Literary Terms Crossword Puzzle Answers

Question: Allegory

Answer: story in which characters, things, or actions represent or lead to a strong moral or lesson

Question: Allusion

Answer: literary reference to a familiar thing

Question: Analogy

Answer: comparison of two or more similar objects

Question: Anecdote

Answer: short summary of a humorous event to make a point

Question: Antagonist

Answer: person or things working against the main character or hero of a story

Question: Autobiography

Answer: author's own account of his or her own life

Question: Biography

Answer: story of a person's life written by someone else

Question: Conflict

Answer: the problem; something verses something else

Question: Denouement

Answer: outcome of the story

Question: dialogue

Answer: direct conversation between characters

Question: Epic

Answer: long narrative poem that tells the great deeds of a hero

Question: Epiphany

Answer: the moment of sudden understanding

Question: Epitaph

Answer: short verse written in memory of someone

Question: Essay

Answer: kind of writing that expresses a person's viewpoint

Question: Exaggeration

Answer: stretching the truth

Question: Expository

Answer: kind of writing that explains something

Question: Fable

Answer: short, fictional story usually involving animals that teach a lesson

Question: Flashback

Answer: an event from the past presented in the present, out of order in the story

Question: Foreshadowing

Answer: Giving hints or clues about what will come later in the story

Question: Genre

Answer: category or type (of literature)

Question: Gothic

Answer: characterized by mystery, castles, supernatural events, old mansions, etc.

Question: Hyperbole

Answer: figure of speech that is an exaggeration or overstatement

Question: Imagery

Answer: words chosen to paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind

Question: Irony

Answer: words or phrases that convey the opposite meaning or expected outcome

Question: Malapropism

Answer: humorous play on words resulting from two similar words being misused

Question: Metaphor

Answer: figure of speech that is a comparison without using "like" or "as"

Question: Mood

Answer: Feeling of the story (happy, sad, tense, suspenseful, etc.)

Question: Moral

Answer: the lesson of the story

Question: Motif

Answer: often-repeated idea in a story

Question: Narrator

Answer: person telling the story

Question: Novel

Answer: lengthy, fictional, written story

Question: Novella

Answer: story longer than a short story, but not as long or complex as a novel

Question: Omnicient

Answer: point of view in which the reader knows all thoughts, feelings, and actions of all the characters

Question: Oxymoron

Answer: combination of contradictory terms (jumbo shrimp)

Question: Paradox

Answer: statement that seems contrary to truth but may be true

Question: Parody

Answer: story that uses humorous excessive exaggeration to mock something

Question: Personification

Answer: figure of speech where an inanimate object or animal is given human characteristics

Question: Plot

Answer: sequence of events in a story

Question: Protagonist

Answer: main character of the story

Question: Quest

Answer: series of events in search of something

Question: Sarcasm

Answer: using false praise to mock someone or something

Question: Satire

Answer: Literary device used to make fun of human weaknesses

Question: Setting

Answer: Where the action takes place

Question: Simile

Answer: figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared using "like" or "as"

Question: Soliloquy

Answer: monologue revealing the thoughts of a character, usually alone on a stage

Question: Stereotype

Answer: characterizing a person by the general qualities of a group of people, without individuality

Question: Symbol

Answer: person, place, thing, or event that stands for something else

Question: Theme

Answer: main idea; the point; a statement (usually about life or the human condition)

Question: Tragedy

Answer: story in which the hero is destroyed

Question: Understatement

Answer: figure of speech in which something is emphasized by presenting it as less than what it is