Literary Terms

The environment or surrounding in which an event or story takes place.

• mood
• external conflict
• setting
• plot

Tags

CCSS.L.8.6

CCSS.L.9-10.6

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

CCSS.W.8.2D

CCSS.W.9-10.2D

Actions, dialogue, and narrative description that reveal a sense of a character's personality to the reader.

• Setting
• Characterization
• Personalization
• Flashback

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Where a writer/narrator gives an advance hint of what is going to happen later on in the story. Any event, action, dialogue or thought that gives a clue to what is going to happen.

• irony
• flashback
• foreshadowing
• theme

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

When an author interrupts the chronological sequence of a story by inserting past events. 

• flashback
• foreshadowing
• flashshadowing
• foreback

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.11-12.5

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.5

the moment in the story when the action reaches its greatest conflict

• climax
• rising action
• falling action
• description

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.4C

CCSS.L.6.4C

CCSS.L.7.4C

CCSS.L.8.4C

CCSS.L.9-10.4C

the perspective from which the story is told. Could be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person.

• climax
• point of view
• description
• opinion

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

how the writer feels about his subject that comes through based upon the types of words chosen.

• tone
• symbol
• theme
• satire

Tags

CCSS.L.3.3A

CCSS.L.4.3A

CCSS.L.5.3A

CCSS.L.6.3A

CCSS.L.6.3B

^{A universal life lesson about life or human nature. The message of the story.}

• Plot
• Summary
• Central Idea
• Theme

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.6

CCSS.L.8.6

CCSS.L.9-10.6

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

CCSS.W.9-10.2D

When the reader knows something the characters do not.

• Characterization

• Dramatic Irony

• Foreshadowing

• Allusion

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

A person, place, object, or action that stands for something beyond itself.

• Mood

• Symbolism

• Diction

• Imagery

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.L.7.5

CCSS.L.8.5