Literacy Terms & Rhetorical Devices

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Voice

to the distinct personality, style, or point of view of a piece of writing

Content

What is said (ideas, themes, etc)

Structure

How it’s organized (chronology, pacing, paragraphing)

Style

How it's said (tone, diction, sentence patterns)

Details

a specific facts, observations, or incidents used to develop a topic, shape a voice, or create a mood. They help make writing vivid and believable

Diction

The author’s word choice

Denotative

The dictionary, literal meaning of a word

Connotative

The emotional or cultural associations a word carries beyond its literal meaning (e.g., "home" connotes warmth and comfort

Simile

A comparison using "like" or "as" (e.g., quiet as a mouse)

Metaphor

A direct comparison without "like" or "as" (e.g., time is a thief)

Extended Metaphor

A metaphor developed over several lines or the whole work

Analogy

A comparison that shows a relationship between two things (e.g., just as a sword is the weapon of a warrior, a pen is the weapon of a writer

Imagery

Descriptive language that appeals to the senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) to create vivid mental pictures

Motif

a recurring element—such as an image, word, object, or idea—that helps develop a theme in a literary work.

Symbol

is something that stands for something else beyond its literal meaning (e.g., a heart = love, a storm = turmoil)

Frame Narrative

a story within a story. One character tells the main tale within the context of a larger narrative (e.g., Frankenstein, Their Eyes Are Watching God)

Reliable Narrator

Trustworthy, gives an accurate account of events

Unreliable Narrator

May distort the truth due to bias, lack of knowledge, or deceit (e.g. Catcher in the Rye: Holden)

Stream of Consciousness

A narrative style that captures a character’s thought processes in a continuous, often unstructured flow, mimicking how the mind works

Historical Lens

A way of analyzing literature by considering the time period and historical context in which it was written or is set. It examines how history influences the text’s themes and characters

Epistolary Novel (Epistolic)

A novel written in the form of letters, diary entries, or other personal documents. It creates a sense of intimacy and realism (e.g., Frankenstein)

Direct Characterization

The author explicitly tells the reader what a character is like

Indirect Characterization

The reader infers traits through what the character says, does, thinks, or how others react to them

Dynamic Character

A character who undergoes significant internal change over the course of the story (e.g. Their Eyes Are Watching God’s: Janie Crawford)

Parallelism

writing all parts of a sentence in a similar grammatical structure; maintaining all the same parts of speech

Rhetorical Question

asking a question but not requiring an answer; used to emphasize a point or get the audience thinking

Hypophora

raises a question and then immediately answers it

Anaphora

repeating the same word or phrase in the BEGINNING of successive sentences or clauses

Epistrophe

reporting the same word or phrase in the END of a successive sentences or clauses

Polysyndeton

list WITH conjunctions (and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet) between each word

Asyndeton

list WITHOUT conjunctions (and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet) between words

Litotes

an understatement in which a positive statement is expressed by negating its opposite (i.e. put “not” in front of the antonym of the word you want to use: not cheap=expensive, not hot=cold, not good=bad)

Antithesis

Juxtaposes two contrasting or opposing ideas, usually within parallel grammatical structures

Analogy

a form of comparison; draws a parallel between two unlike things that have several common qualities of points of resemblance

Rhetoric

the art of using language to persuade, inform, or influence an audience.

Ethos

is an appeal to credibility or character—convincing the audience that the speaker is trustworthy or knowledgeable

Pathos

is an appeal to emotion—persuading the audience by making them feel something

Logos

an appeal to logic—using facts, reasoning, or evidence to support an argument

Verb

a word that describes an action, occurrence, or state of being in a sentence. Every sentence must include at least one verb to be complete

Adjective

a word that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun, providing information about qualities, characteristics, or attributes. For example, in the phrase "the tall building," "tall" is what that describes the building's height

Noun

a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. It can be singular or plural and are essential for forming sentences