Literary Elements

The main character in a literary work

The struggle between two or more opposing forces (person vs. person, nature, society, etc,)

The essential background information at the beginning of a literary work is...

The direct speech between characters in a literary work

An implied comparison between dissimilar objects: “Love is a rose”

A technique that keeps the reader guessing what will happen next

An extreme exaggeration to add meaning

A hint of what is to come in a literary work

Language that represents one thing in terms of something dissimilar (non-literal language)

A group of lines forming a unit in a poem

The use of a word whose sound imitates its meaning: “Hiss”

The underlying main idea of a literary work

The voice in a poem; the person or thing that is “speaking”

A phrase that consists of two words that are contradictory: “living dead” or “jumbo shrimp”

The time and place of a literary work

A figure of speech in which non-human things are given human characteristics

A character that is the source of conflict in a literary work

Standardized, conventional ideas about characters, plots, and settings

The vantage point or perspective from which a literary work is told

The repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonant sounds: “the pond is long gone”

Language that appeals to the five senses

The type or category to which a literary work belongs

One thing (object, person, or place) used to represent something else

Word choice to create a specific effect

The author’s attitude toward the subject of a work

The sequence of events in a literary work

The manner in which an author develops characters and their personalities

The repetition of the initial consonant sounds of words: "Baby Bobby's blue bonnet”

The method of returning to an earlier point in time to make the present clearer

The end of a literary work when loose ends are tied up and questions are answered

A direct comparison of dissimilar objects, using like or as: “The wool was fluffy like a cloud”

The turning point in a literary work

The repetition of similar or identical sounds: “look and crook”

The development of conflict and complications in a literary work