ALLEGORYA tale in prose or verse in which characters, actions, or settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities. Thus, an allegory has two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

ALLUSION A reference to a person, a place, an event, or a literary work that a writer expects a reader to recognize. Allusions may be drawn from literature, mythology, religion, history, or geography.

ANAPHORAThe deliberaterepetitionof the first part of the sentence in order to achieve an artistic effect.

ANTITHESISA rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect.Antithesis emphasizes the idea ofcontrastby parallel structures of the contrasted phrases or clauses, i.e. the structures of phrases and clauses are similar in order to draw the attention of the listeners or readers.

APOSTROPHE A figure of speech in which an absent or dead person, an abstract quality, or something inanimate or non-human is addressed directly.

ARCHETYPEa typicalcharacter, an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature.

ASYNDETONA stylistic device used in literature and poetry to intentionally eliminate conjunctions between the phrases and in the sentence, yet maintain the grammatical accuracy.

CAESURA A break or pause in a line of poetry, which contributes to the rhythm of the poem. In poetry, there are two types of caesural breaks: feminine and masculine.Thefeminine caesurais a pause that occurs after a non-stressed syllable in a line.The masculine caesura is a pause that occurs after a stressed syllable in a line. A caesura is usually indicated by the symbol//but can be indicated by a single crossed line.

TEST QUESTIONS

“It was thebestof times, it was theworstof times, it was the age ofwisdom, it was the age offoolishness, it was the epoch ofbelief, it was the epoch ofincredulity, it was the season ofLight, it was the season ofDarkness, it was the spring ofhope, it was the winter ofdespair, we hadeverythingbefore us, we hadnothingbefore us, we were all going direct toHeaven, we were all going directthe other way.” (A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens)

  1. Caesura
  2. Antithesis
  3. Conceit
  4. Extended Metaphor

“Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure?”(Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare)

  1. Satire
  2. Polysyndeton
  3. Asyndeton
  4. Anaphora

Animal Farm, written by George Orwell uses animals on a farm to describe the overthrow of the last of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the Communist Revolution of Russia before WW I. The actions of the animals on the farm are used to expose the greed and corruption of the revolution. It also describes how powerful people can change the ideology of a society.

  1. Farce
  2. Metonymy
  3. Parallelism
  4. Allegory

“Learnèd Faustus, to find the secrets of astronomy
Graven in the book of Jove’s high firmament,
Did mount him up to scale Olympus’ top,
Where, sitting in a chariot burning bright,
Drawn by the strength of yokèd dragons’ necks,
He views the clouds, the planets, and the stars.” (Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe)

  1. Archetype
  2. Paradox
  3. Allusion
  4. Apostrophe

“We shallnot flag or fail.We shallgo on to the end.We shallfight in France,we shallfight on the seas and oceans,we shallfight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,we shalldefend our island, whatever the cost may be,we shallfight on the beaches,we shallfight on the landing grounds,we shallfight in the fields and in the streets,we shallfight in the hills.We shallnever surrender.” (Winston Churchill)

  1. Anaphora
  2. Juxtapose
  3. Synecdoche
  4. Parody

“Oh! Stars and clouds and winds, ye are all about to mock me; if ye really pity me, crush sensation and memory; let me become as nought; but if not, depart, depart, and leave me in darkness.” (Frankenstein, Mary Shelly)

  1. Enjambment
  2. Villanelle
  3. Extended Metaphor
  4. Apostrophe

I’m nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us – don’t tell!
They’d banish – you know! (“I’m Nobody! Who Are You?”, Emily Dickenson

  1. Caesura
  2. Denotation
  3. Elegy
  4. Antithesis

Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Warsare each considered a mentor whose task is to protect the main character. It is through the wise advice and training of a mentor that the main character achieves success in the world.

  1. Allegory
  2. Archetype
  3. Pathetic Fallacy
  4. Synethesia

ANSWERS:

Allegory D (Animal Farm)
Allusion C (Doctor Faustus)
Anaphora A (Winston Churchill)
Antithesis B (A Tale of Two Cities)
Apostrophe D (Frankenstein)
Archetype B (Gandalf)
Asyndeton C (Julius Caesar)
Caesura A (I’m Nobody)