Figures of Speech and Prosody MCQs 2026

The Shakespearean (English) sonnet rhyme scheme is

1. A abba abba cde cde ✓
2. B abab cdcd efef gg ✓
3. C aabb ccdd eeff gg ✓
4. D abc abc def def ✓

The Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet typically divides into

1. A three quatrains and a couplet only ✓
2. B six couplets without an octave ✓
3. C an octave (abbaabba) and a sestet ✓
4. D free verse with no volta ✓

A caesura is

1. A a run-on line without pause at the end ✓
2. B the final rhyming word of a couplet ✓
3. C a type of end-stopped stanza only ✓
4. D a pause or break within a line of poetry ✓

In "The fog crept silently on little cat feet," the fog is

1. A a simile using like or as ✓
2. B pure alliteration without figure ✓
3. C a heroic couplet ✓
4. D personified ✓

"Life is a journey" is primarily a

1. A simile ✓
2. B assonance ✓
3. C caesura ✓
4. D metaphor ✓

Consonance resembles alliteration but repeats

1. A only vowels in unstressed syllables ✓
2. B consonant sounds especially at word ends or within words ✓
3. C the same rhyme letter at line ends only ✓
4. D metrical accents without sound ✓

An apostrophe in poetry is

1. A omitting the final letter of a verb ✓
2. B a punctuation mark only with no figure involved ✓
3. C a type of Italian sonnet ✓
4. D addressing an absent person, dead figure, or abstraction ✓

Synecdoche uses

1. A a part to represent the whole or vice versa ✓
2. B human traits for nature only ✓
3. C like or as for comparison ✓
4. D unrhymed pentameter ✓

End-stopped lines

1. A always run on to the next line ✓
2. B pause at the end with punctuation, completing a unit of sense ✓
3. C never use commas or periods ✓
4. D require slant rhyme only ✓

Slant rhyme (near rhyme) is

1. A perfect identity of vowel and consonant at line end ✓
2. B approximate rhyme where sounds are similar but not identical ✓
3. C absence of any rhyme in blank verse ✓
4. D a pause marked by a comma only ✓

The meter of "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" is predominantly

1. A trochaic tetrameter ✓
2. B anapestic trimeter ✓
3. C iambic pentameter ✓
4. D dactylic hexameter ✓

Trochaic foot stress pattern is

1. A stressed then unstressed ✓
2. B unstressed then stressed (iamb) ✓
3. C two unstressed then stressed (anapest) ✓
4. D stressed then two unstressed (dactyl) ✓

An anapest is

1. A one stressed then one unstressed ✓
2. B two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed ✓
3. C one stressed then two unstressed ✓
4. D five iambs in a row only ✓

Free verse is characterized by

1. A no regular meter or rhyme scheme ✓
2. B strict iambic pentameter throughout ✓
3. C mandatory heroic couplets ✓
4. D fixed fourteen-line form ✓

Internal rhyme occurs when

1. A only the final words of couplets rhyme ✓
2. B words within the same line (or nearby) rhyme ✓
3. C no sound repetition appears ✓
4. D assonance replaces all consonants ✓

Onomatopoeia is

1. A a metaphor for silence ✓
2. B a word that imitates the sound it denotes ✓
3. C a sonnet's volta ✓
4. D a type of caesura ✓

Paradox in poetry presents

1. A simple literal description only ✓
2. B exact iamb count per line ✓
3. C a Petrarchan octave alone ✓
4. D a statement that seems self-contradictory yet reveals truth ✓

Allusion is

1. A a line with five iambs ✓
2. B rhyme between internal vowels only ✓
3. C a brief reference to a person, event, or work outside the text ✓
4. D direct address to the reader always ✓

Euphony refers to

1. A harsh, jarring sound effects (cacophony) ✓
2. B a pause within a pentameter line ✓
3. C pleasant, harmonious combinations of sound ✓
4. D unrhymed dramatic verse only ✓

Cacophony deliberately uses

1. A harsh, discordant sounds for effect ✓
2. B smooth alliterative sibilants only ✓
3. C perfect heroic couplets ✓
4. D a fixed abba octave ✓

A quatrain is

1. A a couplet of two rhymed lines ✓
2. B six lines forming a sestet only ✓
3. C a stanza or group of four lines ✓
4. D fourteen lines total in any form ✓

A couplet in prosody is

1. A three lines with interlaced rhyme ✓
2. B two consecutive rhyming lines ✓
3. C a single iambic foot ✓
4. D a full fourteen-line poem ✓

