English 10 Mission Vista HS Literary Terms/Devices Definitions

allegory

• A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor.

• a direct and specific meaning, often referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word

• a scene in a short story, a novel, a narrative poem, or a play that interrupts the action to show an event that happened earlier

• a writer or speaker says one thing and means something entirely different

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

Alliteration

• a reader or an audience knows something that a character in the story or play does not know 

• a scene in a short story, a novel, a narrative poem, or a play that interrupts the action to show an event that happened earlier

• the repetition of similar sounds in a sequence of words to create a memorable phrase

• The placement of unlike objects, ideas, etc, next to one another to highlight the contrast between them.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Allusion

• The author’s central message or insight revealed through the literary work

• In literature, this is a reference to another work. 

• the way words are arranged to form phrases, clauses, and sentences; syntax encompasses word order, sentence length, sentence focus, and punctuation

• any object, person, place, or action that has a meaning in itself and that also stands for something larger than itself, such as a quality, an attitude, a belief, or a value.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Anaphora

• repetition of a word or phrase  at the BEGINNING of successive clauses/phrases 

• a direct and specific meaning, often referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word

• The choice of words, their arrangement, and the force, action, and distinction as to which they are used.

• words used to create or suggest pictures in the reader’s mind - what we see, hear, smell, feel, or taste.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Connotation

• words used to create or suggest pictures in the reader’s mind - what we see, hear, smell, feel, or taste.

• an exaggeration of fact used either for serious or comic effect. 

• a writer or speaker says one thing and means something entirely different

• the association(s) suggested by a word, different from what it literally describes, often referred to as an implied meaning 

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.6

CCSS.L.8.6

CCSS.L.9-10.6

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

CCSS.W.9-10.2D

Denotation

• the repetition of similar sounds in a sequence of words to create a memorable phrase

• a direct and specific meaning, often referred to as the dictionary meaning of a word

• a figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human qualities. 

• the perspective that the narrator holds in relation to the events of the story

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.6

CCSS.L.8.6

CCSS.L.9-10.6

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

CCSS.W.9-10.2D

Diction

• repetition of a word of phrase at the END of successive clauses/phrases

• the use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest what action is to come.

• The choice of words, their arrangement, and the force, action, and distinction as to which they are used.

• an exaggeration of fact used either for serious or comic effect. 

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

Epistrophe

• A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor.

• the way words are arranged to form phrases, clauses, and sentences; syntax encompasses word order, sentence length, sentence focus, and punctuation

• the repetition of similar sounds in a sequence of words to create a memorable phrase

• repetition of a word of phrase at the END of successive clauses/phrases

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

Flashback

• a reader or an audience knows something that a character in the story or play does not know 

• a scene in a short story, a novel, a narrative poem, or a play that interrupts the action to show an event that happened earlier

• a writer or speaker says one thing and means something entirely different

• the writer shows a discrepancy between the expected result of some action or situation and its actual result 

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.4.4

Foil

• In literature very often a foil is a secondary character who contrasts with the major character to enhance the importance of the major character.

• a writer or speaker says one thing and means something entirely different

• a reader or an audience knows something that a character in the story or play does not know 

• the use of a word in which the sound imitates or suggests its meaning