Stats: English Literary Terms Quiz

General Stats

This quiz has been taken 91 times
The average score is 11 of 60

Answer Stats

Definition	Example	Device	% Correct
A direct comparison, where a text claims that one thing is something else.	Hope is a flower.	Metaphor	95%
An indirect comparison, where two things are compared with the words "like" or "as."	Jeppy is like a pineapple.	Simile	74%
The attribution of human qualities to a nonhuman entity.	The trees cried out in pain.	Personification / Anthropomorphism	58%
A heavily exaggerated description or statement.	The COVID pandemic was the end of the world.	Hyperbole	53%
Dialogue or a situation that is presented as the opposite of what it really is.	The bed of nails was, of course, incredibly soft and inviting.	Irony	44%
A sound device where the same sounds are repeated at the beginning of successive words.	The quickly cut cake came out well.	Alliteration	34%
A reference to a different piece of art or literature.	He was the reincarnation of Michelangelo's David.	Allusion	34%
A story that is intended entirely to represent an abstract concept or idea.	eg Animal Farm or Plato's Allegory of the Cave	Allegory	32%
The use of figurative language to describe something.	The JetPunk menu bar is blue, studded with white text and a caricature of a fish.	Imagery	32%
The use of an object to represent a concept.	A dove flew over the scarred and broken earth.	Symbolism	32%
An argumentative comparison that draws attention to similarities between otherwise distinct things.	This quiz is to the Nile River as text is to water.	Analogy	31%
A reference toward later events in a work.		Foreshadowing	31%
The placement of two contrasting ideas beside each other.	The scruffy, dirty, and altogether typical peasant approached the throne of her wise and magnificent king.	Juxtaposition	31%
A different form of irony, where the audience understands the true state of affairs but the characters remain unaware.		Dramatic Irony	27%
An interruption in a narrative that goes backward in time.		Flashback	27%
The use of a word that sounds like the noise it describes.	The gate closed with a clang.	Onomatopoeia	27%
An apparently contradictory juxtaposition.	They won, but in doing so they lost.	Paradox	23%
The implications attached to a word.		Connotation	21%
The literal meaning of a word.		Denotation	21%
The use of a word or phrase multiple times.	Echo, echo, echo, echo, echo.	Repetition	21%
The repetition of ideas or images throughout a work.		Motif	19%
The repetition of the same words at the beginning of consecutive clauses or lines.	I came, I saw, I conquered.	Anaphora	18%
A long speech with no audience.		Soliloquy	18%
The use of a part to represent a whole, or a whole to represent a part.	All hands on deck!	Synecdoche	18%
Direct speech to an object or person that is not present in a literary work.	Caesar, Caesar, why did you die two thousand years ago?	Apostrophe	16%
A sound device where the same vowel sounds are repeated in the middle successive words.	The seal creaked and yielded.	Assonance	16%
Imagery that relates to the sense of sight.	The sunset glazed the sky with a shimmering kaleidoscope of azure and orange.	Visual Imagery	16%
The use of line breaks that interrupt a sentence.	The birds sang softly In the green-boughed tree.	Enjambment	15%
A fancy word for word choice.		Diction	13%
A character who is portrayed as the opposite of another character.		Foil	13%
The replacement of one noun with a different noun that is directly related to it.	The pen is mightier than the sword.	Metonymy	13%
The use of similar plot events that are completely unrelated.		Parallelism	13%
A sound device where the same consonant sounds are repeated in the middle successive words.	Grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt.	Consonance	11%
A metaphor that runs through an entire poem as the poem's central device.		Conceit	10%
Imagery that relates to the sense of smell.	The egg smelled sulfurous and rotten.	Olfactory Imagery	10%
Imagery that relates to the sense of touch.	The sandpaper was coarse and dry.	Tactile Imagery	10%
Imagery that relates to the sense of sound.	The twig snapped sharply underfoot.	Auditory Imagery	6%
The use of words or sentences that do not flow well, typically created with hard consonant sounds.	Quickly, his luck ran out, and he was knocked against the granite wall.	Cacophony	6%
A story that is directly based on another piece of art.	Two roads diverged in the busy city, and I—I took the one with slightly fewer cars.	Ekphrasis	6%
The use of words or sentences that flow well and sound pleasant.	The water ran across the velvet leaf.	Euphony	6%
Imagery that relates to the sense of taste.	The grapefruit was sour, and almost bittersweet.	Gustatory Imagery	6%
A story that is told starting in the middle.		In Media Res	6%
A three-part logical argument that involves deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion.	All crows are black. That bird is a crow. Therefore, that bird is black.	Syllogism	6%
Repetition of a phrase or sentence in the reverse order, but not necessarily exactly the same length.	It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.	Chiasmus	5%
Imagery that relates to motion.	The tempest rushed through the trees, sending leaves flying.	Kinesthetic Imagery	5%
Imagery that relates to internal emotion.	Faced with this seemingly unending quiz, you struggle with melancholy and fatigue.	Organic Imagery	5%
The use of multiple words with the same root.	Drifting along with the driftwood's drift.	Polyptoton	5%
The repetition of conjunctions in quick succession.	Here and there and everywhere.	Polysyndeton	5%
A general term for a literary device that emphasizes sound in writing.		Sound Device	5%
The use of one verb to mean two different actions for two different objects.	Weigh your anchor and your vows.	Zeugma	5%
Repetition of a word or phrase in successive clauses.	The mountains look on Marathon—And Marathon looks on the sea...	Anadiplosis	3%
The use of line breaks that do not interrupt a sentence.	Suddenly the birds were silent. The tree was still and worn.	End-Stopping	3%
The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning and end of a clause or sentence.	Trust only in the capacity of man to trust.	Epanalepsis	3%
Repetition of a word in a sentence in which each usage has a different meaning.	To England I will steal, and there I will steal.	Antanaclasis	2%
Repetition of a phrase or sentence in the reverse grammatical order.	Go, will I? I will go.	Antimetabole	2%
The repetition of the same words at the end of consecutive clauses or lines.	Once there was nothing here. We saw opportunity here. Now we are here.	Antistrophe	2%
Repetition for the purpose of emphasizing a point.	O woe! O woeful, woeful, woeful day.	Epimone	2%
The repetition of words in quick succession.	Running, running, running away.	Epizeuxis	2%
The repetition of the same words at the beginning and end of consecutive sentences or lines.	Surely they will break forth in song. Surely the sailors will be drawn in by that siren song. Surely nothing will remain but song.	Symploce	2%
A short, descriptive passage of prose with little to no plot advancement.		Vignette	2%

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English Literary Terms Quiz - Statistics