Literary Jargon

What do you think an allegory is?

• Something said twice, with other words

• The repetition of sounds at the beginning of words

• A story told by means of another story

• A long narrative poem

Give an example of alliteration.

Answer explanation

Alliteration is the repetition of sound at the start of a word: the cold 'winter wind' for example.

A 'ballad' is a simple narrative poem that is meant to be sung.

• True

• False

What is an 'epic'?

• A short narrative poem

• A story about deeds of heroes

• A poem of 11 words

• A long narrative poem about the deeds of heroes

What sort/type of characters do we find in a 'fable'?

What is 'imagery'?

• Figurative language use

• The use of images in books/poems/stories

• 

Which of these are different types of irony?

• Verbal irony

• Sarcastic irony

• Funny irony

• Dramatic irony

What is verbal irony?

• Irony using words

• The writer writes the opposite of what he means

• The writer writes exactly what he means

• The same as sarcasm

This next example is NOT an example of dramatic irony: Miss Abbot’s words to the 10-year-old Jane Eyre “And you ought not to think yourself on an equality with the Misses Reed and Master Reed....They will have a great deal of money and you will have none.” At the end of the novel Jane marries the upper-class Mr Rochester and  inherits money. 

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Dramatic irony is when the speaker’s words receive extra meaning in the context of a story, of which he himself is unaware.

What is a metaphor?

• The presentation of abstract ideas/lifeless objects as human beings, giving them human qualities.

• A comparison introduced by ‘as’ or ‘like’. 

• The use of words going beyond their literal meaning.