urbandictionary.com“Yo, that is sick!” 26 Connotation Menu

29. What is the literal meaning of a word, the dictionary meaning?Side Note: You know a phrase I never understood? King size. It's used to denote something larger, but most of the kings you see are short. You ever notice that? Usually a king is a short little fat guy. Denotation 27 Menu

30. What is an author’s word choice?In its original, primary meaning, refers to the writer's or the speaker's distinctive vocabulary choices and style of expression in a poem or story. Diction 28 Menu

31. What is moving away from the main plot or theme by preventing additional information that may or may not be relevant?Laurence Sterne famously used the digression throughout his work Tristram Shandy (1759) to produce a startling unconventional narrative form; the story begins with a description of the title character’s conception, but the event of his birth is delayed for some 200 pages of asides and anecdotes. 29 Digression Menu

32. What is the double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune? The word has come to refer to any double or look-alike of a person.Ex: Venom is the _____________ of SpidermanEx: Bizzaro is the _____________ of SupermanEx: Incredible HulkEx: Fight Club 30 Doppelganger Menu

33. What is an occasion in a play, film, or other work in which a character's words or actions convey a meaning unperceived by the character but understood by the audience?In There's Something About Mary (1998), Ted thinks he's been arrested for picking up a hitchhiker while the audience knows he's being questioned by police about a murder. His otherwise innocent lines, such as “I've done it several times before” and “It's no big deal,” generate laughter from the audience. 31 Dramatic Irony Menu

34. What is a speech that expresses a character’s feelings and gives the audience insight into the character’s feelings?Also linked with soliloquies such as in Macbeth, when Lady Macbeth reads a letter to herself and then speaks her thoughts as though she is thinking. Dramatic Monologue 32 Menu

35. What is a mournful, melancholy poem like a funeral song or a lament for the dead?Ex: "Here Captain! dear father!/This arm beneath your head;/It is some dream that on deck,/You've fallen cold and dead."-"O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman. Elegy Not to be confused with eulogy. 33 Menu

36. What is a short poem or speech spoken directly to the audience following the conclusion of a play?Ex: In films, the final scenes may feature a montage of images or clips with a short explanation of what happens to the characters. American Graffiti, National Lampoon's Animal House, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Changeling are examples of such films. 34 Epilogue Menu

37. What is a short descriptive phrase that points out traits associated with a certain person or thing?In contemporary usage, it often carries a negative connotation and is treated as a synonym for "term of abuse”Ex: Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Ivan the Terrible, Mr. Kluch the Awesomest, Ms. Harris the Horrible. 35 Epithet Menu

38. What is a deliberately misleading statement that is only half true?Side Note: Is classified as both a formal and informal logical fallacy.Ex: Everything that runs has feet. The river runs. Therefore the river has feet. Equivocation 36 Menu

39. What is the substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression?The substitution of an inoffensive term (such as "passed away") for one considered offensively explicit ("died").Dr. House: “Who were you going to kill in Bolivia? My old housekeeper?”Dr. Terzi: “We don't kill anyone.”Dr. House: “I'm sorry--who were you going to marginalize?” 37 Euphemism Menu

40. What is the agreeableness of sound, pleasing effect to the ear, especially a pleasant sounding or harmonious combination or succession of words?Ex: The majestic ______ of Milton's poetry. Think sound tracks, Rudi, Harry Potter, etc. 38 Euphony Menu

41. What is the part of a literary piece that provides the background information necessary to understand characters and their actions?Sometimes movies will show a scene before providing the title and opening credits. 39 Exposition Menu

42. What is a fictional story with animals? (Also myths and a narrative meant to teach a moral lesson)Ex: The Lion and the Mouse.The Rabbit and the Turtle 40 Fable Menu

43. What is the series of events that take place after the climax? Falling Action 41 Menu

44. What is a type of exaggerated comedy that features an absurd plot, ridiculous situations, and humorous dialogue?Think comedies like Three Stooges and The Hangover. Farce 42 Menu

45. What is the form of any narrative that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author? Fiction 43 Menu

46. What is symbolic language that literary devices use to create special effects of feelings; this symbolic language makes comparisons, exaggerates and means different things based on its context? Figurative Language 44 Menu

47. What are literary devices used to create special effects or feelings by making comparisons or exaggerations?A word or words diverging from its usual meaning. Figures of Speech 45 Menu

48. Who is a character who serves as a contrast to another perhaps more primary character, so as to point our specific traits of the primary character?Ex: Sherlock Holmes, is tall and lean; his right-hand man Doctor Watson, meanwhile, is often described as middle-sized, strongly built. 46 Foil Menu

49. What is an action that interrupts to show an event that happened at an earlier time?Ex: One of the most famous examples of non-chronological flashback is in the Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane (1941). Flashback 47 Menu

50. What is the basic metrical unit that generates a line of verse? Foot 48 Menu