Literary Devices Flashcards
Connotation
The meaning that a word suggest or implies.
Dialect
The language in particular district, class, or group of persons.
Dynamic Characters
A Character who’s attitude or opinion changes during the course of the story, usually as a result of a catalyst.
Allusion
A reference to do something which the reader is likely to be similar.
Antagonist
The character in opposition to the protagonist or hero; the opponent.
Catalyst
Someone or something that causes a change in the character (essential in describing the dynamic character).
Cause/Effect
Cause = what happens Effect = the result
Climax
The highest point of tension in a story.
Conflict
A struggle between two opposing forces.
figurative language
A word or phrase that DOES NOT HAVE ITS NORMAL EVERYDAY LITERAL MEANING. There are a few different ways to use figurative language, including (metaphors, similes, personification and hyperbole).
Flashbacks
Remembering past events.
Foreshadowing
The use of clues that suggest what will happen in the story.
Genre
The type of writing that is classified by technique, tone, length or context.
Hyperbole
A description that is exaggerated for emphasis.
Idiom
A common phrase made up of words that can’t be understood by there literal meanings.
Imagery
Descriptive language that appeals to the senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch).
Inference
Using information that you already know and combining it with what you are reading to guess what will happen.
Motivation
Something that causes a character to act.
Tone
The authors attitude towards his subject.
Personification
Figurative language in which poets gibe an animal, object, or idea human quality’s.
Plot
The events that occur in a story.
POV (point of view)
Who’s is telling the story.
Irony
The difference between what appears to be and what really is.
Metaphor
A comparison not using like or as.
Mood
The feeling created in the reader by a story or poem.
Onomatopia
A word that represents the sound it makes.
Protagonist
Another word for the main character.
Pun
A plat on words, often humorous, that uses words that have similar or identical sounds but very different meanings.
Setting
The time and place.
Simile
A comparison using like or as.
Speaker
The voice behind the poem-the person we imagine to be saying the poem out loud.(not the poet)
Stereotype
Judging someone by looks and not actions.
Symbol
A concrete or physical object stands for an idea.
Theme
The message the author is trying to teach the reader (often about life, it can be why the author wrote the story).
Characterization
A description of characters personality not looks.
