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