Literary Terms

A reference to a well known person, place event, literary work, or work of art.

• Allegory

• Allusion

• Alliteration

• Analogy

The turning point of a story where the protagonist often makes a change.

• rising action

• climax

• exposition

• inciting event

The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words that are close together. (ex: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers)

• allusion

• allegory

• alliteration

• analogy

A comparison between two unlike things in which one thing is said to be another.

• metaphor

• simile

• myth

• personification

An extreme exaggeration used for emphasis in poems and stories.

• humor

• cliche

• metaphor

• hyperbole

How a story makes the reader feel.

• imagery

• mood

• tone

• humor

The use of words that imitate the sounds of what they describe. (ex: BAM!)

• onomatopoeia

• hyperbole

• nonverbal

• splat!

The teller of a story is a character in the story.

• 3rd person

• 3rd person limited

• first person point of view

• omniscient point of view

The struggle between opposing forces in a story.

• conclusion

• conflict

• climax

• connotation

The method a writer uses to develop a character.

• characterization

• comedy

• caricature

• inference