Literary Terms:Figurative Language and Author’s Craft

● An author’s use of hints or clues to give the reader an idea of what may happen next

FORESHADOWING

● Use of extreme exaggeration

● For example, “My car is a million years old.” OR

“I walked five-thousand miles to school.”

HYPERBOLE

● Words or phrases that create vivid images or one or more of the five senses

IMAGERY

● A situation where the opposite of what is expected to occur DOES in fact happen.

● “The ambulance driver rushed to the scene of the accident, but in his haste, he ran over the victim because the victim had crawled into the middle of the street in the darkness of night.”

IRONY

● A comparison of two unlike things:● Simile uses the words like or as- “Her cheeks

were like red apples.”● Metaphor omits the like or as- “Her cheeks

were red apples.”

METAPHOR / SIMILE

● A figure of speech that contains contradictory words or phrases

● Examples: Dark light, almost exactly, clever fool

OXYMORON

● Giving human characteristics to a non-human subject

● “The cat grinned at me and began her wicked plan.”

● “The daisy lifted its face to the sun.”

PERSONIFICATION