Literary Devices
the perspective of the story
point of view
intention or objective in a piece of writing
purpose
a similarity, on which a comparison can be made
analogy
a story told to make or support a point
anecdote
repetition of a vowel sound
assonance
those to whom a piece of writing is addressed; the people who the author hopes will read the peice
audience
prejudice or predisposition toward one side of subject
bias
a list of events, names, places
catalog
the way an author develops a character
characterization
sayings like "from the bottom of my heart" that have become overused the lose meaning
cliché
opposing forces
conflict
words that have the same definition but different emotional implications
connotation
the explicit or dictionary meaning of a word
denotation
word choice
diction
audience knows something characters don't
dramatic irony
convincing someone to believe/do something by appealing to authority or credibility
ethos
background information before or at the beginning of a piece
exposition
two characters that highlight opposite traits in one another
foil
when the author gives hints about what will happen later in the story
foreshadowing
an exaggeration meant to add effect
hyperbole
a saying that is unique to a culture or language and doesn't make sense when translated literally
idiom
expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning
irony
convincing someone to believe/do something by appealing to logic
logos
comparing two unlike things by saying one thing is another thing
metaphor
a word that makes the sound it names
onomatopoeia
repetition of grammatical structure in a sentence or piece of writing
parallelism
convincing someone to believe/do something by appealing to their emotions
pathos
giving human qualities to a non-human entity
personification
use of available means of persuasion
rhetoric
comparing two unlike things using like or as
simile
when something happens differently than what was expected
situational irony
the author or person whose ideas are being presented
speaker
sentence structure or the use of dashes, colons, hyphens, fragments, parallelism
syntax
not meant to be taken literally
Figure of Speech
native speech or language of a place
vernacular
a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through a concrete story- a literal story with a deeper meaning
allegory
repetition of a consonant sound
alliteration
to support their claim, the author references something well-known by the general population
allusion
central idea to which all parts refer; insight about human life that is revealed in a literary work
theme
speaker's attitude toward the subject or audience
tone
