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Literary terms
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Theme | The central idea or message about life that is expressed in the story. |
Point of view | First person, second person, third person (omniscient) The perspective in which the story is being told. |
Foreshadowing | Hints or clues about future events. |
Conflict | A problem, fight, or struggle between characters, society, nature, or internally within. |
Setting | Where and when the story takes place (including the time, place, weather, culture, customs and traditions). |
Antagonist | The central character’s opponent (creates the conflict). |
Protagonist | The central character usually involved in a conflict against the antagonist. May also be known as the hero. |
Climax | The point of tension, emotion, or heightened suspense (the turning point). Determines the resolution. |
Author’s Purpose | The reason why the author writes: Entertain, Inform, Explain, and Persuade. |
Mood | The feelings the reader gets from reading the author’s words. |
Tone | The attitudes and feelings of an author/speaker toward a subject. |
Plot | The sequence of events in a story--beginning, middle and end. |
Exposition | The beginning of the story where the main characters and initial conflicts are introduced. The setting of the story (time, place, weather, culture etc.). |
Rising Action | Events that lead up to the climax. They help create tension and suspense and may have more conflicts. |
Falling Action | Eases the tension and shows how the main character resolves the conflict. |
Resolution/Denouement | The end of the story where typically the main characters conflict is resolved. |
Idiom | A phrase of expression that says one thing, but means something else |
Allusion | A reference to something outside of what you are reading-a place person or event |
Hyperbole | An extreme exaggeration |
Simile | A comparison of two different things using the words "like" or "as" |
Metaphor | A direct comparison of two different things using the words "like" of "as" |
Personification | Describing nonhuman animals. objects, or ideas as though they possess human qualities or emotions. |
Dynamic character | a character who under goes a significant internal change over the course of the story. This may be change in understanding, values, insight, ect. |
Round character | A major player in a work of fiction — the star of the story —who encounters conflict and is changed by it. Round characters tend to be more fully developed and described than flat, or static, characters. |
Static character | A character who does not undergo a significant change over the course of a story. |
Flat character | A type of character in fiction that does not change too much from the start of the narrative to its end. Flat characters are often said not to have any emotional depths. |
Major character | A main important character; a character who plays a large role in a story. Major characters usually face some sort of obstacle, and they will be present throughout most of the story. A story can have one major character or several. |
Minor character | A character who does not play a large role in the story. Minor characters usually do not face significant obstacles during the course of the story, and they usually do not change during the course of the story. |