Literary Terms, etc.

Metaphor

• draws resemblance between two things by saying “Thing A is like Thing B,” or “Thing A is as [adjective] as Thing B.”

• compares two similar things by saying that one of them is the other

• a figure of speech in which a term for a part of something is used to refer to the whole

• the action of repeating something that has already been said or written

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5A

CCSS.L.5.5A

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

Flashback

• involves withholding information and raising key questions that pique readers’ curiosity

• previous events split up present-day scenes in a story, usually to build suspense toward a big reveal

• when the author hints at events yet to come in a story

• appeals to readers’ senses through highly descriptive language

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.5

Dramatic irony

• means to make (a statement or situation) less confused and more clearly comprehensible

• a statement that someone makes in answer to a statement that has been made by someone else

• a reason or set of reasons given with the aim of persuading others that an action or idea is right or wrong

• when the readers know more about the situation going on than at least one of the characters involved

Tags

CCSS.L.8.5A

Conflict

• a hostile person who is opposed to another character

• the sequence of events that make up a story

•  is used to represent abstract concepts and ideas in stories

• a literary element that involves a struggle between two opposing forces, usually a protagonist and an antagonist

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Allusion

• the repetition of the same sound at the start of a series of words in succession

• a passing or indirect descriptive reference to something

• a note of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram

• a hostile person who is opposed to another character

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.4C

CCSS.L.6.4C

CCSS.L.7.4C

CCSS.L.8.4C

CCSS.L.9-10.4C

Imagery

• when the readers know more about the situation going on than at least one of the characters involved

• creates a contrast between how things seem and how they really are

• appeals to readers’ senses through highly descriptive language

• a passing or indirect descriptive reference to something

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

CCSS.L.6.5

CCSS.L.7.5

CCSS.L.8.5

Foreshadowing

• when the author hints at events yet to come in a story

• previous events split up present-day scenes in a story, usually to build suspense toward a big reveal

• appeals to readers’ senses through highly descriptive language

• the sequence of events that make up a story

Tags

CCSS.RL.9-10.5

Characterization

• a passing or indirect descriptive reference to something

• a literary element that involves a struggle between two opposing forces, usually a protagonist and an antagonist

• a name for the methods a writer uses to reveal a character's values, feelings, goals, etc. to readers

• an exaggerated statement that emphasizes the significance of the statement’s actual meaning

Tags

CCSS.L.7.5A

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

Verbal irony

• when the readers know more about the situation going on than at least one of the characters involved

• a figure of speech in which a speaker says one thing but means another

• the action of repeating something that has already been said or written

• compares two similar things by saying that one of them is the other

Tags

CCSS.L.8.5A

Motif

• the mode of narration in a story

• a group of lines in a poem

• a figure of speech in which a speaker says one thing but means another

• a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a story

Tags

CCSS.L.7.6

CCSS.L.8.6

CCSS.L.9-10.6

CCSS.W.8.2D

CCSS.W.9-10.2D