Literary Elements, Techniques and

Terms
 Literary Devices and Terms

■ A literary device is any tool used in literature to

help the reader understand the story and its
character(s).
■ There are two types of literary devices used by
authors, literary elements and literary
techniques.
■ Literary terms/elements provide structure to the
literature. All literary elements are evident in all
literature that creates a story.
■ Literary techniques are specific to each author.
Authors choose which of the techniques to employ.
 Literary Elements
Literary elements are common literary
devices found in all literature.
■ Point of view
■ Setting
■ Character/Characterization
■ Theme
■ Sequence of Plot (applied to short
stories)
■ Conflict
■ Moral Value
 Point of View
■ Point of view is the vantage point from which a story is
told.

First Person: The narrator is a character, often the main

character, of the story. This character reveals personal
thoughts and feelings but is unable to tell the feelings of
others unless he or she is told by another character. The
first person narrator refers to him or herself as “I, we our,
us…”

The Second Person: Not common in Fiction. used for giving

directions, offering advice, or providing an explanation.
This perspective allows the writer to make a connection
with his or her audience by focusing on the reader. Second
person personal pronouns include you, your, and yours.
 Point of View
■Third-person omniscient
Omniscient is a fancy word that means “all-knowing.”
So, third-person omniscient point of view means that
the narrative is told from the perspective of a narrator
who knows the thoughts and feelings of many
characters in the story. Sometimes, third-person
omniscient point of view will include the narrator
telling the story from multiple characters’
perspectives.
 Point of View
■ The Third Person Limited
The third person omniscient (meaning "all knowing") point of
view is a method of storytelling in which the narrator knows
what every character is thinking. Third person limited point of
view, on the other hand, is a method of storytelling in which
the narrator knows only the thoughts and feelings of a single
characterThe third person omniscient (meaning "all knowing")
point of view is a method of storytelling in which the narrator
knows what every character is thinking. Third person limited
point of view, on the other hand, is a method of storytelling in
which the narrator knows only the thoughts and feelings of a
single character, while other characters are presented only
externally. Third person limited grants a writer more freedom
than first person, but less knowledge than third person
 Setting
■ Setting generally provides the time and place of a specific
scene or chapter, the entire story, a play or a narrative poem.
■ Setting can also include the mood of the time period, situation
or event.
■ Setting can also be the social, political, environmental or
emotional climate.
 Characters
■ The term character refers to a person or an
animal in a story, play or other literary work.
■ Main characters are almost always round. They
have good and bad qualities. Their goals,
ambitions and values change as a result of what
happens to him or her. A character who changes
as a result of the events of the story is referred to
as DYNAMIC.
 Types of Main Characters
■ Protagonist: The main character in the story.
Usually the one who faces the main conflict.
■ Antagonist: The character or force that
opposes the protagonist.
 Minor/Secondary Characters
■ They always help to develop the story
■ They are usually all good or all bad. Such
characters can be amusing in their own right,
but lack depth.
■ Minor characters are sometimes called
STATIC characters because they change very
little or not at all through the literary work.
 Theme
■ Theme is the main idea or underlying meaning of a
literary work.
■ Theme is a main idea or strong message tied to life.
■ Theme threads itself through a story, chapter or scene to
make a point about life, society or human nature.
■ Theme is typically a topic. The reader has to think about
it.
■ Generally, there is one major theme in a piece of literature. A
major theme is one that the author returns to time and again.
■ There are four ways to express theme:
1. Feelings of the main character
2. Thoughts and conversations
3. What the main character learns
4. Actions and events
 Conflict
■ Conflict is a struggle between opposing characters or
opposing forces.
■ Conflict is essential to the plot of a work of fiction.
■ There are some general types of conflict in literature:

Man versus Man is the conflict of one person against another person.
Man versus Nature is the conflict a person encounters with the forces of
nature, and shows how insignificant one person can be when compared to
the cosmic scheme of things.
Man versus Society is the conflict of a person/people and the views of
society. Prejudice/Racism is a good example.
Man versus Self is internal conflict. It is those conflicts an individual has
with his conscience.
 Plot
■ All fiction is based on conflict and this
conflict is presented in a structured format
called PLOT.
■ Plot is the sequence of events that happen
in a story.
■ Plot has five basic points:
Exposition is the beginning of the story.
Rising action is when something starts to happen.
Climax is the high point of the action.
Falling action is the action following the climax, a cool down.
Resolution (Denouement) is the conclusion of the action when
everything comes together.
 Climax

Rising action Falling action

Resolution

Exposition

Plot Map
 A Turning Point

- the time- the time at which a situation- the time at which

a situation starts- the time at which a situation starts to change-
the time at which a situation starts to change in an important way
- a point at which a decisive change takes place; critical
point; crisis.
a point at which something changes direction, especially a
high or low point on a graph.
 Moral Value

Derived from the Latin term “morālis,” moral means a

message conveyed by, or a lesson learned from, a
story, a poem, or an event. It is not necessary that the
author or the poet has clearly stated it. It can be left for
the audiences or the learners to derive.
 Figurative Language
■ “Whenever you describe something by comparing
it with something else, you are using figurative
language.”
■ Types of figurative language include:
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Imagery
Metaphor
Simile
Hyperbole
Personification
Allusion
Symbol
Assonance
Oxymoron
 Alliteration

