Unit 1 Literary Elements

ARCHETYPE A character type, descriptive detail, image, or story pattern that recurs frequently in the literature of a culture.

BIAS An inclination toward a certain opinion or position on a topic.

ALLUSION A reference to a well-known character, place or situation from history or from music, art or another work of literature.

DENOTATION The literal, or dictionary, meaning of a word.

CONNOTATION The suggested or implied meanings associated with a word beyond its dictionary definition. A word can be positive, negative or neutral connotation.

IMAGERY The word pictures that writers create to evoke an emotional response.

HYPERBOLE A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express strong emotion, to make a point or to evoke humor.

DICTION A writer’s choice of words. Diction is an important element in the writer’s “voice” or style.

Point of View The standpoint from which the story is told. First Person- narrator is a character in the story and uses the words I and me. Third Person- narrator is someone who stands outside the story and describes the characters and actions in the story. Omniscient- “All Knowing” or the narrator knows everything about every character.

VOICE The distinctive use of language that conveys the author’s or narrator’s personality to the reader. Voice is determined by elements of style such as word choice and tone.

TONE An author’s attitude toward his or her subject matter or the audience. Tone is conveyed though elements such as word choice, punctuation, sentence structure, and figures of speech. A writer’s tone might convey a variety of attitudes such as sympathy, objectivity or humor.