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Literary Elements
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Tone | attitude of a writer toward a subject or audience (formal, informal, serious, playful, etc.) |
| Mood | atmosphere or emotional setting of a text |
| Theme | main idea of a text |
| Setting | time AND place |
| Simile | a comparison using "like" or "as" |
| Repetition | repeated use of sounds, words, or ideas for effect and emphasis |
| Symbolism | use of items to signify ideas and qualities by giving them representative meanings that are different from their literal sense |
| Alliteration | occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of closely connected words |
| Metaphor | a comparison without using the word "like" or "as" |
| Onomatopoeia | a word that imitates the natural sounds |
| Stanza | a group of lines that form a division of a poem |
| Personification | giving human qualities to non-human things |
| Oxymoron | two contradictory words are together in one phrase |
| Hyperbole | an extreme exaggeration |