Handbook of Literary Terms

6th Grade ReadingBy: Angela Jensen

SimileDefinition:

• A comparison between two unlike things using a word such as like, as, than, or resembles.

Example:• “ Her eyes are like

the blue sky”

PersonificationDefinition:

• A special kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman or nonliving thing or quality is talked about as if it were human or alive.

Example:• “The leaves danced

along the sidewalk.”

StanzaDefinition:

• In a poem, a group of lines that form a unit.

Example:• A stanza in a poem is

something like a paragraph in prose; it often expresses a unit of thought.Stanza

1

Stanza 3

Stanza 2

SymbolDefinition:

• A person, a place, a thing, or an event that has its own meaning and stands for something beyond itself as well.

Example:• The skull and

crossbones, is a symbol of danger. The dove is a symbol of peace. And the red rose stands for true love.

ThemeDefinition:

• A truth about life revealed in a work of literature.

Example:• A theme has to be

expressed in a full sentence. A work can have more than one theme.

AlliterationDefinition:

• The repetition of the same or very similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.

Example:• “Busy as a bee!”

• “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers!”

DialectDefinition:

• A way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular region or of a particular group of people.

Example:• Ole

• Bein

• Em

ImageryDefinition:

• Language that appeals to the senses-sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.

Example:The Storm

In a fury and terrorThe tempest broke,It tore up the pineAnd shattered the oak,Yet the hummingbird hoveredWithin the hourSipping clear rainFrom a trumpet flower.

MetaphorDefinition:

• A comparison between two unlike things in which one thing becomes another thing.

Example:• “He’s such a bear

today!”

• “He is behaving like a bear.

My Brother on a crabby day.

OnomatopoeiaDefinition:

• The use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning.

Example:• Boom• Bang• Sniffle• Rumble• Hush• Ding• Snort