LiteraryElementsMasterList

  1. PLOT & SETTING
  • Plot - The series of related events in a story or play, sometimes called a story line

Exposition – Gives information, explains, defines, and clarifies; background information

Rising Action – The series of events that lead to the climax; the conflicts of the protagonists

Climax – Moment of great emotional intensity or suspense in a plot

Falling Action – The series of events that follow the climax

Denouement – The resolution of the conflicts; the final chapter of a story, an epilogue

  • Sequence - The order events are told in a story

Chronological–Telling a story beginning at the earliest time and following the order in which the events occurred

In Medias Res - A Latin phrase (“in the middle of things”), telling a story by starting at the midpoint or at the conclusion, rather than the beginning.

  • Foreshadowing - An author suggests certain plot developments that will come later in the story or the use of hints or clues to suggest future events
  • Setting - The time and location in which a story takes place
  • Atmosphere - The mood or feeling created in a piece of writing
  1. CHARACTER
  • Character–people, animals, or objects that carry out events in a story
  • Direct Characterization– a writer tells the reader directly what a character is like or what the character’s motives are
  • Indirect Characterization– the writer shows the character and allows the reader to decide; the reader makes inferences based on observations
  • Motivation– the driving force of a character’s actions
  • Protagonist– the main character that experiences conflict, moves story along
  • Antagonist– the character or force that the protagonist must overcome to resolve the conflict, slows story down
  • Subordinate– a minor character who adds depth and complication to the plot
  • Stock– a character quickly recognized by the reader who needs no development (stereotype)
  • Dynamic–a character who changes throughout the story
  • Static–a character who remains the same throughout the story
  • Flat–a character who is simple with only one or two memorable traits
  • Round–a character who is complex with several remarkable traits
  • Foil – a character that contrasts (is the opposite of) the protagonist or main character
  1. NARRATOR
  • Narrator - One who tells, or narrates, a story
  • First Person - The narrator is a character in the story. Using the pronoun, "I," the narrator reveals his or her own thoughts
  • Persona - The mask or voice assumed by a writer
  • Third Person - The narrator is outside the story and reveals thoughts of only one character
  • Omniscient - The narrator is outside the story and knows everything that's going on in the story, including the thoughts of every character
  • Voice - The writer's or speaker's distinctive use of language in a text; consists of tone and diction, personality
  • Tone - The writer's opinion toward a subject, character or audience
  1. THEME
  • Theme – A statement that reveals a central idea, insight, or observation about life from a text; abstract noun
  • Insight – Ability to understand things as they really are; writers provide insight into life through their stories
  • Moral – an explicitly stated lesson about right and wrong usually found in very short stories for children
  1. SYMBOLISM
  • Symbol– A person, place, thing, or event that stands both for itself (literal/concrete meaning) and for something beyond itself (figurative/abstract meaning); symbols reappear often throughout a text
  • Inherited Symbol – A well-known symbol that has been handed down over time; public symbols; universal symbols (i. e. heart for love, four-leaf clover for luck)
  • Invented Symbol – Taking a new object, character, or event and making it the embodiment of some human concern by attaching meaning to it
  • Fable– A very brief story in prose or verse that teaches a moral, or a practical lesson about life, typically uses personified animals
  • Parable– A short, allegorical story that teaches a moral or religious lesson about life, typically uses ordinary people
  • Allusion– A reference to a statement, person, place, event or thing that is known from literature, history, religion, mythology, politics, sports, science, or popular culture
  1. IRONY
  • Irony- Contrast between expectation and reality, between what is said and what is really meant, between what is expected to happen and what really does happen, or between what appears to be true and what is really true
  • Verbal Irony - A writer or speaker says one thing but really means something completely different, sarcasm
  • Dramatic Irony - When the audience or reader knows something important that a character in a play or story does not know
  • Situational Irony - When there is a contrast between what would seem appropriate and what really happens or when there is a contradiction between what we expect to happen and what really does take place
  • Cosmic Irony - Contrast between what a person or character would like to happen and what the Gods have planned; the idea that fate, destiny, or the Gods control and toy with human hopes and expectations
  • Oxymoron – A combination of contradictory terms

VII.POETRY

  • Form – The overall structure or organization of a poem.

Stanza: How lines are grouped in a poem, the unit of measurement in a poem

Ode: A poem written and directed (like addressing a letter) to a specific subject

Elegy: A poem reflecting and lamenting (crying) for something dead or gone

  • Word Choice – The play on words writers employto improve the sound of their writing

Alliteration: The same letter or sound at the beginning of two or more words close to each other

Assonance: The same vowel sound in two or more words close to each other

Onomatopoeia: A word formed to sound like what it is named for

Rhyme: When the ending sound of two or more words is the same

Rhyme Scheme: The pattern and order of rhyme within a poem

Connotation: The emotional meaning of a word in addition to its dictionary definition

Denotation: The exact “dictionary” definition of a word

  • Meaning – The play on phrases writers use to emphasize the message of their writing

Hyperbole: Exaggerated statements not meant to be taken literally

Simile: Comparing two things using the words like or as

Metaphor: Comparing two things without using the words like or as

Personification: Giving human qualities to nonhuman things