Literary Devices Quiz

What is a hyperbole?

• A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

• Exaggerated statements not meant to be taken literally.

• A comparison using like or as.

• The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named.

What is personification?

• The ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem.

• The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman.

• A poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.

• A joke exploiting the different possible meanings of a word.

What is a refrain in poetry?

• A complete thought or phrase appears on a single line followed by punctuation.

• A line or group of lines that regularly repeat, usually at the end of a stanza in a poem or at the end of a verse in a song.

• The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.

• The occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.

What is enjambment?

• A sentence that ends with a punctuation mark.

• A phrase that continues beyond the end of a line, without punctuation at the end of the line

• A rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line.

• A figure of speech involving exaggeration.

What is the purpose of a rhyme scheme in poetry?

• To create a pattern of sounds that enhances the meaning of the poem.

• To repeat the same line or phrase several times within a poem.

• To compare two unlike things without using like or as.

• To attribute human qualities to nonhuman things.

What is an oxymoron?

• A figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.

• A type of metaphor that uses exaggeration for effect.

• A form of wordplay that suggests two or more meanings.

• The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words.

What does onomatopoeia refer to?

• A situation in which there is a contrast between expectation and reality.

• The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named.

• A poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.

• The voice of the poem, similar to a narrator in fiction.

What does the term 'caesura' refer to in poetry?

• A type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines.

• A metrical pause or break in a verse where one phrase ends and another phrase begins.

• The operating language of poetry.

• Instances where a sentence can have multiple possible interpretations.

What does 'syntax' refer to?

• A rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought and/or emotion.

• The way words are put together in a sentence; sentence structure

• A metrical pause or break in a verse.

• The literal or primary meaning of a word.

What is 'ambiguity' in literature?

• A type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines.

• Instances where a sentence, literary work, or piece of media can have multiple possible interpretations.

• A metrical pause or break in a verse.

• The operating language of poetry.