Unit 1
Literary Elements
ARCHETYPE
•A character type, descriptive detail, image, orstory pattern that recurs frequently in theliterature of a culture.
BIAS
•An inclination toward a certain opinion orposition on a topic.
ALLUSION
•A reference to a well-known character, placeor situation from history or from music, art oranother work of literature.
DENOTATION
•The literal, or dictionary, meaning of a word.
CONNOTATION
•The suggested or implied meanings associatedwith a word beyond its dictionary definition.A word can be positive, negative or neutralconnotation.
IMAGERY
•The word pictures that writers create to evokean emotional response.
HYPERBOLE
•A figure of speech that uses exaggeration toexpress strong emotion, to make a point or toevoke 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 thestory and uses the words I and me.
•Third Person- narrator is someone who standsoutside the story and describes the charactersand actions in the story.
•Omniscient- “All Knowing” or the narratorknows everything about every character.
VOICE
•The distinctive use of language that conveysthe author’s or narrator’s personality to thereader.
•Voice is determined by elements of style suchas word choice and tone.
TONE
•An author’s attitude toward his or her subjectmatter or the audience.
•Tone is conveyed though elements such asword choice, punctuation, sentence structure,and figures of speech.
•A writer’s tone might convey a variety ofattitudes such as sympathy, objectivity orhumor.
