Literary Terms

1. Literary Terms English 10 Marion High School

2. Literary Devices • What are they? • Techniques and tools and author uses to help effectively convey his/her message • In other words… • Literary devices are elements like similes, metaphors, etc. that make literature more impactful, unique, and creative. • They make the boring unboring.

3. Simile • Comparison of two unlike things, using like or as. • EX: "That was the way all the Aubignys fell in love, as if struck by a pistol shot."

4. Metaphor • Comparison of two things that seem different, not using like or as. • Typically uses a form of “to be” = is, are, was, etc. • EX: "All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players”

5. Onomatopoeia • Sound words • EX: "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is."

6. Personification • Anything that is not HUMAN acts, thinks, or behaves in any way like a human. • EX: I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.Whatever I see I swallow immediatelyJust as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.I am not cruel, only truthful...

7. Allusion • A reference to a famous person or event in life or literature • EX: She is as pretty as the Mona Lisa. • Biblical allusions are popular in literature. • Why are they used? • Author is able to link other pieces of knowledge – background info – to new pieces. • Can foreshadow coming events in the story

8. Hyperbole • An exaggeration • Why? • To emphasize a point • EX: I am so tired I cannot walk another inch.

9. Imagery • Words or phrases that appeal to the reader’s 5 senses creating a vivid mental picture. • EX: The yellow bus zipped by, knocking me down from the wind behind it.

10. Alliteration • Repetition of sounds at the beginning of words. • Why? • Adds emphasis to words • Creates a rhythm for the reader • EX: Peter Piper picked a peck of peppers.

11. Rhyme • Exact rhyme: Words that sound the same at the end. • Slant or Near Rhyme: Words that sound close to the same. • Internal Rhyme: Words that rhyme, coming in the middle of lines. • End Rhyme: Rhyming words occurring at the end of lines. • Rhyme scheme: Pattern of rhyming in a poem using letters to represent the pattern. • EX: Yell-Bell; Hair-Near • For the moon never beams without bringing me dreamsOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyesOf the beautiful Annabel Lee;

12. Symbolism • An object or item that appears multiple times in a story and represents some idea or thing, not literally itself. • EX: The Eagle, Uncle Sam

13. Tone • The author’s attitude toward the subject he/she is writing about. • Words (diction), details, and figures of speech are used to communicate tone. • EX: It was A LOW, DULL, QUICK SOUND -- MUCH SUCH A SOUND AS A WATCH MAKES WHEN ENVELOPED IN COTTON. I gasped for breath, and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly, more vehemently but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why WOULD they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men, but the noise steadily increased. O God! What COULD I do? I foamed -- I raved -- I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder -- louder -- louder!

14. Theme • Author’s main message, idea, or concern of a story or poem. • General statement about people or life – Think big picture. • EX: Social inequalities exist in our society. (TKAM)

15. Speaker • The speaker is the person whose voice is narrating a poem • It can be the author or a character he/she creates • Same as the narrator • EX: Scout in TKAM; the voice, eyes of a child