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Literary Devices
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| simile | compares two things using 'like' or 'as' ex. He is as small as a mouse. |
| metaphor | comapres two things saying one is the other ex. Her long hair was a flowing golden river. |
| personification | giving human qualities to an inatimate object ex. Lightning danced across the sky. |
| idiom | expression that has meaning particular to a language or reign ex. My little brother is a pain in the neck. |
| alliteration | repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of words ex. The lazy lizards are like lumps. |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words to imitate sounds ex. Baa! |
| hyperbole | exaggeration ex. I had to wait an eternity for the end of class. |
| oxymoron | two opposites back to back ex. Math clearly confuses me. |
| paradox | a statement that seems self-contradictory, but turns out to be a possible truth ex. If you didn't get this message, call me. |
| allusion | something that refers to something ese ex. The small-town gossip spread faster than anything - Maycomb has nothing on this place! |
| assonance | repetition of vowel sounds followed by a different consonant ex. Anna's apples; long gone pond |
| imagery | language that appears to the five senses |
| irony | a contrast between what is expected and what actually happens ex. Fire house burns down 3 types of irony: 1.) dramatic 2.) situational 3.) verbal |
| poetry | literature written in verse form and organized in lines and stanzas often using imagery and figurative language |
| narrative | musically uses plot, setting, characters, and theme to tell a story ex. epic, ballad |
| lyric | expresses the thoughts and feelings of the speaker ex. sonnet, ode |
| figurative language | words or phrases not meant in the dictionary sense |
| oral tradition | stories handed down by word of mouth |
| fable | imagined story that teaches a moral |
| legend | story from the past that may or may not be based on facts and which includes extraordinary human feats |
| myth | story from the past that explains the actions of gods or natural phenomena |
| folk literature | oral tradition that reflects the culture or environment from which it came |
| folk tale | story that teaches about a culture |
| form | shape and appearance of poem in lines and stanzas |
| rhythm | pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables |
| novel | long work of fiction |
| short story | brief work of fiction |
| historical fiction | uses real people or events to tell an invented story |
| nonfiction | works of prose based on real people or events |
| biography | story of a person's life written by another |
| autobiography | story of a person's life written by that person |
| essay | brief work of nonfiction based on facts |
| mood | overall feeling that the work evokes in the reader |
| author's style | every feature of a writer's use of language, such as rhythm, word choice, and methods of organization |
| theme | message about life that the story conveys to the reader |
| prose | writing that is organized in sentences and paragraphs |
| fiction | prose writing about events and characters from the author's imagination |
| expostion | setting, characters, conflict, background information |
| character traits | qualities that can affect a character's thoughts, decisions, and actions |
| point of view | perspective from which the story is told |
| paraphrasing | restating a sentence or idea in your own words |
| infrencing | coming to a conclusion based on combining text clues with prior knowledge |
| sumarizing | a SHORT restatement of the main ideas of a text |
| rising action | events that increase the tension |
| climax | high point of the story, usually where the eventual outcome of the conflict is revealed |
| falling action | events that follow the climax |
| resoloution | final outcome, during which any remaining conflicts are resolved or left open |
| protagonist | the main character of a narrative |
| antagonist | opponent or rival of the protagonist in a story, creating the central conflict |
| Connotation | emotional, cultural, or implied meaning of a word beyond its literal definition |
| Denotation | literal, Dictionary definition of a word |
Created by:
Lgoodman1
Popular English Vocabulary sets