Literary Terms Quiz

Literary Terms

• Allegory: A form of extended metaphor where objects, persons, and actions represent underlying moral, social, religious, or political meanings. Characters often symbolize abstract ideas.

• Allusion: A reference within a literary work to another work of fiction, film, artwork, or real event/person to add context or meaning.

• Anecdote: A brief story about a single incident, without the detailed development of a full story.

• Antagonist: The character, force, or collection of forces that opposes the protagonist.

• Anticlimax: A disappointing or underwhelming ending to a story or event, often after a build-up of anticipation.

• Atmosphere: The overall feeling or mood evoked by a literary work.

• Character: An imaginary person in a literary work; can be major or minor, static (unchanging) or dynamic (capable of change). Characterization is how the writer reveals the characters.

• Characterization (Direct): The author explicitly states qualities or details about a character.

• Characterization (Indirect): The author reveals a character through their actions, dialogue, other characters' reactions, or their appearance or name.

• Climax: The point of highest tension, suspense, and action in a work, marking the turning point.

• Complication: A series of difficulties that form the central action in a narrative.

• Conflict: The struggle between opposing forces within a work.

• Connotation: The set of attitudes and feelings associated with a word, often beyond its literal definition.

• Denotation: The dictionary definition of a word.

• Denouement: The final outcome or resolution of a series of events in a story.

• Dominant Impression/Image: The most prominent aspect or feeling in descriptive writing.

• Extended Metaphor: A metaphor that is used throughout a whole work or a substantial part of it.

• Falling Action: The sequence of events following the climax, leading to the resolution.

• Figurative Language: Language used to convey meaning beyond its literal meaning, such as metaphors, similes, and hyperbole.

• Flashback: An interruption of the narrative to describe events that occurred earlier.

• Foil: A character whose qualities or actions serve to emphasize those of another character, often the protagonist, by contrast.

• Foreshadowing: Hints of what will happen later in a story, used to build anticipation.

• Genre: A category of literature or art, such as poetry, fiction, drama, essay.

• Hyperbole: Deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or humour.

• Imagery: Descriptive language that appeals to the senses.

• Irony (Dramatic): When the audience or a character knows something that other characters do not.

• Irony (Situational): When an event's outcome is the opposite of what is expected.

• Irony (Verbal): When a character says something that is the opposite of what they mean, often sarcastically.

• Juxtaposition: Placement of two or more contrasting elements to highlight their differences or draw a comparison.

• Literal Meaning: The exact meaning of words, in contrast to figurative language.

• Metaphor: A direct comparison between two unlike things, without using "like" or "as".

• Monlogue: A speech given by a single character to another character or to the audience.

• Mood: The overall feeling or atmosphere of a piece of writing.

• Narrator: The voice that tells the story.

• Memoir: Autobiographical writing that is more personal, involving a snapshot of memory.

• Plot Development: The events of a story in the order they happen.

• Point of View: The perspective from which the story is told.

• Protagonist: The main character in a story, poem, or play.

• Rising Action: The part of the story leading to the climax where conflicts increase.

• Sarcasm: A form of verbal irony in which praise is used to mock or criticize.

• Setting: The time, place, and circumstances surrounding the story's action.

• Simile: A comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as".

• Subplot: A secondary, smaller story within a bigger story.

• Symbolism: When something represents something else, often with a deeper meaning than its literal meaning.

• Suspense: The tension or excitement that builds anticipation for the climax.

• Theme: The central idea or message of a work.

• Tone: The author's attitude towards the subject or characters.

Language Terms

• Audience: The intended readers or viewers.

• Coherence: The logical flow of ideas in a piece of writing.

• Emphatic Devices: Methods used to emphasize an idea, such as repetition, parallel structure, punctuation, and tone.

• Figurative Language: Language using figures of speech, not literally true.

• Literal Meaning: The basic or dictionary meaning of a word or phrase.

• Parallel Structure/Parallelism: Using similar grammatical structures to emphasize ideas.

• Repetition: Repeating words or phrases for emphasis.

• Sequence: The order of events.

• Transitions: Words or phrases used to connect thoughts and ideas.

• Unity: The interconnectedness of thoughts and ideas within a paragraph or piece of writing.

Visual Terms

• Angle: The relationship between the camera and subject.
• Asymmetry: Lack of symmetry in arrangement.
• Background: Area behind the main focus of an image.
• Balance: Arrangement of elements for harmony.
• Colour: Appearance of objects, described by hue, lightness, and saturation.
• Contrast: Difference between elements in a visual, such as colour, light, or texture.
• Dominant Image: The central, most noticeable element in an image.
• Focal Point: The area in a visual that draws the viewer's attention.
• Font: The typeface used in a visual.
• Foreground: Part of an image closest to the viewer.
• Perspective: Representation of a three-dimensional space on a flat surface.
• Proportion: The relationship in size or scale between elements.
• Scale: The comparative size of objects within a visual.

Sound Devices

• Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.
• Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate sounds.