Literature definitions

4 literature terms from Achievable exam prep courses, each defined in plain language with links into the course textbook.

• Figurative languageFigurative language is language that conveys meaning beyond the literal definitions of its words, using devices such as simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole to create imagery, emphasis, and emotional effect.
• Literary devicesLiterary devices are techniques writers use to create meaning and effect beyond the literal words on the page. Common examples include metaphor, simile, imagery, irony, symbolism, foreshadowing, and alliteration.
• Modernism and postmodernismModernism is the early-twentieth-century literary movement that broke from traditional forms to capture fragmented modern experience, while postmodernism is the later movement that questions whether any single truth or coherent narrative is possible at all.
• Point of view (literature)Point of view is the perspective from which a story is told — who is narrating and how much that narrator knows. The main types are first person, second person, and third person, with third person further divided into limited and omniscient.