Allusion
reference to a statement, person, place, event, or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, myth, politics, sports, science, or the arts.
Characterization
-direct: an author directly states a character's traits. Indirect: clues about a character which describe what a character looks like, does, and says, as well as how other characters react to him or her.
Conflict
struggle between 2 opposing forces. Internal conflict- struggle within a person. External conflict- character struggles with an outside force, such as nature, a person, society, or fate.
Diction
Writer's or speaker's choice of words; way of arranging the words in a sentence for stylistic purposes.
Hyperbole
an overstatement or great exaggeration.
Verbal irony
occurs when a speaker or narrator says one thing while meaning the opposite. (It is easy to stop smoking. I've done it many times.)
Situational irony
occurs when a situation turns out differently from what one would normally expect- though often the twist is oddly appropriate. ( a deep sea diver drowning in a bathtub is ironic).
Dramatic Irony
occurs when a character or speaker says or does something that has different meanings from what he thinks it means, though the audience and other characters understand the full implications of speech or action.
Metaphor
a figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else. A metaphor compares two things without using the words like or as. ( life is a broken-winged bird.)
Personification
a type of figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.
Simile
a figure of speech in which like or as is used to make a comparison between two basically unlike subjects. ( she is as flighty as a sparrow.)
Symbol
anything that stands for or represents something else. An object that serves as a symbol has its own meaning, but it also represents abstract ideas.
Syntax
Rules that govern how sentences are created and how words are grammatically arranged in a sentence.
Theme
A central message or insight into life revealed through the literary work. It is not a condensed summary but rather a generalization about human beings or about life that the literary work communicates. A theme is a statement or complete sentence, not a one-word motif.
Tone
The writer's attitude toward his or her audience and subject. Tone can often be described by a single adjective. Often referred to as attitude.