Middle School Literary Terms

When the reader knows something the characters do not.

• Characterization

• Dramatic Irony

• Foreshadowing

• Allusion

A gross exaggeration; describing a situation or event by making it more than it really is; used to evoke feelings or make a point.

• Hyperbole

• Allusion

• Dramatic Irony

• Mood

The use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in the story.

• Symbolism

• Foreshadowing

• Dramatic Irony

• Euphemism

A reference within a work to something famous outside it, such as a well-known person, place, event, story, or work of art, literature, music, pop culture.

• Mood

• Theme

• Personification

• Allusion

The climate of feeling in a literary work; a feeling that a literary work conveys to readers revealed through diction, setting, and character actions.

• Mood

• Conflict

• Onomatopoeia

• Simile

The main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work.

• Theme

• Symbolism

• Connotation

• Metaphor

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

• Mood

• Symbolism

• Diction

• Imagery

The giving of human qualities to an animal or object.

• Hyperbole

• Simile

• Euphemism

• Personification

The implied or emotional response of a word.

• Metaphor

• Diction

• Alliteration

• Connotation

When something happens that the reader wouldn’t have expected to happen.

• Situational Irony

• Allusion

• Theme

• Imagery