Literary Contrasts
When an author places opposing images or ideas side by side to highlight differences, the technique is:
A. Juxtaposition
B. Metaphor
C. Hyperbole
D. Allusion
A — Juxtaposition
Definition: Placing elements close together for comparison or contrast.
Which poetic form traditionally contains 14 lines?
A. Ballad
B. Ode
C. Sonnet
D. Villanelle
C — Sonnet
Definition: A 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme.
The Sit-Stand Chain
Challenge:
All team members sit in chairs in a line. Everyone must stand up at the exact same time without using their hands or voices.
Rules
Hands must stay behind backs.
Everyone must stand within 3 seconds of each other.
Win Condition:
All players stand simultaneously without using hands or voices.
Name 10 literary devices
Sample answers include:
metaphor, simile, irony, symbolism, imagery, hyperbole, allusion, personification, foreshadowing, juxtaposition, paradox, motif... etc.
About how many college students in the U.S. change their major at least once?
A. About 10%
B. About 30%
C. About 50%
D. About 80%
Answer: D
Research suggests around 80% of college students change their major at least once
Authors often contrast settings such as a forest and a town. What idea does this contrast most commonly suggest?
A. Civilization imposes rules that nature does not.
B. Rural environments are safer than urban environments.
C. People behave differently in unfamiliar settings.
D. Communities depend on cooperation to survive.
A - Definition: Archetypal contrasts often use nature vs civilization to highlight freedom versus social order.
The shift in argument or tone in a sonnet is called the:
A. Couplet
B. Volta
C. Meter
D. Refrain
B — Volta
Definition: The turning point in a poem’s argument.
The Pencil Balance
Challenge:
Each team member balances a pencil on the back of their hand.
Rules
Hands must stay flat.
No touching the pencil once balanced.
Win Condition:
All pencils stay balanced for 10 seconds at the same time.
Name 10 verbs you could use to describe contrast in literary analysis
Sample answers include:
contrasts, juxtaposes, highlights, emphasizes, reveals, complicates, challenges, undermines, exposes, reinforces, develops, complicates, etc.
Which of these actually happened as a college prank?
A. Students turned a dorm hallway into a bowling alley overnight
B. Students put a campus police car on top of a university dome
C. Students filled a library with thousands of rubber ducks
D. Students replaced classroom chairs with exercise balls
Answer: B
MIT students famously placed a full police car on the roof of the Great Dome as part of a campus prank tradition known as “hacks.”
When George Orwell contrasts Winston’s memories of the past with the Party’s official history in Nineteen Eighty-Four, the contrast most clearly suggests that:
A. personal memory can challenge systems built on propaganda.
B. historical knowledge is less important than political stability.
C. Winston’s childhood experiences shape his political rebellion.
D. technological progress has weakened society’s connection to the past.
A - Definition: Contrasts often highlight conflicts between individual experience and institutional power.
Poetry without consistent rhyme or meter is known as:
A. Blank verse
B. Free verse
C. Heroic verse
D. Lyric verse
B — Free verse
Definition: Poetry that does not follow a fixed meter or rhyme scheme.
The Book Balance Relay
Challenge:
Each player must balance a book on their head and walk 5 steps forward and 5 steps back.
Rules
Hands behind back.
If the book falls, the round ends.
Win Condition:
All team members complete the walk without dropping the book.
Name 10 poetic devices or sound techniques
Sample answers include:
alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, slant rhyme, meter, rhythm, repetition, refrain, enjambment, caesura, onomatopoeia, etc.
According to surveys of U.S. college students, how much sleep does the average college student get per night?
A. About 4 hours
B. About 5–6 hours
C. About 7–8 hours
D. About 9 hours
Answer: B
Studies commonly find college students average about 5–6 hours of sleep per night, especially during busy academic periods.
When Charles Yu contrasts Willis’s real life with the stereotypical roles he performs in Interior Chinatown, the contrast most clearly reveals that:
A. social stereotypes limit how others recognize Willis’s identity.
B. television narratives provide escape from everyday life.
C. ambition is difficult to achieve in competitive industries.
D. cultural expectations influence career opportunities.
Answer: A - Definition: Contrasts between identity and assigned roles reveal pressures of social perception.
When the grammatical sentence continues beyond the line break, the technique is:
A. Caesura
B. Enjambment
C. Refrain
D. Assonance
B — Enjambment
Definition: A line of poetry that continues into the next without pause.
he Chair Lift
Challenge:
The team must lift one teammate off the ground using only two fingers each.
Rules
Everyone must use only their index fingers.
Person must be fully lifted for 3 seconds.
Win Condition:
Teammate is clearly lifted off the floor and held for 3 seconds.
Name 10 ways authors develop characterization
Sample answers include:
actions, dialogue, thoughts, physical description, reactions of other characters, narrator commentary, internal conflict, relationships, decisions, motivations, backstory, symbolic comparisons, etc.
Which of these is a real college course that has been offered at universities?
A. The Philosophy of Pokémon
B. The Physics of Star Wars
C. Taylor Swift and Her World
D. All of the above
Answer: D
All of these have been offered as real university courses in recent years.
When Baldwin contrasts the narrator’s controlled life with Sonny’s improvisational life in Sonny's Blues, the contrast most clearly reveals that:
A. emotional understanding sometimes requires vulnerability and expression.
B. artistic lifestyles create conflict within traditional families.
C. social expectations often discourage creative careers.
D. siblings often develop different responses to shared trauma.
Answer: A - Definition: Contrasts between characters often reveal different ways of confronting suffering.
A villanelle is a poetic form used in poems such as Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. Which structural feature most clearly defines a villanelle?
A. A poem of fourteen lines with a turning point between two sections.
B. A poem that follows a strict meter but does not rhyme.
C. A poem built around repeated lines and a fixed rhyme pattern.
D. A poem written without regular rhyme or meter.
Answer: C - Definition: A villanelle is a 19-line poem that repeats two refrains in a fixed rhyme scheme.
The Group Sit-Down
Challenge:
All students stand in a circle arms locked behind each other's backs.
They must sit down on the floor together.
Win Condition:
Everyone reaches the floor without breaking the circle.
Name 10 types of figurative language
Sample answers include:
metaphor, simile, symbolism, personification, hyperbole, paradox, oxymoron, allusion, metonymy, synecdoche, understatement, extended metaphor, etc.
According to national surveys, about what percentage of college students say they met one of their closest friends during their first year?
A. About 20%
B. About 40%
C. About 60%
D. About 80%
Answer: D
Surveys of college alumni report around 70–80% of students form lifelong friendships during their first year, often with roommates or dorm neighbors.