Free Literary Terms and Devices MCQs with Answers

• A. Ordinary speech
• B. Blank verse
• C. Rhyming verse
• D. Non-English word use

Explanation: Prose is language arranged in ordinary grammatical sentences rather than in metrical lines, so it resembles everyday speech.

• A. The same as an iamb with an unstressed and stressed syllable in a foot
• B. The opposite of an iamb with a stressed and then unstressed syllable in a foot
• C. Only one syllable for the length of a foot
• D. None of the above

Explanation: A trochee reverses the normal iambic pattern: it begins with a stressed syllable and ends with an unstressed one, as in “TAble.” An iamb…

• A. Prose
• B. Unrhymed iambic pentameter
• C. Rhyming verse
• D. Rhyming couplets

Explanation: Blank verse is metrical verse without end rhyme, most commonly written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

• A. The length of a written line
• B. The measured pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
• C. The height of the stage
• D. The number of words in a line

Explanation: Meter is the organized rhythm of verse, created by recurring patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.

• A. a kind of physical ailment
• B. a kind of vitamin
• C. a brother's attraction towards his sister
• D. a son's attraction towards his mother

Explanation: The Oedipus complex, a term coined by Freud, refers to a son's unconscious sexual attraction towards his mother, accompanied by rivalry…

• A. Spenserian Stanza
• B. Ballad
• C. Ottava Rima
• D. Rhyme Royal

Explanation: Ottava rima consists of eight-line stanzas, normally using eleven-syllable lines and the rhyme scheme abababcc.

• A. Oxymoron
• B. Metaphor
• C. Simile
• D. Synecdoche

Explanation: The phrase joins apparently contradictory terms: “unfaithful” with “faith” and “falsely” with “true.” This deliberate contradiction is an…

• A. Kubla Khan
• B. Biographia Literaria
• C. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• D. Christabel

Explanation: Coleridge discussed the phrase “willing suspension of disbelief” in Biographia Literaria, explaining how readers accept supernatural…

• A. one who is in agony.
• B. one who inflicts agony.
• C. one who struggles for or champions a cause.
• D. one who predicts the future.

Explanation: The Greek agonistes refers to a person who struggles or fights for a cause, which suits Milton’s title Samson Agonistes.

• A. An Epic Council
• B. An "Arming of the Hero" Scene
• C. A "Tragic Recognition" Speech
• D. An Invocation to the Muse

Explanation: An epic commonly includes a Muse invocation, an arming scene, and a council of divine or supernatural beings.