Review of
Literary Terms
1-35
"Well, sir, I'm Jordan Rivers. And these here are
the Soggy Bottom Boys out of...Mississippi -songs of salvation to salve the soul."
-- delivered by George Clooney (from the movie
'O Brother, Where Art Thou?)
A. alliteration
B. conceit
C. abstract language
D. euphemism
"Our men in uniform are like the college football players.
While the struggle is impending, they are observing the
rules of training that they may be fit to fight. But when
the game has been won, the temptation to break
training and make up for the restraints of the past
months and years will be a mighty one."
-- John D. Rockefeller, Jr., War Campaign Address
A. analogy
B. allusion
C. ellipses
D. irony
"My Republican Party today -- it is not a conservative
Party. It is soft on globalism. It is soft on big
government. It is soft on the 2nd Amendment. It is
soft on life."
-- Pat Buchanan, Radio interview with Rush Limbaugh
A. asyndeton
B. anaphora
C. inference
D. imagery
"The Lord is my
Shepherd. I shall not
want."
-- Psalm 23:1 (KJV)
A. allegory
B. apostrophe
C. cognate
D. figurative language
After hurtling over the handlebars of his mountain
bike, the racer tumbled down a rocky hillside, only
to land in a bed of cactus. He then rolled over and
said, "Boy, am I having a good time!" This illustrates
what figure of speech?
A. apostrophe
B. euphemism
C. anachronism
D. irony
What literary device is used when a
description of Elizabethan poets depicts them
using electronic word processors?
A. hyperbole
B. figurative language
C. anachronism
D. chronological order
If a poet speaks of "the departed"
instead of harshly saying "the
dead" he is using which literary
device?
A. conceit
B. chiasmus
C. euphemism
D. abstract language
Which line illustrates apostrophe as a figure
of speech?
A. So Doc, what's up?
B. And thou, Dejection, begone!
C. Unhand her, you brutish knave!
D. A thousand smiles greeted her.
E. Life is like a box of chocolates.
What figure of speech did Carl Sandburg use
when he wrote of "pigs so thin the farmer had
to tie knots in their tails to keep them from
crawling through the cracks in their pens"?
A. hyperbole
B. abstract language
C. anachronism
D. homily
Tongue twisters usually involve ...
A. assonance
B. cognates
C. alliteration
D. antonyms
Mad world! Mad kings! Mad
composition!---King John, 2.1.561
A. asyndeton
B. anaphora
C. ad hominem argument
D. homily
“But, in a larger sense, we
cannot dedicate, we cannot
consecrate, we cannot hallow
this ground.”
Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
A. analogy
B. asyndeton
C. homily
D. anecdote
"You claim that Mr. Jones is innocent,
but why should anyone listen to you?
You are a Mormon, after all. "
A. allusion
B. ad hominem argument
C. anecdote
D. generalization
“A penny saved is a penny earned”
is an example of ___________.
A. aphorism
B. homily
C. anachronism
D. diction
Why do we drive on a parkway and
park on a driveway?"
"Why do we play at a recital and recite
at a play?"
A. asyndeton
B. alliteration
C. chiasmus
D. conceit
“The evening whispered perfume, the
twilight warmed his eyes, the dancing
melted her inhibitions, the second
burrito grande spoiled his moment.”
A. asyndeton
B. alliteration
C. chiasmus
D. conceit
Alliteration and hyperbole are
examples of _____________.
A. abstract language
B. concrete language
C. figurative language
D. literal language
When you see that the sky is gray,
you can make a/an ________________
that it is likely to rain.
A. inference
B. imagery
C. figurative language
D. literal language
“Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells.”
T.S. Eliot’s use of vivid
or figurative language
to represent objects,
actions, or ideas in
“The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock” is
known as __________.
A. diction
B. aphorism
C. imagery
D. analogy
“Those two sisters are always at each other’s throats.”
The italicized phrase in
the previous sentence
illustrates an example
of __________.
A. generalization
B. hyperbole
C. conceit
D. idiom
“Those two sisters are always at each other’s throats.”
The italicized word in
the previous sentence
illustrates an example
of __________.
A. generalization
B. hyperbole
C. conceit
D. idiom