Elements of literature

1. Elements of literature

2. Allusion • An indirect reference to another literary work or to a famous person, place or event.

3. Audience • The person or persons who are intended to read a piece of writing. The intended audience of a work determines its form, style, tone and the details included.

4. Characterization Refers to the techniques a writer uses to develop characters. There are four basic methods of characterization: -physical description -through the character’s own words, thoughts, actions and feelings -through the actions, words, thoughts and feelings of other characters -through the narrator’s own direct comments.

5. Conflict • A struggle between opposing forces. External- pits a character against nature, society or another character. Internal- a conflict between opposing forces within a character.

6. Diction • A writer’s or speaker’s choice of words.

7. Flashback • A break in the narrative to describe events that took place at an earlier time.

8. Foreshadow • A writer’s use of hints or clues to indicate events that will occur in a story.

9. Hyperbole • Exaggeration for a specific effect • Ex. The bag weighed a ton!

10. Imagery • The descriptive words and phrases that a writer uses to re-create sensory experiences.

11. Irony • Refers to a contrast between appearance and actuality. Situational Irony-is a contrast between what is expected to happen and what actually happens. Dramatic Irony-when a reader knows more than the characters do. Verbal Irony-when someone states one thing, but means another.

12. Metaphor • Compares two things without using like or as.

13. Mood • The feeling or atmosphere that the writer creates for the reader.

14. Narrator • The character in a story who is telling the story

15. Oxymoron • Bringing together two contradictory terms • Ex. Jumbo Shrimp

16. Personification • Giving human qualities to nonhumans • Ex. The tree sings.

17. Plot • The plot is the sequence of actions and events in a literary work.

18. Point of View • The perspective from which the events in a story or novel are told. • 1st person – the narrator is a character in the work who tells everything in his or her own words and uses the pronouns I, me and my. • 3rd person-events are related by a voice outside the action and uses the pronouns he, she, they, etc.

19. Setting • The time and place in which the action occurs.

20. Simile • Compares two things using like or as.

21. Suspense • Created by having clues yet not knowing how things will turn out

22. Symbol • A concrete object that represents another idea

23. Theme • The central idea of the story, the message the author wants to convey to the reader

24. Tone • A writer’s attitude toward his or her subject.

25. Understatement • Something that is represented less than it is • Ex. Don’t worry, it is just a scratch, when is reality it is a huge dent.