Literary Terms
PLOT OUTLINE:
A. Exposition
· Introduction
· Background
· Introduce main characters
· Setting: time--chronological/historical and place
· Basic situation: instigating incident
B. Rising Action
· Events leading to the climax in a story
C. Climax
· Point of greatest emotional involvement in a story
D. Falling Action
· Events leading from the climax to the resolution in a story
E. Resolution
· End of a conflict in a literary work
· Denouement--means “untying the knot”
o Event or events which follow the resolution; the final twist in a literary work
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BASIC ELEMENTS OF SHORT STORY DEVELOPMENT:
1. Setting
2. Character
3. Plot
4. Point of view
5. Theme
6. Tone
1. Antagonist:
· character in conflict with main character or protagonist in the story
2. Character:
· person who takes part in a literary work
· main character: most important character (also called PROTAGONIST)
3. Characterization:
· Act of creating and developing character
o Indirect: interpretation through author explanation of what character does, says, thinks, reacts
o Direct: factual, not subject to interpretation, includes physical characteristics
4. Conflict
· Struggle between opposing forces
o External: character struggles with an outside force
o Internal: character in conflict with self
5. Episode
· An event or incident within a longer narrative
6. Flashback
· Interrupts order of events to relate an event from an earlier time
7. Foreshadowing
· Clues to suggest future events or outcomes
8. Genre
· A division or type of literature
o Three major genres include: poetry, drama and prose
9. Imagery
· Creating a mental picture for the reader by appealing to the five senses
10. Irony
· Difference between appearance and reality
· Unexpected outcomes
11. Metaphor:
· A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as though it were something else
· Comparing two things without the use of like or as
o Example: from Langston Hughes’ poem Dream Deferred, “Life is a broken-winged bird.”
12. Motivation
· Reason that explains or partially explains a character’s thoughts, feelings, actions or behavior
· Combination of character’s moral nature with circumstances
13. Personification
· Figurative language in which a non-human subject is given human characteristics
14. Plot
· The sequence of events in a literary work
· Involves not only the characters but also the central conflict
15. Point of View
· Determines the kind and amount of information that can be revealed
o FIRST PERSON: character in the story is telling the story; reader sees only what the character sees or interprets; may or may not be reliable; clue to first person = “I”
o THIRD PERSON: voice outside the story tells the story; clue to third person narration is “he,” “she”; objective narrative stands outside the story and tells the story without being involved
o THIRD PERSON OMNISCIENT: narrator can tell the reader what any character thinks or feels (omniscient = all seeing, all knowing)
16. Protagonist
· The central character (heroine or hero) in a story
17. Setting
· Physical background against which narrative is set
18. Simile
· Figurative language
· Indirect comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as”
19. Stereotyping
· A fixed judgment or categorization that does not consider individual differences
20. Style
· A writer’s special way of expression in either prose or verse
· The particular way a writer says things
· Style includes writer’s word choice, sentence and paragraph shape, and use of figures of speech
21. Suspense
· Feeling of uncertainty, tension or curiosity about the outcome of a literary work
22. Symbol
· An object, animate or inanimate, that stands for something else
23. Theme
· Central message or insight into human life
· Generalization about human motives
24. Tone
· The writer’s attitude to the subject and audience in a literary work (funny, scary, etc)