Quiz 1 Literary Terms

Allegory

a story or narrative, often told at some length, which has a deeper meaning below the surface.

Alliteration

the repetition of the same consonant sound, especially at the beginning of words. For example, "Five miles meandering with a mazy motion" (Kubla Khan by S.T. Coleridge).

Allusion

a reference to another event, person, place, or work of literature - the allusion is usually implied rather than explicit and often provides another layer of meaning to what is being said.

Ambiguity

use of language where the meaning is unclear or has two or more possible interpretations or meanings. It could be created through a weakness in the way the writer has expressed himself or herself, but often it is used by writers quite deliberately to create layers of meaning in the mind of the reader.

Ambivalence

indicates more than one possible attitude is being displayed by the writer towards a character, theme, or idea, etc.

Antithesis

contrasting ideas or words that are balanced against each other.

Archaic

language that is old-fashioned - not completely obsolete but no longer in current use.

Assonance

the repetition of similar vowel sounds. For example: "There must be Gods thrown down and trumpets blown" (Hyperion by John Keats). This shows the paired assonance of "must", "trum", "thrown", "blown".

Atmosphere

the prevailing mood created by a piece of writing.

Ballad

a narrative poem that tells a story (traditional ballads were songs) usually in a straightforward way. The theme is often tragic or contains a whimsical, supernatural, or fantastical element.

Blank verse

unrhymed poetry that adheres to a strict pattern in that each line is an iambic pentameter (a ten-syllable line with five stresses). It is close to the natural rhythm of English speech or prose, and is used a great deal by many writers including Shakespeare and Milton.

Caesura

a conscious break in a line of poetry (“I never had noticed it until / Twas gone, - the narrow copse,” from Edward Thomas).

Cliché

a phrase, idea, or image that has been used so much that it has lost much of its original meaning, impact, and freshness.

Colloquial

ordinary, everyday speech and language.

Connotation

an implication or association attached to a word or phrase. A connotation is suggested or felt rather than being explicit.

Couplet

two consecutive lines of verse that rhyme.

Diction

the choice of words that a writer makes. Another term for "vocabulary".

Dramatic monologue

a poem or prose piece in which a character addresses an audience. Often the monologue is complete in itself, as in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads.

Elegy

a meditative poem, usually sad and reflective in nature. Sometimes, though not always, it is concerned with the theme of death.

Empathy

a feeling on the part of the reader of sharing the particular experience being described by the character or writer.

End stopping

a verse line with a pause or a stop at the end of it.

Enjambment

a line of verse that flows on into the next line without a pause.

Euphemism

expressing an unpleasant or unsavory idea in a less blunt and more pleasant way.

Figurative language

language that is symbolic or metaphorical and not meant to be taken literally.

Free verse

verse written without any fixed structure (either in meter or rhyme).

Hyperbole

deliberate and extravagant exaggeration.

Imagery

the use of words to create a picture or "image" in the mind of the reader. Images can relate to any of the senses, not just sight, but also hearing, taste, touch, and smell. "Imagery" is often used to refer to the use of descriptive language, particularly to the use of metaphors and similes.

Internal rhyme

rhyming words within a line rather than at the end of lines.

Inter-textual

having clear links with other texts through the themes, ideas, or issues which are explored.

Irony

at its simplest level, irony means saying one thing while meaning another. It occurs where a word or phrase has one surface meaning but another contradictory, possibly opposite meaning is implied. Irony is frequently confused with sarcasm. Sarcasm is spoken, often relying on tone of voice, and is much more blunt than irony.