Literary Devises – How Much Do You Know?

I came across some sites defining literary devices and wondered how many I remembered. It wasn’t nearly as many as I wish it were!

So, to share my sense of shame, I created a quize from the basic ones (I did much better on these thank-you-very-much). Try your hand at the test below. Once you’ve run thru 1-25, highlight the page to see the answers next to each word. Give yourself 4 points for each one you get right. If you’re brave, you’ll let us know how you do 🙂

 

1.	E	ALLEGORY	A. A struggle between opposing forces which is the driving force of a story.
2.	H	ALLUSION	B. The use of words to imitate the sounds they describe.
3.	J	AMPLIFICATION	C. Figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as though.
4.	G	ANALOGY	D. Use of similar or identical language, structures, events or ideas in different parts of a text.
5.	W	ANTHROPOMORPHISM	E. A symbolic representation
6.	N	ASSONANCE	F. Repetition of an idea in a different word, phrase, or sentence.
7.	P	CLIMAX	G. A comparison in which one thing is said to be another.
8.	A	CONFLICT	H. A reference to a famous person or event in life or literature.
9.	R	FOIL	I. Is giving human qualities to animals or objects.
10.	S	FORESHADOWING	J. One of the devices of repetition, in which the same phrase is repeated at the beginning of two or more lines.
11.	O	HYPERBOLE	K. Where a situation is created which cannot possibly exist, because different elements of it cancel each other out.
12.	Y	IMAGERY	L. The identity of the narrative voice; the person or entity through whom the reader experiences the story.
13.	M	METAPOR	M. The comparison of two pairs which have the same relationship.
14.	x	MOTIF	N. The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence.
15.	B	ONOMATOPEIA	O. A description which exaggerates, usually employing extremes and/or superlatives to convey a positive or negative attribute
16.	V	OXYMORON	P. The turning point in a story, at which the end result becomes inevitable, usually where something suddenly goes terribly wrong; the “dramatic high point” of a story.
17.	K	PARADOX	Q. The use of specific objects or images to represent abstract ideas.
18.	D	PARALLELISM	R. A character who is meant to represent characteristics, values, ideas, etc. which are directly and diametrically opposed to those of another character, usually the protagonist.
19.	I	PERSONIFICATION	S. Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story
20.	L	POINT-OF-VIEW	T. The time and place where a story occurs.
21.	T	SETTING	U. The main idea or message conveyed by the piece, usually must be expressed as a complete sentence.
22.	C	SIMILE	V. Putting two contradictory words together.
23.	Q	SYMBOLISM	W. Where animals or inanimate objects are portrayed in a story as people, such as by walking, talking, or being given arms, legs, facial features, human locomotion or other anthropoid form.
24.	F	TAUTOLOGY	X. A recurring important idea or image. can be expressed as a single word or fragmentary phrase
25.	U	THEME	Y. Language which describes something in detail, using words to substitute for and create sensory stimulation, including visual imagery and sound imagery.

 

So? How’d you do?