ELA · Literary terms
Literary Terms for Middle School
Protagonist, foreshadowing, irony, symbolism, mood, tone and more literary terms for grades 6–8.
- 🎓 Grades 6–8
- 📖 ELA
- 📐 RL.7.3
- ❓ 28 questions
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protagonist
The main character of a story
antagonist
The character or force working against the hero
conflict
The struggle between opposing forces
exposition
The opening part that introduces characters and setting
climax
The turning point and most intense part of the plot
resolution
How the story's struggle is settled at the end
foreshadowing
Hints about what will happen later
flashback
A scene that jumps back to earlier events
irony
When the opposite of what is expected happens
symbolism
Using an object to stand for a bigger idea
mood
The feeling a reader gets from a text
tone
The author's attitude toward the subject
omniscient
Describes a narrator who knows every character's thoughts
allusion
A brief reference to a well-known person, place or work
satire
Humor that pokes fun at people or society to show a flaw
suspense
Tension about what will happen next
characterization
How an author shows what a character is like
dialect
A regional way of speaking
imagery
Words that appeal to the five senses
motif
A repeated idea, image or symbol in a work
allegory
A story where characters stand for bigger ideas
soliloquy
A speech a character gives alone on stage
meter
The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry
sonnet
A 14-line poem with a set rhyme pattern
memoir
A true account of moments from the writer's own life
archetype
A typical character or pattern found again and again
paradox
A statement that seems to contradict itself but may be true
oxymoron
Two opposite words side by side, like "jumbo shrimp"
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