Literary Terms Quiz

1. Throughout a novel, a cracked watch appears whenever the main character confronts regret about the past. In this context, the watch functions primarily as what?

2. A narrator says, “I tucked the letter into my coat before anyone noticed.” Which point of view is used?

3. In a poem, a grammatical sentence continues past the end of one line without terminal punctuation. What is this technique called?

4. A cautious, rule-following character is repeatedly paired with an impulsive character, making their contrasting traits more noticeable. What is the impulsive character’s likely function?

5. A poem consists of unrhymed lines written mainly in iambic pentameter. What form does it use?

6. Early in a mystery, the narrator briefly mentions that a window latch never closes properly. Later, the culprit enters through that window. The early detail is an example of what?

7. A storyteller insists that every other character is plotting against him, but his account repeatedly conflicts with observable events. What kind of narrator is he?

8. Which metrical pattern consists of five iambs, or five unstressed-stressed pairs, in each line?

9. The sentence “The exhausted house groaned as winter pressed against its walls” primarily uses which device?

10. In a play, the audience knows that a visitor is the missing heir, but the other characters welcome the visitor as a stranger. Which device is being used?

11. Which term best describes the repeated initial consonant sound in “wild winds whipped the water”?

12. A professional locksmith is accidentally locked out of her own home on the day she gives a lecture about secure access. Which term best describes this reversal?

13. What is the term for the central character whose goals and conflicts drive most of a story’s action?

14. A narrator reveals one character’s private hope, another character’s hidden fear, and a third character’s mistaken assumption. Which point of view best fits?

15. Which literary term describes a direct comparison in which one thing is stated to be another?

16. Which term describes a complex character who displays multiple, sometimes conflicting, traits?