Friday, September 27, 2019

Writers’ Quiz by Warren Bull


Writers’ Quiz by Warren Bull
How many of these literary terms can you define before reading the definitions?


Freytag's Pyramid:
A pyramidal diagram of the structure of a dramatic work; symbolizes Gustav Freytag's theory of dramatic structure. This "dramatic arc," as it is known, comprises five parts: exposition (inciting incident), rising action, climax, falling action (resolution), and dénouement.
Metonymy:
A figure of speech in which a word is replaced by something that is associated with it; it may provide a common meaning for that word.

Synecdoche:
A figure of speech by which a part is substituted for the whole (such as "50 sail" for "50 ships"), the whole for a part (such as "society" for "high society"), the species for the genus (such as "cutthroat" for "assassin"), the genus for the species (such as a "creature" for "a man"), or the name of the material for the thing made (such as "boards" for "the stage").
Assonance:

Using words that have the same or very similar vowel sounds near one another (as in "summer fun" and "rise high in the bright sky"); vowels are repeated but consonants are not; popular in poetry and prose.

Anaphora: 
Several consecutive sentences all starting with the same words. For example – I will not give up. I will do it.  I will succeed.
Nut Graf: 
In journalism, the paragraph that contains the main point of the story.
Widows and Orphans: 
In publishing, a “widow” is the last line of a paragraph, printed alone at the top of a page. An “orphan” is the first line of a paragraph, printed alone at the bottom of a page.
Recursive Process:
Moving back and forth between the planning, drafting and revising stages of writing.

Exegesis:
The art of close reading in order to interpret a text. We often utilize this technique for poetry, but for fiction it works as well to tease out the effect of certain words or phrases, uses of repetition, references to earlier events in the text, or hints about what is to come.
Mimesis:
“The Greek word for imitation. . . . A literary work that is understood to be reproducing an external reality or any aspect of it is described as mimetic."
Chris Baldick, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (Oxford UP, 1990)
If you knew any of these, you scored better than I did.



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