Masculine rhyme ends on

1. A a stressed final syllable ✓
2. B an unstressed extra syllable (feminine rhyme) ✓
3. C internal vowels only ✓
4. D caesura within the foot ✓

Feminine rhyme (double rhyme) involves

1. A only the last stressed vowel ✓
2. B rhyme on the stressed syllable plus following unstressed syllable ✓
3. C initial consonants in alliteration ✓
4. D enjambment without rhyme ✓

Scansion is

1. A the title of a Shakespeare play ✓
2. B the analysis of metrical patterns in verse ✓
3. C a figure assigning human traits ✓
4. D a type of Petrarchan sestet only ✓

A spondee is

1. A unstressed-unstressed pyrrhic only ✓
2. B unstressed-stressed iamb always ✓
3. C two consecutive stressed syllables ✓
4. D five feet per line by definition ✓

The rhyme scheme of a Spenserian sonnet is

1. A abab cdcd efef gg ✓
2. B abba abba cde cde ✓
3. C abab bcbc cdcd ee ✓
4. D aabb ccdd eeff gg ✓

Blank verse differs from free verse because blank verse

1. A maintains regular iambic pentameter without rhyme ✓
2. B has no meter at all ✓
3. C always rhymes in couplets ✓
4. D uses only four feet per line ✓

In prosody, a foot is

1. A a line of fourteen syllables only ✓
2. B a rhyming couplet at poem's end ✓
3. C a figure of direct address ✓
4. D a basic unit of meter consisting of a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables ✓

Elision in scansion often

1. A merges or drops syllables to preserve meter ✓
2. B adds extra unstressed syllables always ✓
3. C eliminates all caesuras ✓
4. D requires slant rhyme at line end ✓

Run-on lines are another term for

1. A enjambment ✓
2. B end-stopped lines with full pause ✓
3. C caesura marked by semicolon only ✓
4. D heroic couplets with closed sense ✓

The phrase "sweet silent thought" in a sonnet context illustrates

1. A alliteration of the s sound ✓
2. B assonance of o only without consonants ✓
3. C pure metaphor without sound ✓
4. D iambic trimeter ✓

Assonance in "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain" chiefly repeats

1. A initial p and t consonants ✓
2. B end consonants t and n only ✓
3. C the long a vowel sound ✓
4. D trochaic stress throughout ✓

A Shakespearean sonnet contains

1. A three quatrains and a final rhyming couplet ✓
2. B an octave and sestet only ✓
3. C six couplets with no quatrains ✓
4. D twelve lines without couplet ✓

Heroic couplets were especially favoured by

1. A Neoclassical poets such as Pope and Dryden ✓
2. B Romantic lyric poets writing free verse only ✓
3. C Beckett in Waiting for Godot ✓
4. D Joyce in Ulysses stream-of-consciousness prose ✓

Caesura in "To be, || or not to be" functions to

1. A create enjambment to the next line ✓
2. B form a rhyming couplet ✓
3. C change meter to anapestic ✓
4. D mark a dramatic pause dividing the line's thought ✓

Identifying "the pen is mightier than the sword" as metonymy rests on

1. A likening pen to sword with like ✓
2. B giving human will to a pen ✓
3. C repeating p at line start only ✓
4. D substituting pen and sword for writing and military force ✓

A metaphor is a figure of speech that

1. A compares two things explicitly with like or as ✓
2. B describes one thing as if it were another without using like or as ✓
3. C repeats the same initial consonant sound ✓
4. D assigns human traits only to animals ✓

"My love is like a red, red rose" is chiefly an example of

1. A metaphor ✓
2. B personification ✓
3. C alliteration ✓
4. D simile ✓

Personification gives

1. A exact rhymes at line ends only ✓
2. B a pause in the middle of a metrical line ✓
3. C ten syllables per line always ✓
4. D human qualities to non-human things or abstract ideas ✓

Assonance is the repetition of

1. A initial consonants only ✓
2. B identical end-rhymes in couplets ✓
3. C vowel sounds within nearby words ✓
4. D metrical feet without sound pattern ✓

Iambic pentameter consists of

1. A four trochaic feet per line ✓
2. B six anapests per line always ✓
3. C five iambic feet per line (typically ten syllables) ✓
4. D any ten words regardless of stress ✓

A heroic couplet is

1. A a pair of rhyming lines in iambic pentameter ✓
2. B three rhyming lines in tetrameter ✓
3. C unrhymed blank verse only ✓
4. D a sonnet's final quatrain ✓