Literary Terms-1
Literary Terms-2
Literary Terms-3
Literary Terms-4
Literary Terms-5
100
It occurs when a statement or situation means something different from (or even the opposite of) what is expected.
What is irony
100
An oversimplified conception or image, usually of a group of people, giving them all a set of characteristics, without consideration for individual differences.
What is a stereotype
100
Example: Jumbo shrimp
What is an oxymoron
100

The highest point of intensity in a short story.

What is the climax

100

Example: Don't judge a book by its cover.

What is a cliché

200
A difference between what is said and what is meant.
What is verbal irony. Example: Oh, goody! It's time to do my homework.
200
The word sounds like what it describes.
What is onomatopeia
200
A humorous word or phrase that depends on a double meaning, either from a second meaning of the same word, or from the meaning of another word with a similar sound.
What is a pun
200

A technique used in which a writer will plant clues or subtle indications about events that will happen later in the narrative.

What is foreshadowing

200
Something that stands for something more than itself.
What is a symbol
300
The implied attitude of the writer toward the subject or the audience.
What is the tone
300
Example: I'm going to die if I don't get to see Lady Gaga in concert this year.
What is hyperbole
300
A story or poem that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral.
What is an allegory
300

The insight about life that is revealed in a literary work.

What is theme

300

The dictionary definition of a word

Denotation

400
A statement that is self-contradictory but still speaks the truth.
What is a paradox
400
The specialized language, often technical terms, of a particular group or profession.
What is jargon
400

An indirect reference to something outside the text, usually a person, place, thing, or idea that is generally familiar to the intended audience ..

What is an allusion 

400

A sudden perception, interpretation, or enlightenment experienced by a character in literature.

What is an epiphany

400

Example: He was no Michael Jordan, but he could shoot a basketball.

What is an allusion

500
An address, usually in poetry, to someone, or even to a personified thing or abstract idea that is not present.
What is an apostrophe. Example: Lord Byron's "Apostrophe to the Ocean"
500
A type of poem that does not have any regular, recurring pattern of rhythm or rhyme.
What is free verse
500

Example: Freedom weeps, wrong rules the land, and waiting justice sleeps

What is personification

500

A relatively short narrative poem, written to be sung, with a simple and dramatic action

What is a ballad 

500

An idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning. 

What is the connotation of a word.