Literary Elements

What is a unifying idea, image, or motif, repeated or developed throughout a work.

• Metaphor

• Theme

• Exposition

• Denouement

The irony of something happening that is very different to what was expected

• verbal irony

• dramatic irony

• situational irony

• satire

A description of the distinctive nature or features of someone or something.

• Characterization

• Personification

• Simile

• Hyperbole

The idea that things represent other things.

• Irony

• Diction

• Allegory

• Symbolism

When the audience knows something that the characters don't.

• Satire

• Dramatic Irony

• Hyperbole

• Situational Irony

The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize institutions' or people's stupidity or vices.

• Irony

• Sarcasm

• Diction

• Satire

visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work.

• Imagery

• Symbolism

• Metaphor

• Personification

a narrative in which a character, place, or event is used to deliver a broader message about real-world issues and occurrences.

• Symbolism

• Metaphor

• Allegory

• Theme

A figure of speech that implies comparison between two unlike entities

• Metaphor

• Paradox

• Simile

• Allegory

literary device used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the story.

• Flashback

• Dramatic Irony

• Foreshadowing

• Exposition