Literary Terms (Examples)

Allegory

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Alliteration

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”

Allusion

“I’m Juliet to your Romeo”

Ambiguity

“The chicken is ready to eat”

Analogy

“Finding that lost dog will be like finding a needle in a haystack”

Antecedent

“Chelsey finished her homework”

Antithesis

“Hope for the best; prepare for the worst”

Aphorism

“Don’t judge a book by its cover”

Apostrophe

“She’s always on time”

Atmosphere

“The atmosphere of the Earth is like a blanket that traps heat”

Caricature

“The interviewer made her into a caricature of a struggling artist”

Clause

One: “I graduated last year”

Colloquial/Colloquialism

“He needs to step up to the plate”

Conceit

“A broken heart is like a damaged clock”

Connotation

“She has a heart of gold”

Denotation

“She was cold”

Diction

Vivid ver.: “The dog boldy sauntered onto center stage”

Didactic

DIY: “Do it yourself”

Euphemism

“His great grandfather passed away last week”

Extended Metaphor

“Hound Dog” by Elvis Presley

Figurative Language

“He was like a kid in a candy store”

Figure of speech

Simile: “Rachel is as bright as the sun”

Generic conventions

A novel describes every character, the story-theme, scene background in such a way so that readers can easily imagine it

Genre

Drama, Fantasy, Comedy, Horror

Homily

Church __ themes: forgiveness, grace, love

Hyperbole

“I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse”

Imagery

Visual: “the snowflakes glittered like diamonds”

Inference/Infer

If you see someone eating a new food and he or she makes a face, then you can ___ he/she doesn’t like it

Invective

“Yo mama” jokes

Irony/Ironic

If you were sick, you might say “wow, I feel great today”

Litotes

“You can’t say I didn’t warn you”

Loose sentence

“I work at home when the cafe is too crowded”

Metaphor

My hands were icicles because of the cold wheather”

Metonymy

___: Dish

Meaning: Meal

EX: “What’s your favorite dish?”

Mood

“It was a dark and stormy night”

Non-periodic sentence

“When the cafe is too crowded, I work at home”