Literary Devices for Middle Grades, High School & College --> S:
- Synecdoche = the technique of mentioning a part of something to represent the whole
- Setting = the time and place of action in a literary work; time can include not only the historical period, specific year, season, and time of day
- Short = a brief work of fiction
- Soliloquy = a long speech expressing the thoughts of one character on stage
- Satire = a style of writing that uses humor, sometimes biting, to criticize people, ideas, or institutions in hopes of improving them
- Shot articulations = cinematic camera moves
- Stanza = a formal division in lines of a poem, considered as a unit, often separated by spaces
- Surprise ending = a conclusion that violates the expectations of the reader but in a way that is both logical and believable
- Suspense = a feeling of curiosity or uncertainty about the outcome of events created by raining questions in the minds of readers
- Symbol = anything that stands for itself as well as something else
- Symbolism = using symbols to create the meaning of a piece of literary work
- Stated theme = the narrator or author directly states this type of theme
- Situational irony = the type of irony that occurs when an event directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the reader, or the audience (the unexpected happens)
- Second person point of view = point of view usually found in directions, travel brochures, and How-To's (YOU)
- Static character = a character who displays few character traits and stays the same
- Sensory language = writing or speech that appeals to one or more of the senses
- Scenes = small units in drama that acts are divided into
- Sarcasm = the use of harsh words to deride and criticize
- Science fiction = writing that tells about imaginary events that involve science or technology
- Simile = a figure of speech in which "like" or "as" is used to make a comparison between two basically unlike ideas
- Style = the way an author chooses and uses words, phrases, and sentences to tell the story
- Syllogism = logic; a form of deductive reasoning consisting or a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion
- Subplot = a secondary, less important plot
- Sestet = a six-line stanza
- Stress mark = this shows which syllables to stress in a line of poetry
- Stage directions = notes included in a drama to describe how the work is to be performed or staged
- Sonnet = a fourteen-line poem usually written in rhymed iambic pentameter; there are two types for school: Shakespearean and Petrarchan
- Skene = a building for costume changes and scenery storage
- Slant rhyme = rhyme in which the vowel sounds are not quite identical (forced rhyme)