Literary Terms
What is characterization?
Descriptions of a character's physical and emotional traits.
Which myth is the play Medea based upon?
Jason and Argonauts
What is iambic pentameter?
Ten syllables of stressed/unstressed in a line of poetry
Which Greek tragedian wrote the play Medea?
Euripides
What genre is also known as the "coming-of-age" story?
Bildungsroman
What is hyperbole?
Exaggeration
What act performed by the Nazis during WWII inspired the writing of Fahrenheit 451?
Book burning
Name the two most common comparative devices.
Simile and metaphor
Which author was the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize?
Alice Walker
Name the four key elements of Romanticism.
Skepticism of science
Love of nature
Individualism
Strong emotions
Provide an example of an oxymoron.
Answers may vary.
What poem inspired the title of the play "A Raisin in the Sun"?
"Harlem" by Langston Hughes
What is a dramatic monologue in poetry?
A speech or narrative by a fictional character in which the character inadvertently reveals their true nature
At 18 years old, which author wrote one of the first science-fiction novels?
Mary Shelley
What kind of novel is told through a series of letters?
Epistolary novel
Provide an example of juxtaposition.
Answers may vary.
Which novel is known for making multiple allusions to the God's creation of Adam?
Frankenstein
What is a villanelle?
19 lines, 5 tercets, 1 quatrain
First and third lines repeat throughout the poem
Fixed form verse
Which Japanese-British author has won both the Man Booker Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature?
Kazuo Ishiguro
What are three of the five elements of a dystopia?
Oppressive government
Propaganda/misinformation
Loss of individuality
What is anaphora?
The repetition of the first part of a sentence. IE It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of reason, it was the age of stupidity...
What is the climax of the novel The Color Purple?
When Celie confronts Mr. Blank after she discovers he has been hiding Nettie's letters.
What is an ekphrastic poem?
A poem inspired by a work of art
Which author, who penned The Sun Also Rises, also penned the celebrated short story "Hills Likes White Elephants"?
Ernest Hemingway
What are the three key elements of a classic Greek tragedy?
Great suffering
Based on myths or historical events
Struggle between Gods and humans