Middle School Literary Elements

Hints or clues as to what will happen later in the plot

• Mood
• Personification
• Point of view
• Foreshadowing

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.3

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.K.3

Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things.

• Irony
• Personification
• Suspense
• Simile

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.3

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.K.3

Contrast between what is expected and what actually happens

• Symbol
• Simile
• Conflict
• Irony

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.3

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.K.3

Struggle between opposing forces and the basis of plot in literature.

• Climax
• Exposition
• Conflict
• Rising action

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.5.7

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.6.9

Events in the story that move the plot along by adding complications or expanding the conflict.

• Plot
• Exposition
• Allusion
• Rising action

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.3

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.K.3

Also called the resolution; the conflict is resolved

• climax
• falling action
• metaphor
• simile

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.3

CCSS.RL.5.7

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.6.9

Information essential to understanding the work.

• Allusion
• Exposition
• Characterization
• Narrator

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.3

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.K.3

Perspective from which the story is told.

• Mood
• Tone
• Point of view
• Personification

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.3

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.K.3

Struggle between opposing forces and the basis of plot in literature.

• Irony
• Simile
• Conflict
• Falling action

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.3

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.K.3

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

• Mood
• Tone
• Symbol
• Foreshadowing

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.3

CCSS.RL.2.3

CCSS.RL.3.3

CCSS.RL.4.3

CCSS.RL.K.3