Literary Terms and Devices

comparison without using like or as

This is disgustingly delicious!

giving human qualities to objects

My pillow was calling my name.

Told by a narrator who uses the pronoun "you".

Time and place of the story.

The cereal went snap, crackle, pop!

all the events that follow the climax

a string of words with the same initial consonant sound

Your smile is a ray of light.

I'm tired, I think I'll call it a night.

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!

You sing like a sweet bird!

The character in conflict with the main character

pronouns such as he and she are used; the reader does not know the feelings of any character

Mild or pleasant way of saying something harsh.

The main character in a literary work.

Pronouns he, she, it and they are used and the reader knows feelings of all characters

A series of related events that make up a story.

The situation is opposite of the expected.

A word which mimics a sound

The general idea about life the author wants to communicate.

play on words that have more than one meaning.

The conclusion; the tying up of all loose ends

The vantage point from which a story is told.

opposite ideas joined to create an effect

extravagant exaggeration

The turning point of a narrative.

all the events which lead up to the turning point

The narrator uses pronouns such as he and she; the reader knows the feelings of one character

Roger rarely reads any resources.

Tells the setting, characters, and a hint of the problem

I wondered why the baseball seemed bigger, then it hit me.

Narrator uses pronouns such as I, we, me, my, etc.

The struggle between opposing forces