Pandora's Box - Literary Terms - Statistics

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The average score is 54 of 144

Answer Stats

Question	Answer	% Correct
A novel that explores the maturation of the protagonist, with the narrative usually moving the main character from childhood into adulthood.	bildungsroman	71%
An expression or language construction appropriate only for casual, informal speaking or writing.	colloquialism	71%
Similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases or clauses.	parallelism	71%
A short narrative scene or description, often one in a series.	vignette	71%
A reference to something appearing elsewhere in history, culture, or literature.	allusion	57%
A protagonist with villainous qualities who nevertheless can be relatively sympathetic in a narrative.	antihero	57%
A word that has the opposite meaning of another.	antonym	57%
The repetition of a vowel sound in a sentence or line of poetry.	assonance	57%
A sung poem that recounted a dramatic story.	ballad	57%
A pause in the middle of a line of poetry.	caesura	57%
An agent committing action in a narrative, usually human, but not necessarily so.	character	57%
The method by which the author builds, or reveals, a character; it can be direct or indirect.	characterization	57%
Experiences a change in personality, attitude, or behavior during the course of the narrative.	dynamic	57%
Appears at the end of a line of poetry, the most common type of rhyme.	end rhyme	57%
A quotation preceding a work of literature that helps set the text’s mood or suggests its themes.	epigraph	57%
A character’s transformative moment of realization.	epiphany	57%
Narrative scene in which action previously unrevealed takes place.	flashback	57%
Poetry with no rhyme or set meter.	free verse	57%
The major category in which a literary work fits.	genre	57%
Common tragic flaw of protagonists.	hubris	57%
The most common meter in English poetry; has roughly ten syllables with the accents on even syllables.	iambic pentameter	57%
Latin for “in the middle of things.”	in medias res	57%
A short poem expressing the personal feelings of a first-person speaker.	lyric	57%
Speech delivered by a character in a play, usually with other characters present.	monologue	57%
An eight-line stanza.	octet	57%
A seemingly self-contradictory term or phrase.	oxymoron	57%
A brief, symbolic story whose purpose is to instruct.	parable	57%
A work that mocks another text by closely modeling its style and content.	parody	57%
A work of prose or poetry intended for performance on a stage.	play	57%
The central character of a literary work.	protagonist	57%
A play on words that derives its humor from the replacement of one word with another that has similar pronunciation or spelling but a different meaning.	pun	57%
Narrative in which the characters, setting, and events are all symbolic.	allegory	43%
A device in which the initial sound of a word is repeated at least twice in a line of poetry or in a sentence.	alliteration	43%
Stylistic approach in a literary work whereby the text’s lack of clarity allows for multiple, even conflicting interpretations.	ambiguity	43%
A resemblance drawn between two items.	analogy	43%
A clever, brief observation about some aspect of life, also called a maxim or a saying.	aphorism	43%
A satiric dramatic form that lampoons social conventions; the highest level of comedy.	comedy of manners	43%
In a poem, two consecutive rhyming lines.	couplet	43%
Dialogue or narration written to simulate regional or cultural speech patterns.	dialect	43%
Word choice; the most basic element of a text.	diction	43%
Harsh, unpleasant sounds, especially in poetry.	dissonance	43%
Poem in which a character speaks as if delivering a soliloquy.	dramatic monologue	43%
A contemplative poem, on death and mortality, often written for someone who has died.	elegy	43%
Long narrative poem, usually featuring a larger-than-life hero who takes a journey during which he receives divine intervention.	epic poem	43%
Part of a narrative during which characters, setting, and initial action are explained. A good bulk of a story’s exposition takes place near the beginning.	exposition	43%
A metaphor that continues over several lines or throughout an entire literary work.	extended metaphor	43%
Part of a narrative that moves from the climax to the denouement	falling action	43%
Underdeveloped character, one-dimensional and predictable.	flat	43%
A narrative that, even in retrospect, symbolically predicted something in the narrative’s future.	foreshadowing	43%
