Mr. Baetz English Final

Literary Devices

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.