Components of literary works
Figures of Speech
Genre
Author and Text
Miscellaneous
100

This term refers to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry.

What is meter?

100

This figure of speech compares two unlike things using “like” or “as.”

What is simile?

100

This genre presents ordinary life with exaggerated or comic treatment to highlight societal absurdities.

What is comedy?

100

A romantic poet wrote “To Autumn,” often read as one of the most formally perfect odes in English.

Who is John Keats?

100

This term refers to a story’s central message or idea. 

What is theme?

200

A poem’s end-of-line sound repetition.

What is rhyme?

200

“The pen is mightier than the sword” is an example of this device, where one thing stands for another.

What is metaphor?

200

This genre is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel, often focusing on a single incident or character arc.

What is novella?

200

This American writer drew on her own experience with the “rest cure” when writing The Yellow Wallpaper.

Who is Charlotte Gilman?

200

A story told from the “I” point of view uses this narrative perspective.

What is first person narration?

300

The struggle between opposing forces in a narrative is called this.

What is conflict?

300

When an author gives human qualities to nonhuman objects, it’s called this.

What is personification?

300

This genre uses suspense, crime, and investigation to explore human morality and social order.

What is detective fiction?

300

Unlike later adaptations, Euripides’ Medea uniquely grants its protagonist this divine means of escape.

What is deus ex machina?

300

The emotional atmosphere created by a text is known as this.

What is mood?

400

This element refers to the sequence of events in a story.

What is plot?

400

Opposite words placed next to each other in a line e.g. Man is a noble savage.

What is oxymoron?

400

Works in this genre focus on heroic quests, battles, and the fate of entire peoples or civilizations.

What is epic?

400

“The Unknown Citizen” was written by this Anglo-American poet who later became a U.S. citizen.

Who is W.H. Auden?

400

A narrator whose credibility is compromised by bias, limited knowledge, or instability is described using this term.

What is unreliable narrator?

500

The time and place of a story make up this element.

What is setting?

500

Calling a slow-moving student “Einstein” is an example of this figure of speech.

What is irony?

500

This genre focuses on futuristic science and technology.

What is sci-fi?

500

First published in 1892, The Yellow Wallpaper is now considered a foundational text of this literary movement.

What is feminism?

500

This term refers to the author’s attitude toward the subject or audience, often inferred from diction and style.

What is tone?

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