Refers to the defining structural characteristics of a work, especially a poem.	form	43%
The protagonist of a narrative.	hero/heroine	43%
Exaggeration for effect.	hyperbole	43%
The most common metrical foot in English poetry.	iamb	43%
A description of how something looks, feels, tastes, smells, or sounds.	imagery	43%
Appears within one line of poetry.	internal rhyme	43%
It is created by alteration of the standard English word order of a subject being followed by a verb and its object in a declarative sentence.	inversion	43%
A recurring pattern of images and symbols.	motif	43%
A relatively brief novel, usually not exceeding 200 pages.	novella	43%
A figure of speech in which natural sounds are imitated in the sounds or words.	onomatopoeia	43%
A seemingly self-contradictory statement that upon closer scrutiny actually reveals a truth.	paradox	43%
A work written in verse rather than prose.	poem	43%
The perspective from which a narrative is told.	point of view	43%
Any literary work that is not poetry, but is written in sentences and paragraphs.	prose	43%
A line, lines, or a stanza in a poem that repeat(s) at intervals.	refrain	43%
Usually, the repetition of final sounds in words at set intervals.	rhyme	43%
The pattern of rhyme occurring in a poem, usually listed as a sequence of alphabetical letters (e.g. ABABCDCDEFEFGG) in which like letters indicate end rhyme.	rhyme scheme	43%
Appears after the exposition of a narrative. In this part of a story, complications begin to arise for the characters.	rising action	43%
A six-line stanza.	sestet	43%
The time and place of a narrative.	setting	43%
Occurs when events in a story take an unexpected turn, but one can still understand how the events could have happened.	situational irony	43%
The character who is currently delivering lines.	speaker	43%
Explain how the stage is set, where and when the actors should move, and, occasionally, in what manner the actors should deliver their lines.	stage directions	43%
An object, setting, event, or flat character that represents an idea.	symbol	43%
A three-line stanza.	tercet	43%
The universal truth, observation about life, or main idea of a literary work.	theme	43%
The narrator’s attitude toward her subject.	tone	43%
The personality defect that leads the hero in a play to make an error in judgment.	tragic flaw	43%
A character who possesses a flaw or commits an error in judgment that leads to his or her downfall and a reversal of fortune.	tragic hero	43%
Occurs when someone means the opposite of what she says.	verbal irony	43%
A broad term, refers to a piece of writing that is metered and rhythmic.	verse	43%
The repetition of a word or phrase for rhetorical effect.	anaphora	29%
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.	antecedent	29%
A sudden decline in tension, especially with comic effect or ironic disappointment.	anticlimax	29%
Statement in which two opposites are paired to make a point.	antithesis	29%
A symbol so ancient and fundamental that its meaning is understood by the unconscious mind, even without contextual explanation.	archetype	29%
The emotional mood created by the entirety of a literary work, established partly by the setting and partly by the author’s choice of objects that are described.	atmosphere	29%
Unrhymed iambic pentameter verse – formal, but still conversational.	blank verse	29%
Long section of an epic poem.	canto	29%
A representation, especially pictorial or literary, in which the subject’s distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect.	caricature	29%
The audience’s release of pity and fear once the tragic hero of a play has experienced a downfall.	catharsis	29%
An extended metaphor continuing from an initial comparison.	conceit	29%
The implied, rather than direct meaning of a word.	connotation	29%
The literal definition of a word, often referred to as the “dictionary definition.”	denotation	29%
French for “unknotting,” this final segment of a narrative follows the climax and “winds things up” in the story.	denouement	29%
Occurs when the audience knows something that a character doesn’t.	dramatic irony	29%
Divides its discussion among three quatrains and a final couplet.	english sonnet	29%
A short, witty statement designed to surprise and audience or a reader.	epigram	29%
From the Greek for “good speech,” this is a more agreeable or less offensive substitute for generally unpleasant words or concepts.	euphemism	29%
