A reference in a work of literature to something outside the work, especially to a well known historical or literary event, person or work.

A speaker’s, author’s, or character’s disposition toward or opinion of a subject.

Are items or parts that make up a larger picture or story.

Alliteration, assonance, consonance and onomatopoeia are examples of this.  They are used for many reasons, including creating a general effect of pleasant or of discordant sound, imitating another sound, or reflecting meaning.

Any word  that is important to the meaning and the effect of a passage.  Often several words with a similar effect are worth discussion as they make a particular point, emphasize the mood, are used stylistically, etc.  It is the author’s word choice.

Metaphor, simile and irony are examples of this.  It is writing that is the opposite of literal language or that which is actual or specifically denoted. This type of writing uses words to mean something other than their literal meaning.

The images of a literary work; the sensory details of a work; the figurative language of a work. Visual, auditory, or tactile (blank) evoked by the words of a literary work or the image that figurative language evokes and can include metaphors and similes.

A figure of speech in which intent and actual meaning differ, characteristically praise for blame or blame for praise; a pattern of words that turns away from direct statement of its own obvious meaning.  This term implies a discrepancy between statement and meaning.

A figurative use of language in which a comparison is expressed without the use of a comparative term like “as,” “like,” or “than.”

The methods involved in telling a story; the procedures used by a writer of stories or accounts.  (Blank) is a general term (like “devices,” or “resources of language”) that asks you to discuss the procedures used in the telling of a story.  Examples of the techniques you might use are point of view, manipulation of time, dialogue, or interior monologue.

Omniscient point of view

The vantage point of a story in which the narrator can know, see, and report whatever he or she chooses.

Any of several possible vantage points from which a story is told.  The (blank) can be omniscient, limited to a single character, or several. It may be in first person as in Great Expectations or Wuthering Heights where Mr. Lockwood tells us the story that Nelly Dean tells him, a first person narration reported by a second first person narrator!

A general phrase for the linguistic devices or techniques that a writer can use (where you would discuss the style and rhetoric of a passage—diction, syntax, figurative lang., imagery, etc.).

The devices used in effective or persuasive language such as apostrophe, contrast, repetitions, paradox, understatement, sarcasm, and rhetorical question to name a few.

Writing that seeks to arouse a reader’s disapproval of an object by ridicule.  This is usually comedy that exposes errors with an eye to correct vice and folly.

The background to a story; the physical location of a play, story, or novel.  This term usually involves both time and place.

A directly expressed comparison; a figure of speech comparing tow objects, usually with “like,” “as,” or “than.”  It is easier to recognize one of these than a metaphor because the comparison is explicit.

Strategy (or rhetorical strategy)

The management of language for a specific effect.  There is planning for this term and for poems there is a planned placement of elements to achieve an affect.

The arrangement of materials within a work the relationship of the parts of a work; the relationship of the parts of a work to the whole; the logical divisions of a work. The most common principles of (blank) are series (A, B, C, D, E), contrast (A vs. B, C vs. D, E vs. A), and repetition (AA, BB). The most common units of this term are – play: scene, act; novel: chapter; poem: line, stanza.

The mode of expression in language; the characteristic manner of expression of an author.  Within this term the reader can discuss/analyze the terms techniques such as diction, syntax, figurative language, imagery, selection of detail, sound effects, and tone, using the ones that are appropriate.

Something that is simultaneously itself and a sign of something else.  (Winter, darkness, and cold are real things, but in literature they are also likely to be used as (blanks) of death).

The structure of a sentence; the arrangement of words in a sentence. This could include such considerations to be examined as the length or brevity of the sentences, the kinds of sentences (questions, exclamations, declarative sentences, rhetorical questions-or periodic or loose; simple, complex, or compound).

The manner in which an author expresses his or her attitude; the intonation of the voice that expresses meaning.  This is described by adjectives, and the possibilities will not be enough and this may change from chapter to chapter or even line to line.  This is the result of allusion, diction, figurative language, imagery, irony, symbol, syntax, and style, for example.