Literary Terms Quiz - English 9

aside

• a device where a character speaks directly to the audience (or to themselves) revealing private thoughts, feelings, or intentions, while other characters on stage pretend not to hear

  • offering insights into the plot, character motivation, foreshadowing, or humor, and creating a unique bond between the character and the audience

apostrophe

• an exclamatory passage in a speech or poem addressed to a person (typically one who is absent) or thing (typically one that is personified)

  • Ex: “O Time, thou must untangle this, not I. / It is too hard a knot for me t' untie.”

dramatic irony

a storytelling device where the audience knows more about a situation than the characters do

extended metaphor

a literary device that builds an in-depth comparison between two dissimilar things over multiple lines or more.

iambic pentameter

The most common metrical line in English poetry and verse drama. It follows a specific rhythm that mimics the human heartbeat throught the alternation between stressed and unstressed syllables and there are 10 syllables in a line .

pun

The use of a word in such a way as to suggest 2 of more of its meanings or the meaning of others word(s) that are similar in sound

malapropism

The unintentional humorous confusion of one word for another

oxymoron

a combination of contradictory or incongruous words.

(Note: More limited in scope than paradoxes--they are just a juxtaposition of two contradictory terms & they need not contain any deeper “truth”)

prose

A conversational way of speaking. Doesn’t have a rhythm or set structure.

verse

Always has a rhythm or set structure.

shared lines

Two or more characters split a line of iambic pentameter between them to show a deep connection.

soliloquy

A solo speech spoken by a theatrical character that expresses the character’s inner thoughts and emotions

(Note: Soliloquies often give voice to motivations and desires that characters would never actually speak aloud to others.)

symbolism

The use of objects, characters, colors, or actions to represent abstract ideas, emotions, or themes beyond their literal meaning.