Absurd type of comedy that involves flat characters, slapstick action, and ridiculous misunderstandings.	farce	29%
A device used to produce figurative language.	figure of speech	29%
A contrasting character who allows the protagonist to stand out more distinctly.	foil	29%
A metric distinguished by the number of syllables it contains and how stress is placed on the syllables – stressed (´) or unstressed (˘).	foot	29%
An unexpected but fitting twist in a narrative.	irony	29%
Divides its discussion between an octave and a sestet.	italian sonnet	29%
Placing dissimilar items, descriptions, or ideas close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast	juxtaposition	29%
A literary device that sets up a striking analogy between two entities that would not usually invite comparison, often drawing connections between the physical and spiritual.	metaphysical conceit	29%
The formal, regular organization of stressed and unstressed syllables, measured in feet.	meter	29%
Satirical work that parodies the form of the epic poem.	mock epic	29%
The telling of a story or an account of an event or series of events.	narrative	29%
A plot device in which the author places the main narrative of his or her work within another narrative	narrative frame	29%
A poem of praise and dedication.	ode	29%
When, in a narrative, the protagonist’s fortunes take an unforeseen turn.	reversal	29%
A brief work of fictional prose invented roughly in the early 1800s.	short story	29%
Also called “near rhyme,” words at the ends of poem lines that almost but don’t quite rhyme. Not necessarily a weakness in the poem.	slant rhyme	29%
A poetic closed form devised during the early renaissance by the Italian writer Petrarch.	sonnet	29%
A type of flat character based on a stereotype; one who falls into an immediately recognizable category or type – such as the absentminded professor or the town drunk – and thus resists unique characterization.	stock	29%
Type of narration that mimics the mind’s free flow of thought.	stream of consciousness	29%
The organization of a work.	structure	29%
A poetic blending of sensory images.	synesthesia	29%
A serious dramatic work in which the protagonist experiences a series of unfortunate reversals due to some character trait.	tragedy	29%
The presentation of something as being smaller, worse, or less important than it actually is.	understatement	29%
Techniques by which writers manipulate language for effect.	wordplay	29%
The opponent of a narrative’s protagonist or hero.	antagonist	14%
An address to something as if it were human, or an address to someone not present.	apostrophe	14%
Quality of spoken text formed from combing the text’s rhythm with the rise and fall in the inflection of the speaker’s voice.	cadence	14%
In a narrative, the point of irreversible action, when what is done cannot be undone.	climax	14%
A play in which a temporarily unstable situation is restored to order by the end.	comedy	14%
The written depiction of conversation between characters.	dialogue	14%
A line of poetry that continues its sentence into the next line without a break.	enjambment	14%
A poem, speech, or other work written in great praise of something or someone, usually a person no longer living.	eulogy	14%
Writing or speech that is not intended to carry literal meaning and is usually meant to be imaginative and vivid.	figurative language	14%
A story within a story.	frame narrative	14%
A figure of speech in which something is represented by another thing that is related to it.	metonymy	14%
The emotional atmosphere of a work, especially the emotional undercurrents of a setting.	mood	14%
A voice and viewpoint that an author adopts in order to deliver a story or poem.	persona	14%
The instilling of human characteristics in something nonhuman.	personification	14%
A more developed, complex character.	round	14%
From the Greek meaning “to tear flesh," involves bitter, caustic language that is meant to hurt or ridicule someone or something.	sarcasm	14%
Comic work in which the foibles of society are addressed and mocked.	satire	14%
Imagery in which the part stands for the whole or vice versa.	synecdoche	14%
A direct comparison of two unlike things.	metaphor	0%
An indirect comparison between two unlike things.	simile	0%
Lines in a poem that the poet has chosen to group together, usually separated from other lines by a space.	stanza	0%
Character that remains the same throughout a work.	static	0%

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