Literary ElementsA literary element (or element of

literature) is an individual aspect or characteristic of a whole work of literature.

Alliteration • The repetition of initial consonant sounds in words.

• Example: Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore.

Allusion

•A brief, usually indirect reference to a person, place, or event--real or fictional • Example: Chapter 1, page 1 of The Outsiders when Ponyboy

references the actor Paul Newman.

Assonance

• The repetition of consonant sounds in the first syllable of words, though they may not rhyme.

• Example: (fast, lost)

Consonance

• The repetition of vowel sounds in the first syllable of words, though they may not rhyme• Example: (peach, tree)

Hyperbole • An exaggeration or overstatement.

• Example: “I’ve told you a million times”

• An expression of two or more words, which mean something other than the literal meanings of the individual words. • Example: bull in a china shop, bite off more than you can chew

Idiom

Imagery

• A comparison between two seemingly unlike things without using the words “like”, “as”, “than”, or “resembles.”

• Example: America is a melting pot, Her home was a prison

• Words or phrases that appeal to one or more of the five senses (sight, touch, taste, hearing, smell) and help to create a vivid description for the reader.

• Example: Visual - The sun was shining on the sea,

Shining with all his might:He did his very best to makeThe billows smooth and bright -And this was odd, because it wasThe middle of the night.    (Lewis Carroll)       

Metaphor

Onomatopoeia • Words or phrases that sound like the things they are

describing.• Example: (hiss, zoom, bow-wow)

• Giving human qualities or characteristics to non-human objects• Example: The flowers begged for water, Lightning danced across the

sky.

Personification

Repetition • Repetition occurs when a word or phrase used more

than once. Repetition can create a pattern.• Example: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny

compared to what lies within us.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Repetition of the same or similar sounds at the end of words or lines

• Example: Hickory, dickory, dock.The mouse ran up the clock.The clock struck one,And down he run,Hickory, dickory, dock.

Rhyme

Rhythm • The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a pattern.• Example: The rhythm pattern in a Limerick Poem

1. There was an old man from Peru, (A)

da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (3 DUMS) Rhythm

2. who dreamed he was eating his shoe. (A)

da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (3 DUMS) Rhythm

3. He awoke in the night (B)

da DUM da da DUM (2 DUMS) Rhythm

4. with a terrible fright, (B)

da da DUM da da DUM (2 DUMS) Rhythm

5. and found out that it was quite true. (A)

da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (3 DUMS) Rhythm

Ms Moran’s LimerickThere once was a kid in the classwho tried to give Ms Moran sass.She spoke with a frown,And sent him right down,To the office where his detention would pass.

Stanza• An arrangement of a certain number of lines,

usually four or more, sometimes having a fixed length, meter, or rhyme scheme, forming a division of a poem

Simile • A comparison of one thing to another, using the words "like," "as," or "as though.”• Example:

• Shrek: Ogres are like onions.Donkey: They stink?Shrek: Yes. No!Donkey: They make you cry?Shrek: No!Donkey: You leave them out in the sun, they get all brown, start sprouting little white hairs.Shrek: No! Layers! Onions have layers!(Shrek, 2001)