Literary Elements and Devices

Front

characters

Back

the people (or animals) in a story

Front

setting

Back

The time and place a story takes place

Front

conflict

Back

A literary element that involves a struggle between two opposing forces. The main types are: person vs. person, person vs. self, person vs. nature, person vs. society, person vs. supernatural

Front

plot

Back

The sequence of events that make up a story

Front

theme

Back

message or lesson about life in the story

Front

tone

Back

the author's attitude toward the subject, the way that the author sounds in the text; for example: sad, tense, concerned, joyful, excited, etcetera.

Front

mood

Back

the overall emotion created by a work of literature; the feeling created in the reader by a literary work or passage.

Front

point of view

Back

the perspective from which a story is told; who is telling the story. It can be 1st person or 3rd person.

Front

metaphor

Back

a figure of speech comparing two unlike things without using like or as. Ex: Sometimes my teacher is an ogre!

Front

simile

Back

a comparison between two unlike things using signal words such as like or as Ex: She was as white as a ghost.