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Literary Devices
Techniques used by authors to communicate their experiences and ideas.
Antonym
A word with the opposite meaning (e.g. pay - default)
Personification
To give human qualities to an object, animal, or idea.
Archetypal Elements
Heroes and villains.
Symbolism
The American flag, a dove, and a blindfolded woman holding a scale.
Audience
The people for whom the author is writing.
Voice
A writer’s unique use of language that allows a reader to “hear” a human personality in the writer’s work.
Setting
The time and place of the action of the story.
P.I.E.
The author’s purpose, persuade, inform, entertain.
Theme
The main message of a story.
Compare/contrast
Signal words however, although, and yet indicate.
Editing
Punctuation, capitalization, and spelling
MLA
Citation style most commonly used for literary research papers.
Alliteration
Sentence uses the same consonant at the beginning of two or more words. (i.e. The serpent silently slithered into the shrubs)
Persuasive
Writing to a business to ask for a donation
Author’s purpose
The reason a writer has for writing a text.
Predict
A reasonable guess about what is likely to happen next.
Imagery
Descriptive words and phrases that create sensory experiences for the reader.
Memoir
An autobiographical account of a person’s experience and observations of an event.
Mood
The emotional atmosphere the writer creates.
Dependent clause
Has a subject and a verb, but can not stand alone as a sentence.
Counterclaim
An opposing position.
Transition words
Also known as connecting words.
Revision
When your ideas are polished and improved.
Syntax
The way words are arranged into phrases and sentences.
Tone
The author’s attitude towards a subject.
Comma
Signals a break in thought, pause, and divides main and subordinate clauses.
Conclusion
The ending of an argument.
Evidence
Includes facts, statistics, personal experiences, statements by experts, and other information.
Claim
The author’s position on a topic or issue
Argument
An author expresses a position on an issue and then attempts to support that position.
Etymology
The study of the origin of words and the way their meanings have changed throughout history.
Appositive
A noun or a pronoun that identifies or renames another noun or pronoun.
Flashback
Interruptions in the chronological narrative that describe events at different points in the past.
Plot
The sequence of events in a work of fiction.
Compound Sentence
Two independent clauses joined by a conjunction. (i.e. “She was hanging by the backs of her heels from the gutter we had put in that year, and she was smiling.)
Simile
A comparison between two unlike things using the words like or as.
Homer
Wrote “The Odyssey”
Epic
A long narrative poem, usually an adventure story.
Foreshadowing
When characters refer, often unknowingly, to what will happen in the future.
Oxymoron
Expressions containing an apparent contradiction (“parting is such sweet sorrow).
Allusion
A reference to a literary or historical person or event that the audience is expected to know.
Dramatic Irony
When the audience knows more than the characters.
Parallel Structure
The repetition of certain words, phrases, or grammatical structures.
Synonym
A word with a similar meaning (i.e. happy - glad).
Informational text
Nonfiction writing that delivers facts and details about a specific topic.
Tragedy
A drama that results in a catastrophe for the main characters.
Blank Verse
Unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter.
Soliloquy
A speech given by a character alone.
Note 
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