Literary Terms
This is the central message or insight revealed through a literary work.
What is the theme?
You can use this strategy to figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word in a passage.
What are context clues?
“The wind whispered through the trees.”
What is personification?
This is the percentage of students in this class who will pass the English 3 final exam.
What is 100%?
An educated guess based on what you already know and what is in the text.
What is an inference?
A narrative device that hints at coming events; often builds suspense or anxiety in the reader.
What is foreshadowing?
The narrator’s position in relation to the story, such as first-person or third-person.
What is point of view?
“She was as fierce as a lion on the battlefield.”
What is a simile?
This is the standard amount of time you have to take the English 3 exam.
What is 2 hours?
Using a person, object or idea to borrow everything it represents and apply it to something else.
What is symbolism?
A struggle between opposing forces in a story, such as character vs. self or character vs. society.
What is conflict?
This is the attitude of the writer toward the subject or audience.
What is tone?
“Time is a thief.”
What is a metaphor?
This is the minimum number of times in which a poem should be read.
What is at least twice?
This type of irony occurs when the readers/audience know something that the characters do not.
What is dramatic irony?
The process by which the writer reveals the personality of a character.
What is characterization?
This aspect of an author's word choice can reveal tone, character traits, and deeper meanings. (ex: formal, informal, colloquial/slang, etc.)
What is diction?
“Boom! The thunder crashed outside the window.”
What is onomatopoeia?
This is what you should do if you get stuck on a question.
What is take an educated guess and come back to it later?
A group of lines in a poem (like a paragraph).
What is a stanza?
A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without using “like” or “as.”
What is a metaphor?
This literary term refers to the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences, often used to analyze sentence structure and its effect on meaning. (for instance simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, compound-complex sentences) Hint: it starts with an s
What is syntax?
“I’ve told you a million times to study!”
What is hyperbole?
This is your bedtime on nights before an exam.
What is 10pm?
Writing or speech that is used to create vivid impressions by setting up comparisons between dissimilar things and engages the five senses.
What is figurative language?