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Lit Terms Stack #2
Literary Terminology: Terminology of Plot and/or Structure
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Act | a major division of a drama |
| Anticlimax | an arrangement of details such that the lesser appears at the point where something greater is expected |
| Climax | the high point of interest or suspense in a literary work |
| Comic relief | a humorous scene, incident, or speech in the course of a serious fiction or drama, introduced, it is sometimes thought, to provide relief from emotional intensity and, by contrast, to heighten the seriousness of the story |
| Conflict | struggle between opposing forces |
| External Conflict | a character struggles against an outside force |
| Internal Conflict | a character struggles against himself/herself |
| Crisis | the point at which the opposing forces that create the conflict interlock in the decisive action on which the plot will turn |
| Denouement | the final unraveling of the plot; the solution of a mystery; an explanation or outcome |
| Deus ex machina | the employment of some unexpected and improbable incident to make things turn out right |
| Dialogue | a conversation between characters, used to reveal character and to advance action |
| Dilemma | a situation that requires a person to decide between two equally attractive or equally unattractive alternatives |
| Epigraph | a saying or statement on the title page of a work or used as a heading for a chapter or other section of a work that hints at its theme |
| Epilogue | concluding statement |
| Epiphany | a moment of sudden revelation or insight |
| Exposition | writing/speech that explains, informs, or presents information |
| Falling action | follows the climax, beginning often with a tragic force, and ending with a catastrophe |
| Flashback | a section of a literary work that interrupts the sequence of events to relate an event from an earlier time |
| Foreshadowing | the presentation of material in such a way that the reader is prepared for what is to come later in the work |
| Frame device or frame story | a story within a story, such as Arabian Nights or Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (or Robert Walton in Frankenstein) |
| Incident | an event |
| In medias res | the opening of a narrative “in the midst of things” or in the middle of a series of events, so that the reader must process and determine what has been occurring prior to these events |
| Intercalary chapters | inserted chapters that perform a different function from the main chapters of a novel |
| Narrative | a story or narrated account |
| Pacing | the movement of a literary piece from one point or section to another |
| Plot | the action of a narrative or drama |
| Prologue | an introduction most frequently associated with drama |
| Resolution | the events following the climax when all or most of the conflicts have been settled |
| Rising action | the part of a dramatic plot that has to do with the complication of the action |
| Scene | the division of the act within the play; a real or fictional episode |
| Stage directions | the specific instructions a playwright includes concerning sets, characterization, delivery, etc. |
| Structure | organization and form of a work |
| Subplot | a subordinate or minor story in a piece of fiction |
| Turning Point | a point in a work in which a very significant change occurs |
Created by:
englishteach
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