Review of Literary Terms

Review of Literary Terms

1-351-35

"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. assonanceB. cognatesC. alliterationD. 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 skyLike a patient etherised upon a table;Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,The muttering retreatsOf restless nights in one-night cheap hotelsAnd sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells.”

A. diction

B. aphorism

C. imagery

D. analogy

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 __________.

“Those two sisters are always at each other’s throats.”

A. generalization

B. hyperbole

C. conceit

D. idiom

The italicized phrase in the previous sentence illustrates an example of __________.

“Those two sisters are always at each other’s throats.”

A. generalization

B. hyperbole

C. conceit

D. idiom

The italicized word in the previous sentence illustrates an example of __________.