Literary Terms & Literary Terms & Story Elements Story Elements

Everything you ever wanted to know about literary definitions

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SETTINGSETTING

the time in which the story takes place

the place where the story takes place

the mood of the story

MOODMOOD

The overall feeling that is created by an author’s choice of words

This is part of the setting.

CHARACTERIZATIONCHARACTERIZATION The individuals responsible for moving The individuals responsible for moving the story line from the beginning to the the story line from the beginning to the

endend Antagonist - a character in conflict with the protagonist; the “bad guy”

Protagonist - the main character; the “good guy”

Dynamic Character- a character who matures and gains knowledge in the course of the story

Static Character- a character who stays the same throughout the story

Flat Character- a character who is one-sided and often stereotyped

Round Character- a character who is fully developed and exhibits many traits; often both faults and virtues

PLOT LINEPLOT LINE

CONCLUSION

FALLING ACTION

CLIMAX / TURNING POINT

RISING ACTION

(EVENTS & CONFLICT)

INTRODUCTION / EXPOSITION

RESOLUTION

INTRODUCTION / EXPOSITIONINTRODUCTION / EXPOSITION

Background material about the characters, setting, and situation with which the author introduces the essentials of the story to the reader - at the beginning of the plot line

RISING ACTIONRISING ACTION

The part of the story, including the events and conflict, in which the tension rises; rising action builds to the story’s climax

CONFLICTCONFLICT

The source of tension and drama in the story or the “story problem”

TYPES1. Person against person

2. Person against himself (internal conflict)

3. Person against nature

4. Person against machine

5. Person against society

6. Person against fate

CLIMAX / TURNING POINTCLIMAX / TURNING POINT The moment when the action comes to its

highest point of dramatic conflict and the event that leads to the solution of the conflict

RESOLUTIONRESOLUTION

This is how the conflict is solved, or, resolved.

FALLING ACTIONFALLING ACTION

The part of the story after the resolution and leading to the conclusion when there is a sharp decline in dramatic tension.

CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION

The ending of the story

PLOT LINEPLOT LINE

CONCLUSION

FALLING ACTION

CLIMAX / TURNING POINT

RISING ACTION

(EVENTS & CONFLICT)

INTRODUCTION / EXPOSITION

RESOLUTION

POINT OF VIEWPOINT OF VIEW(the perspective from which the story is told)(the perspective from which the story is told)

FIRST PERSON - story is told from the perspective of one of the characters; uses first person pronouns (I, me, we, us)

THIRD-PERSON LIMITED - told from the perspective of one of the characters; using third person pronouns (he, she) Only know limited characters’ thoughts

THIRD-PERSON OMNISCIENT - narrator knows all of the characters’ thoughts and feelings

THIRD PERSON OBJECTIVE- narrator only knows what is external to the characters

THEMETHEME The central “message” that the author

intends to communicate by telling the story; often universal truths that are suggested by the story (general statements about life or people)

SYMBOLISMSYMBOLISM The use of an image, object,

character, or action that stands for an idea beyond its literal meaning.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGEFIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

T he old t eacher was

like an old wit ch.

a comparison of twothings using the words

"like" or "as"

S imile

S he was a r ock

t o t he gr ieving

couple.

a descr ipt ion of thingas if it were another

without using "like" or "as"

M etaphor

T he wolf cr ied

t hr oughout t he

mount ains t hat

evening.

a descr ipt ion of somethingnonhuman as if it

were human

Personifi cat ion

Figurat ive Language -an imaginat ive use of

words that goes beyond dict ionarymeanings

FLASHBACKFLASHBACK

a scene in a story that interrupts the events to relate events that occurred in the past

FORESHADOWINGFORESHADOWING

Gives readers clues about events that will happen later in the story

IRONYIRONY

wor ds ar e

used t o sugges t

t he oppos it e of

t he ir usual meaning

ver bal

ir ony

an event occur s t hat

d ir ec t ly cont r ad ic t s

what t he char ac t er s

might do

ir ony of

s it uat ion

a cont r ad ic t ion

bet ween what a

char ac t er t h ink s and

what t he r eader k nows t o be t r ue

dr amat ic

ir ony

T Y PE S O F I RO N Y

STYLESTYLE the ways that an author uses

language - including word choice, length and complexity of sentences; use of imagery and symbols as well as figurative language

TONETONE the author’s attitude toward

toward his readers and his subject

DIALOGUEDIALOGUE The actual words that characters speak.

Dialogue dramatizes conflict and helps to portray the characters of the story

ALLITERATIONALLITERATION

The repetition of the same beginning sounds

After the altercation, all of the apesapproached the anteaters

with affection.

THAT’S ALL FOLKS!!