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Literary Terms 2
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 5 LITERARY ELEMENTS | character, plot, setting, plot, point of view, theme |
| plot | the sequence of events or happenings in a literary work |
| conflict | in general, a struggle of some kind |
| external conflict | a clash or struggle between two or more characters; between characters and society; between characters and nature |
| internal conflict | a struggle within the mind of a character |
| ELEMENTS OF PLOT | exposition, rising action, conflict/complications, climax/crisis/turning point, falling action, exposition |
| exposition | an introduction; it presents information that helps readers understand the situation of the story important background information (setting, characters, basic situation) |
| rising action | those events that lead to the turning point in the action (or to the climax) |
| complication | a series of difficulties forming the central action in a narrative (Complications in a story, for example, make a conflict difficult to resolve and add interest and suspense.) |
| climax | that point of greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense (often, the climax is identified with the crisis, or turning point) the point of highest intensity in the story, the point that that determines the outcome of the action |
| falling action | all of the action in a play that follows the turning point or climax |
| resolution | the outcome of the conflict in a play or story (the resolution concludes the falling action) a resolution moves down from the high point of the climax and usually settles the conflict(s). |
| suspense | the quality that makes readers eager to know what happens next; that quality of a literary work that makes the reader or audience uncertain or tense about the outcome of events. |
| foreshadowing | the planting of clues, by the author, to hint about what will come later; the use of hints or clues in a narrative to suggest what action is to come; foreshadowing helps to build suspense in a story |
| irony | in general, a contrast between appearance and reality; a contrast or an incongruity between what is stated and what is really meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen. |
| verbal irony | a way of saying or writing one thing and meaning the direct opposite; a writer or speaker says one thing and means something entirely different |
| irony of situation | when a character’s actions bring about unexpected results |
| chronological, or time, order | a story told in the order in which the events occurred |
| detective story | one in which the main action consists of solving some mystery |
| framework story | a narrative that contains another narrative (within it) |
| escape literature | exists primarily for our pleasure, to entertain us by taking us away from everyday reality |
| interpretive literature | exists to expand our awareness and understanding of life, to give us insight into our own behavior and the behavior of others |
| characterization | the personality a character displays; also, the means by which an author reveals that personality |
| indirect methods of characterization | the writer shows or dramatizes characters and allows readers to draw their own conclusions by how the charactesr act, how they speak, by how they look, by what they think, by what other characters think about them. |
| direct characterization | the writer tells readers directly what a character is like |
| dramatic irony | when the reader knows something the character does not know; a device whereby the audience (or reader) understands more of a situation or of what is being said than the character is aware of |
| static characters | remain the same throughout a selection; they do not develop or change beyond the way in which they are first presented |
| dynamic characters | change in some important way by the end of the story undergo an important and basic change in personality or outlook |
| dialogue | the conversation of the characters in a story |
| flat character | one-sided and often represents a stereotype; have only one or two “sides,” representing one or two traits |
| round character | is presented in depth from many angles; are complex and have many “sides” or traits; their behavior is unpredictable because they are individuals, and their personalities are fully developed and require lengthy analysis |
| point of view | the vantage point from which readers or listeners see the events and characters |
| first-person point of view | the story is told by one of the characters in his or her own words, from the “I” vantage point; a limited point of view because the reader is told only what this character knows and observes |
| third-person point of view | the narrator tells the story from the vantage point of one character, using “he” or “she” |
| limited third-person point of view | readers only know what one character is seeing and feeling; everything is told from one character’s vantage point, using he or she |
| omniscient (“all-knowing”) point of view | an outside observer tells the story with complete knowledge of all the characters |
| dialect | a representation of the speech patterns of a particular region or social group |
| setting | the physical background of a story: its time and place (where and when) |
| symbolic | representing some idea larger or more significant than itself |
| denotative | literal meanings (dictionary definitions) |
| connotative | suggested meanings |
| verisimilitude | the appearance of reality in fiction |
| informal standard English | the language used most of the time in writing and speaking |
| formal standard English | more elegant and elaborate language used in scholarly books, research papers, technical writing, and on formal occasions in public speaking |
| slang | used in informal situations, is colorful, humorous, and fresh |
| literal language | when writers choose to state a fact or an idea directly |
| figurative language | language that is not intended to be interpreted in a literal sense |
| simile | expresses a comparison between two unlike things using words such as like or as |
| metaphor | expresses a comparison between two unlike things WITHOUT using words of comparison; usually states that one thing is another |
| sensory images | details that appeal to one of the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch |
| local color | all the details associated with a particular setting: speech, dress, customs, and scenery |
| theme | a controlling idea; an expression of a point of view about life; an insight into life; the main idea or the basic meaning of a literary work (not all literary works will have a theme - especially those told for entertainment) |
| allusion | an indirect reference to literature, history, art, music, or the like, which a writer expects readers to recognize; a reference to one work of literature to a person, place, or event in another work of literature or in history, art, or music |
| symbol | any object, person, place, or action that has a meaning in itself and that also stands for something larger than itself, such as a quality, an attitude, a belief, or a value |
| tone | the attitude that a writer expresses or implies toward the subject, the characters, and the audience; EXAMPLES: humorous, tender, ironic, dignified, informal, angry, philosophical |
| implicit theme | a theme that must be “dug out” and thought about |
| anachronisms | events existing out of their proper time in history |
Created by:
ptitkemeier
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