Literary Elements

The author’s attitude toward the subject matter

• Simile
• Tone
• Theme
• Symbol

Moves the action back in time and tells what happened before the main events

• Flashback
• Foreshadowing
• Allusion
• Conflict

Draws us into the world of a story; details tell us where and when events occur and may include information about social customs—about how the characters live, dress, eat, and behave

• Irony
• Rising Action
• Setting
• Point of View

Use of clues to hint at what is going to happen later in the plot

• Exposition
• Reference
• Metaphor
• Foreshadowing

The closing, of the story; the problems are resolved in some way and the story ends—sometimes happily, sometimes not

• Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Resolution

Struggle within the character’s own heart or mind (Man vs. Self)

• Internal Conflict
• External Conflict

Reader or audience knows something characters in the text do not

• Verbal Irony
• Situational Irony
• Dramatic Irony
• Prose Irony

Character with many characteristics and whom we know a lot about

• Static Character
• Dynamic Character
• Flat Character
• Round Character

The most exciting or suspenseful moment and decides the outcome of the conflict

• Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Resolution

The personality of a character is revealed directly through the use of descriptive adjectives or phrases (use words directly from the story)

• Indirect Characterization
• Direct Characterization