Literary Techniques

Allegory

A narrative using symbolic names or characters that carries underlying meaning other than the one most apparent. The stories are usually long and complex and are meant to explain or teach a moral idea or lesson to the reader.

Allusion

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

Atmosphere

The feeling, emotion, or mood a writer conveys to a reader through the description of setting and objects.

Conflict

Element that involves a struggle between two opposing forces usually a protagonist and an antagonist.

Flashback

Interruptions where writers insert past events, to provide background or context to the current events of a narrative

Foreshadowing

An author’s deliberate use of hints or suggestions to give a preview of events or themes that do not develop until later in the narrative. 

Imagery

The writer’s use of detail to paint a picture in the reader’s mind: typically appeals to the five senses.

Irony

A wide-ranging technique of detachment that draws awareness to the discrepancy between words and their meanings, between expectation and fulfillment, or, most generally, between what is and what seems to be. 

Mood

The reader’s emotional response to the text.

Motif

A recurrent, or repeated, object or idea in a literary work.

Narrator

The speaker or character who tells the story. Narration offers different points of view.

Plot

The sequence of events that make up a story.

Setting

The time and place or when and where of a story.

Symbolism

Any image or thing is representative of something else, usually a larger idea.

Theme

The author’s underlying message of a literary work—it is universal, relatable to all people.

Tone

A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through word choice, figurative language, and organization of the sentences.