Free Literary Terms and Devices MCQs with Answers

• A. lyric
• B. free verse
• C. narrative
• D. none of the above

Explanation: A narrative poem presents a story, so it normally includes events, characters, and a setting.

• A. alliteration
• B. simile
• C. onomatopoeia
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Onomatopoeia uses a word whose sound imitates or suggests the sound it describes, such as “buzz,” “hiss,” or “clang.” Alliteration repeats…

• A. metaphor
• B. simile
• C. personification
• D. none of the above

Explanation: A metaphor directly identifies one unlike thing with another, without “like” or “as,” as in “Time is a thief.” A simile makes the…

• A. personification
• B. onomatopoeia
• C. alliteration
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Personification gives human actions, emotions, or qualities to non-human things, as in “the wind whispered.” The other options concern…

• A. rhyme scheme
• B. meter
• C. alliteration
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Meter is the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poetic line.

• A. Alliteration
• B. Haiku
• C. Hyperbole
• D. Prose

Explanation: Hyperbole is deliberate and extreme exaggeration used for emphasis or effect.

• A. Onomatopeia
• B. Metonymy
• C. Alliteration
• D. Hyperbole

Explanation: Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration used for emphasis or emotional force, as when a poet magnifies an action or feeling beyond literal…

• A. Personification
• B. Hyperboles
• C. Alliteration
• D. Onomatopoeia

Explanation: Onomatopoeia uses words that imitate or suggest natural sounds, such as “buzz,” “hiss,” or “clang.” Alliteration repeats initial consonant…

• A. No difference. Simply two different ways in referring to the same thing.
• B. A simile is more descriptive.
• C. A simile uses as or like to make a comparison and a metaphor doesn't.
• D. A simile must use animals in the comparison.

Explanation: A simile makes an explicit comparison using “like” or “as,” whereas a metaphor presents one thing as another without those comparison…

• A. Language Arts
• B. Peter Piper Picked Peppers
• C. I like music
• D. A beautiful scenery with music

Explanation: Alliteration repeats the initial consonant sound in nearby words. “Peter Piper Picked Peppers” strongly repeats the /p/ sound, while the…

• A. imagery
• B. personification
• C. metaphor
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Imagery uses descriptive language to create a sensory impression, appealing to sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch.

• A. metaphor
• B. simile
• C. personification
• D. none of the above

Explanation: A simile compares unlike things explicitly with “like” or “as,” such as “brave as a lion.” A metaphor makes the comparison directly…

• A. rhyme
• B. onomatopoeia
• C. alliteration
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant sound in nearby words, as in “wild and woolly.” Rhyme concerns repeated ending…

• A. alliteration
• B. onomatopoiea
• C. rhyme
• D. none of the above

Explanation: Rhyme repeats similar sounds, usually at the ends of lines or words. Alliteration repeats beginning consonant sounds, whereas onomatopoeia…

• A. Assonance
• B. Onomatopaea
• C. Rhyme
• D. Grammar

Explanation: Assonance, onomatopoeia, and rhyme are sound devices that can create musical or aesthetic effects in poetry.

• A. a novel that traces women's intellectual developments
• B. an artist's novel of awakening
• C. an artist's journey in which he always abandons his art
• D. a novel in which the hero solves a crime

Explanation: A kunstlerroman is a form of bildungsroman centred on an artist's development and awakening.

• A. A traditional type of poetry rejected by Dante in favor of new rhyme schemes
• B. A form of blank verse
• C. A poetic form with an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme
• D. A poetic form with five-line stanzas

Explanation: Terza rima uses three-line units whose rhymes interlock, commonly represented as ABA BCB CDC.

• A. The idea that the punishment fits the crime
• B. The poetic verse form used in Vita Nuova
• C. The structure of the cantos in The Divine Comedy
• D. The theme of love and lust in The Divine Comedy

Explanation: Contrapasso is the principle that a sinner's punishment mirrors or appropriately reverses the sin committed.

• A. Allegory
• B. Metonymy
• C. Synesthesia
• D. Simile

Explanation: The phrase combines sight with sound: the sun is normally seen, but here it is described as silent.

• A. The ability to move from purgatory into heaven
• B. The translation of culture from one civilization to another
• C. The movement from one circle of hell to another
• D. The idea that the punishment fits the crime

Explanation: Translatio studii means the transfer of learning, culture, or intellectual authority from one civilization to another, often imagined as…