■ Alliteration: is the repetition of consonant sounds

generally at the beginning of words, or, within
neighboring words in a sentence.
■ Alliteration is used to create a melody or mood,
call attention to specific words, point out
similarities and contrasts.
■ Examples:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Wide-eyed and wondering while we wait for
others to waken.
 Assonance
■ Assonance, or “vowel rhyme,” is the repetition of
vowel sounds across a line of text or poetry. The
words have to be near enough to each other that the
similar vowel sounds are noticeable.
■ Example:
Go slow on the road.
Hear the mellow wedding bells
Hear the lark and harken to the barking of the dark fox gone to ground
 Personification

■ Personification is when an object or animal is spoken

of as if it had human feelings, thoughts or attitudes.
■ Personification is when human qualities are given to
an animal, an object or an idea.
■ Examples:
The little dog laughed.
The cow winked at the little girl.
 Onomatopoeia

■ Onomatopoeia is the use of words that

imitate or suggest their meaning.
■ When you read the word, it makes a sound

■ Examples:

Buzz!
Meow!
Coarackle!
Buzz!
Swoosh!
 Metaphor

■ Metaphor is an imaginative comparison

between two unlike things in which one thing is
said to be the other thing.
■ Metaphors are implied comparisons between
two unlike things without using the words like
or as.
■ Examples:
The road was a ribbon of moonlight.
She was a flower among women.
 Simile

■ Simile is when a comparison is made between two

unlike things, using a word such as like, as, than
or resembles.
■ Similes are most often direct comparisons
between two unlike things using the words like
and as.
■ Examples:
Timothy’s arms were like iron.
My love is like a red, red rose.
Her face was as round as a pumpkin.
 Imagery
■ Language that appeals to the senses.
■ Imagery is when words/language are used to
appeal to one or all of the five senses – sight,
touch, taste, smell or sound.

Examples: “Alice in Wonderland”

■ The Red Queen's head is massive, and it stands out throughout
the book as an evocative, unsettling, and whimsical image. This
imagery is illustrative of the fantastical proportions of
Wonderland
■ When Alice is at the Mad Hatter's tea party, they are interrupted
by the Knave and the Red Queen's soldiers. As the enemy
approaches, the Hatter urges Alice to drink a potion which
shrinks her. He then stuffs her in a teapot. This imagery shows us
that she is trapped and feels out of control of her destiny.
 Oxymoron
■ a combination of contradictory or
incongruous words
Ex: “cruel kindness”
• “Small crowd”

• “Open secret”

• “Living dead”

• “Deafening silence”

• “Only choice”

• “Awfully good
 Hyperbola

■ Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a

literary device or figure of speech.
Ex:
• These high heels are killing me.

• Be careful, it's a jungle out there.

• I'm drowning in paperwork.

• There are a million other things to do.

 Dialogue
■ Dialogue is conversation between two or more
characters.
■ Dialogue is when a character speaks to another
character.
■ Dialogue can include when a character speaks out
loud to an animal, an inanimate object or him or
herself.
■ Dialogue can be used to explain something to the
reader/audience.
 Allusion
■ A reference to a statement, a person, a
place, or an event from literature, the arts,
history, religion, mythology, politics, sports
or science.
■ Author’s expect a reader to understand the
allusion, think about the allusion and the
literature to make connections.
 Symbol/Symbolism
■ A symbol is a person, a place, a thing, or an event
that has meaning in itself and stands for
something beyond itself as well.
■ Symbols are commonly known as representing
the other item.
■ Examples: “The Statue of Liberty symbolizes the
democratic ideal.”
 Irony
■ Irony is a literary device in which contradictory statements or situations
reveal a reality that is different from what appears to be true.
■ There are many forms of irony featured in literature. The effectiveness of
irony as a literary device depends on the reader’s expectations and
understanding of the disparity between what “should” happen and what
“actually” happens in a literary work.

Verbal Irony:
• Telling a quiet group, “don’t speak all at once”
• Coming home to a big mess and saying, “it’s great to be back”
• Telling a rude customer to “have a nice day”
• Walking into an empty theater and asking, “it’s too crowded”

Situational Irony:
• A fire station that burns down
• Winner of a spelling bee failing a spelling test
• A police station being burglarized
• A t-shirt with a “Buy American” logo that is made in China
 Irony or Sarcasm
■ When it comes to irony vs. sarcasm, it’s hard to see the
difference between these two terms. However, irony is the
opposite of what you would expect. Sarcasm, on the other
hand, has a condescending tone meant to embarrass or insult
someone. Therefore, the negativity in sarcasm is the clear
difference.
 Pun
■ A pun is a literary device that is also known as a “play on words.”
■ Puns involve words with similar or identical sounds but with different
meanings. Their play on words also relies on a word
or phrase having more than one meaning.
■ Puns are generally intended to be humorous, but they often have a
serious purpose as well in literary works.

Ex:
o It’s difficult for crabs to share because they are shellfish.
o The population of Ireland is always Dublin. (sounds like “doubling”)
o Make like a tree and leave. (sounds like “leaf”)
o Some bunny loves you. (sounds like “somebody”)
o Her cat is near the computer to keep an eye on the mouse.