Irony

The outcome of a situation is different from

what is expected.

“You’d be non-conforming, too if you

looked just like me.”
From a random iPod song.
Foreshadowing
The author gives hints about future events.

“…but a singular sense of impending

calamity, that should have indeed
served me as a warning, drove me
onward.”
From The Time Machine by H.G.
Wells
Alliteration
Repeating CONSONANT sounds.

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I

pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of
forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping…”
From “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
Personification
An author gives human-like characteristics
to things that are not human.

“Time can bring you down, time can bend

your knees.
Time can break your heart, leave you
begging, please.”
From “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton
Allusion
A reference to another text, famous
person, event, etc.

“It’s time to fight back, that’s what Huey

said.
Two shots in the dark, now Huey’s dead.”
From “Changes” by Tupac Shakur
Metaphor
A comparison which one thing is said to be the
other.

“All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players.”
From “As You Like It,” by William Shakespeare.
Simile
A comparison using the words “like” or
“as.”

“Karma Police, arrest this man.

He talks in maths,
He buzzes like a fridge,
He’s like a detuned radio.”
From “Karma Police” by
Radiohead
Symbol
A thing/person/place that represents something
else.

“Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the

Mercedes-Benz,
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls
friends.”
From “Hotel California” by the Eagles
Hyperbole
An exaggeration for emphasis.

“I’m just a girl, I’d rather not be

‘Cause they won’t let me drive late at
night.”
From “Just a Girl” by No Doubt
Flashback
An author stops the action in a story to
explain events that happened
previously.
“On glancing over my notes of the
seventy odd cases….I find many
tragic….It was early in the year ‘83 that I
awoke one morning to find Sherlock
Holmes standing by the side of my bed.”
From “Adventure of the Speckled Band”
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Setting
The time, place, and customs of a story.

“Today was just another day in October, in a

year suddenly better than anyone supposed
it could ever be just a short hour ago, with
the moon and the stars moving in grand
rotation toward the inevitable dawn…”
From Something Wicked This Way Comes
by Ray Bradbury
Denotation
The literal meaning of a word.

“We takin’ it back to the days of yes-y’allin’

We holdin’ onto what’s golden.”
From “What’s Golden” by Jurassic 5
Connotation
The implication associated with a word.

“We takin’ it back to the days of yes-y’allin’

We holdin’ onto what’s golden.”
From “What’s Golden” by Jurassic 5
Mood
The feeling a text creates.

“I see a little silhouetto of a man.

Scaramouche, Scaramouche,
Will you do the Fandango?”
From “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen
Plot
The events of a story.
Climax
The turning point of the story; the most
intense part.
Narrator
The person telling the story.
1st person: a character is narrating.

3rd person: an outside narrator who

only knows the thoughts of one
character.

3rd person omniscient: an outside

narrator who knows the thoughts of all
characters.
Conflict
The problem in a story.
Internal: the character struggles with
a personal problem.

External: the character struggles with

someone else, something else, or
nature.
Characterization
How a character looks, feels, acts, etc.
Dynamic character: one that changes
over the course of the story.

Round character: one that has many

different traits.