Literary Devices Quiz

What does the literary term "alliteration" refer to?

• The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables

• A brief and indirect reference to a historical, cultural, or literary person, place, thing, or idea

• An exaggerated statement or claim not meant to be taken literally

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

Which example best illustrates the use of "hyperbole"?

• Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

• The morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted.

• At that time Bogotá was a remote, lugubrious city where an insomniac rain had been falling since the beginning of the 16th century.

• Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me.

What is the function of "onomatopoeia" in literature?

• To represent a thing or idea as a person in art or literature

• To compare two unlike things, often introduced by like or as

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

• To express thoughts and ideas in a way that appeals to our five physical senses

Which literary device is used in the phrase "Our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind"?

• Simile

• Metaphor

• Personification

• Meiosis

What does the rhetorical device "Antithesis" involve?

• The use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning

• The rhetorical contrast of ideas by means of parallel arrangements of words, clauses, or sentences

• The omission of conjunctions that ordinarily join coordinate words or clauses

• An inverted relationship between the syntactic elements of parallel phrases

Which example best illustrates the use of "Asyndeton"?

• "I came; I saw; I conquered."

• "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

• "In his face Divine compassion visibly appeared."

• "The pen is mightier than the sword."

What is the primary function of "Irony" as a rhetorical device?

• To modify two or more words in such a manner that it applies to each in a different sense

• To express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning

• To use a part of something to refer to the whole

• To contrast ideas by means of parallel arrangements

Which literary work uses "Zeugma" as demonstrated in the example provided?

• Julius Caesar

• Jane Eyre

• A Tale of Two Cities

• Paradise Lost

What is the primary motivation of the character archetype known as "The Hero"?

• To connect with others

• To leave a mark on the world

• To provide structure to the world

• To yearn for paradise

Which rhetorical appeal is based on logic or reason?

• Ethos

• Kairos

• Logos

• Pathos