LITERARY TERMS 1
LITERARY TERMS 2
LITERARY TERMS 3
LITERARY TERMS 4
LITERARY TERMS 5
100
Lightning danced across the sky, and the wind howled in the night.
personification/imagery/simlie/metaphr
Personification
100
Mom was mad as a hornet, because we were fighting like cats and dogs.
imagery/simile/metaphor/irony
Simile
100
Her long hair was a flowing golden river, but her eyes were ice as she stared at me.
simile/metaphor/opinion/main idea
Metaphor
100
Happy - Sad
Tall - Short
connotation/synonym/antonym/context clues
Antonym
100
Happy - Glad
Tall - Towering
antonym/synonym/context clues/analysis
Synonyms
200
Sally sells seashells down by the seashore.
allusion/alliteration/rhyme scheme/diction
Alliteration
200
In the play A Doll's House, Nora, Torvald, and Christine.
character/bias/drama/main idea
Character
200
In The Odyssey, the Cyclops states, “Nobody -- that’s my name. Nobody -- so my mother and father call me, all my friends.”
(Notice the quotation marks.)
diction/dialogue/dialect/key words
Dialogue
200
Pieces of literature such as The Odyssey, A Doll's House, The Book Thief, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
drama/poetry/nonfiction/fiction
Fiction
200
The fire crackled and filled the air with smell of pine as the campers roasted their marshmallows to a gooey perfection then popped the warm, tasty treats into their mouths.
simile/imagery/hyperbole/personification
Imagery
300
"She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom, and her eyes immediately met those of a large caterpillar, that was sitting on the top with its arms folded..." from Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Playful or fanciful are words to best describe the tone/mood/focus/hyperbole
Mood
300
"His eye was like the eye of a vulture, the eye of one of those terrible birds that watch and wait while an animal dies, and then fall upon the dead body and pull it to pieces to eat it." from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart"
Revulsion, Disgust best describe the mood/tone/motif/point of view
Tone
300
"We got a new Einstein in school today."
"Why are you always such a Scrooge? It doesn't cost much, and it'll be fun!"
(Note - focus on Einstein and Scrooge)
alliteration/allusion/fact & opinion/biography
Allusion
300
- “House” versus “Home".
- “Cheap” versus “Affordable”
(Note - Although they are synonyms, think of the difference in their meanings.)
connotation/fact/focus/genre
Connotation
300
Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.
Christmas is my favorite holiday.
informational text/defense of a claim/fact & opinion/draw conclusion
Fact
Opinion
400
The backfiring of the bus sent the older man spiraling back to his youth. He could hear the guns firing and his comrades shouting.
foreshadowing/resolution/inference/flashback
Flashback
400
"By the pricking of my thumb,
Something wicked this way comes."
In Shakespeare’s "Macbeth," the second witch makes this pronouncement at Macbeth’s approach. Her statement indicates an instinctive sense of foreboding, and gives the reader a hint about Macbeth’s true nature as someone who is capable of betrayal and murder as a means of keeping his power as king.
flashback/foreshadowing/setting/irony
Foreshadowing
400
Examples are drama/play, essay, short story, and novel.
denotation/connotation/genre/exposition
Genre
400
I had to wait FOREVER!
I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.
satire/irony/hyperbole/tone
Hyperbole
400
Describing someone who says foolish things as a “genius”
Stating during a thunderstorm, “beautiful weather we’re having”
irony/monologue/satire/sentence variety
Irony
500
When your friend tells a story about seeing a deer on the way to school, this is an example of _____.
drama/narrative/voice/propaganda
Narrative
500
Writings such as personal journals, diaries, memoirs, letters, and essays. (For the most part, the emphasis of these is factual.)
fiction/nonfiction/theme/poetry
Nonfiction
500
plot/explicit/implicit/interpret
Plot
500
First person - look for the word I
Second person - look for the word you
Third person - look for the words he and she
point of view/fact & opinion/diction/dialogue
Point of View
500
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices.
irony/symbolism/satire/theme
Satire