Elements+of+Literature+Word+Wall

Allusion: A reference to a statement, a person, a place, or an event from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, or science.

Personification: A kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing or quality is talked about as if it were human; giving human traits to an inanimate object or quality.

Slant Rhymes: Sounds that are similar but not exactly the same.

Main Idea: The most important idea expressed in a paragraph or a selection; what a passage is mostly about.

Origin Myth: an Imaginative story that explains how something in the word came to be.

Refrain: A group of words repeated at intervals in a poem, song, or speech.

Free Verse: Poetry without a regular meter or a rhyme scheme.

Mood: The overall emotion created by a work of literature; the emotional atmosphere of a literary work.

Motivation: Any force that moves a character to act in a particular way.

Character: A person or animal in a story, a play, or another literary work. Writers create characters by telling us what they look like, what they say, how they act, how they think, and what other characters think about them. **Repetition: The recurring use of a sound, a word, a phrase, or a line. Repetition can be used to create music, to appeal to our emotions, and to emphasize important ideas, (as in //Annabel Lee//).**

** Narrative Poetry: ** Poems written to tell a story. Narrative poems have a plot, characters, and a setting. Stories sung to the strumming of stringed instruments are probably the oldest form of storytelling. Modern poems like, //**The Highwayman**//, use strong rhythyms to make their stories sound like the old sung stories.

** Tone: ** The attittude the writer takes toward the audience, the subject, or a character. Tone is conveyed through the writer's choice of words and details, (as in ** //Madam and the Rent Man// ** ).

** Point of View: ** The vantage point from which a story is told. The perspective which the reader is seeing a story unfold. In the First-person point of view, one of the characters, using the personal pronoun, I, is telling the story. The reader becomes familiar with that person's feelings, thoughts, and emotions, (as in ** //Fish Cheeks//). ** In the third-person limited point of view, the narrator is not in the story rather focuses on the thoughts and feelings of only one of the characters in the story, (as in ** //The Smallest Dragonboy// ** ). In the third-person omniscient point of view, the narrator knows everything about the characters and their problems. The all-knowing narrator can tell the reader about everyone's thoughts, feelings, and emotions, (as in ** //After Twenty Years// ** ).

** Flashback: ** A scene that breaks the normal time order of a plot to show a past event. An interruption in the action of a plot to tell what happened at an earlier time, (as used in, //**A Mason-Dixon Memory**//). A flashback is a literary tool used to give background information that helps the reader understand the present situation.

** Foreshadowing: ** The use of clues to hint at events that will happen later in a story, (as in ** //After Twenty Years//). ** Foreshadowing is used to build suspense or create anxiety.

** Figures of Speech ** : A word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of something else, something very different from it. A //**Simile**// is a comparison between two unlike things using a word such as //like// or //as//. A //**Metaphor**// is a comparison in which one thing is saidf to be another thing. Metaphors do not use //like// or //as//. Metaphors can be directly stated or implied.

**Setting**: The time and place in which a story takes place. Setting in a narrative is often established early on in the story. Setting often contributes to the story's emotional effect, (as in **//Song of the Trees//**). Setting frequently plays an important role in the story's plot, especially one that centers on a conflict between a character and nature.

**Main Idea:** The most important thing a writer has to say in a paragraph or selection. The main idea may be directly stated or implied.

**Description:** The kind of writing that creates a clear image of something, usually by using details that appeal to one or more of our senses: sight, sound, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. **Autobiography:** The writer tells the story of his or her own life

**Biography:** The writer tells the story of someone else's life

**Character:** A person or animal who takes part in the action of a story

**Theme:** A message or lesson about life found in the text Reminder: Theme cannot be a word (That would be a topic), rather it is a sentence/statement that encompasses the life lesson learned. (e.g.,) You must walk the lonely path of life alone, no one can do it for you; Sometimes in life you must depend upon the generosity of others to get through a crisis or challenge. [Rikki-tikki-tavi]

**Central Theme:** This is the life lesson or message that is woven throughout the entire story/passage. The message must be present in the begiining, middle, and end of the story. (e.g.,) In times of struggle, family must always stick together [Song of the Trees] vs.

**Themes** found in Song of the Trees: Greed is not becoming People should treat nature with respect Nature is part of the family

** Conflict: ** A clash between two forces.

Person vs. Person Person vs. Animal Animal vs. Animal Person vs. Nature Person or Animal vs. Thing
 * **External Conflict** is a clash between opposing forces on the outside; an external conflict could be found in the following combinations:

(e.g.,) In, //**Rikki-Tikki-Tavi**//, Rikki faces an external conflict when he is up against the Cobras (Animal vs. Animal); Also, the garden animals are up against the Nag and Nagaina (animal vs. animal).


 * **Internal Conflict:** A clash within one's self; person vs. himself; Internal Conflict deals with one's emotions, thoughts, feelings, morals, values, or principles

(e.g.,) In, //**Monster**//, Steve Harmon faces an internal conflict when he begins to question his own innocence or guilt and his role in the robbery