| Term | Definition |
|---|
| plot | a sequence of events in a narrative that is carefully constructed by the author for artistic purpose |
| exposition | background information on the characters, setting, and other events necessary for understanding the story are given |
| complication | the conflict is developed, suspense is created, and foreshadowing may be used |
| conflict | the interplay between opposing elements |
| technical climax | the turning point in the plot at which the outcome of the action is determined; often protagonist has opportunity to change but doesnt |
| resolution | the events following the technical climax in which the outcome is actually worked out |
| conclusion | the final event of a story's plot |
| dramatic climax | is the point of greatest interest or intensity to the story |
| plotless short story | is pleasurable to read as it describes characters in a situation but doesnt employ the resolution of a conflict |
| setting | the represented time and place of events in a literary work |
| character | a fictional personality created by an author |
| characterization | the technique a writer uses to create and characters in a work of fiction |
| expository | telling the reader about a character in a straightforward manner |
| dramatic | showing the reader what a character is like through descriptions of thought, dialogue, action, etc. |
| motivation | the reasons that cause characters to act as they do |
| protagonist | the central character in a work of fiction about whom the audience is most concerned |
| antagonist | the principal opponent of the main character |
| round character | a character who is well described and whose thoughts and actions are revealed during the development of the story |
| flat character | a character who is not well developed in a story, but who represents a type rather than an individual |
| dynamic character | a character who grows, learns, or changes in some significant way throughout a story |
| static character | a character who resists change or refuses to change during the story |
| foil character | a character that contrasts in some important way with a more important character |
| consistent character | a character whose speech, thoughts, and actions are what the reader has been lead to expect from that particular character |
| stock character | a type of character that is usually found in a particular literary form |
| stereotyped character | a character created according to widely held, often narrow-minded ideas |
| point of view | the physical and psychological relationship between the narrator and the story's characters and events |
| narrator | teller of the story |
| first person | the narrator is a character in the story |
| third person objective | the narrator is not a character in the story and reports only what can be seen and heard |
| third person limited omniscient | the narrator is not a character in the story and reports not only what can be seen and heard, but also the thoughts and feeling of a few characters |
| third person omniscient | the narrator is not a character in the story and report that can seen and heard, along with the thoughts and feelings of all the characters |
| theme | the controlling idea of a literary work that is a general truth or commentary about people, life, the world that is brought out in the story |
| mood | describes the readers state of mind after finishing the story |
| atmosphere | describes the general feeling of a story itself |
| style | the distinctive handling of language by a writer through the purposeful selection of words and sentence structure, helps indicate tone |
| tone | the author or speakers attitude toward the characters, events, or audience |
| symbolism | the use of something concrete to represent something abstract |
| irony | contrast between the way things are and the way they appear |
| verbal irony | a discrepancy between the literal meaning of a word and the meaning actually conveyed; sarcasm |
| dramatic irony | when the reader knows something that the character doesnt |
| situational irony | a discrepancy between the expected outcome of a situation and the actual outcome |
| poetry | rythmic, compressed language that uses figures of speech and imagery to appeal to emotion and imagination |
| poetry | a pattrned form of verbal or written expression of ideas in concentrated, imaginative, and rhythmical terms |
| narrative | a long story told in verse form, an epic |
| lyric | a brief, personal poem that is especially musical and filled with emotion, a sonnet |
| ballad | a type of poem that is actually meant to be sung and is both lyric and narrative in nature |
| figure of speech | a word or phrase that describes one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be taken on a literal level |
| simile | two dissimilar things that are compared using words sucha as "like" "as" "than" or "resembles" |
| metaphor | two dissimilar things are compared without using words such as "like" "as" "than" or "resembles" |
| direct metaphor | directly compares two things with a verb such as "is" |
| implied metaphor | suggests comparison without using "is" |
| extended metaphor | a metaphor that is developed over several lines of writing |
| personification | giving human or animate qualities to nonhuman or inanimate things |
| apostrophe | addressing something nonhuman as if it were human |
| literary allusion | a reference to a person, place, or thing from previous literature |
| hyperbole | using exaggeration for emphasis, not taken literally; overstatement |
| antithesis | the juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in parallel grammatical structures; contrasting one thing against another affect |
| synecdoche | using a part of something to represent the whole time |
| metonymy | the substitution of one word for another closely associated word |
| paradox | an apparent contradiction which proves, upon examination to be true; a statement that doesnt seem true but really is |
| alliteration | the repetition of the initial consonant sound in two or more words in a line of verse |
| consonance | the repetition of consonant sounds that are not at the beginning of words in a line of verse |
| assonance | the similarity or repetition of vowel sounds in two or more words with different consonant sounds |
| onomatopoeia | the use of words that imitate the sounds they define |
| repitition | repeating a word or a phrase within a poem |
| refrain | the repetition of one or more phrases or lines at definite intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza |
| stanza | a group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a single unit |
| couplet | a 2 line of stanze |
| triplet | a 3 line stanza |
| quatrain | a 4 line stanza |
| quintet | a 5 line stanza |
| sestet | a 6 line stanza |
| septet | a 7 line stanza |
| octave | an 8 line stanza |
| rhyme | the similarity or likeness of sound in 2 or more words |
| perfect rhyme | rhyme involving sounds that are exactly the same |
| imperfect rhyme | rhyme involving words that sound similar, but are not exactly the same |
| eye rhyme | rhyme that depends on spelling rather than sound; words that look like they should rhyme but dont |
| end rhyme | rhyme that occurs between words found at the ends of 2 or more lines in a poem |
| internal rhyme | rhyme between words that occurs within a single line of poetry |
| rhyme scheme | the pattern or sequence in which end rhyme occurs throughout the poem |
| rhythm | the pattern of stresses and unstressed syllables in words in a line of poetry |
| meter | a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry |
| foot | a unit of meter; can consist of 2 or 3 syllables; lines of poetry are classified according to the number of feet in a line |
| scansion | the process of marking lines of poetry to show the type of feet and the number of feet they contain |
| iambic foot | a 2 syllable foot with the stress on the second syllable; the most common foot in English |
| trochaic foot | a 2 syllable foot with the stress on the first syllable |
| spondaic foot | 2 stressed syllables |
| pyrric foot | 2 unstressed syllables; this type of foot is rare and is found in between other types of feet |
| anapestic foot | 3 syllables with the stress on the last syllable |
| dactylic foot | 3 syllables with the stress on the first syllable |
| monometer | one foot per line |
| dimeter | 2 feet per line |
| trimeter | 3 feet per line |
| tetrameter | 4 feet per line |
| pentameter | 5 feet per line |
| hexameter | 6 feet per line |
| heptameter | 7 feet per line |
| octameter | 8 feet per line |
| rhymed verse | consists of a verse with end rhyme and regular meter |
| blank verse | consists of unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| free verse | consists of lines of poetry that do not have a regular rhythm and do not rhyme |
Combine with other sets
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace