| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Tone | The narrator's cosmology. E.g. the macabre tone of Poe's stories. |
| Symbol | Something used to regard or represent something else |
| Antagonist | A character, idea, or object in a narrative that attempts to thwart the protagonists goal |
| Narrator | One who recites a narrative |
| Allegory | A microcosim of a larger idea or narrative. E.g. "Haroun" |
| Epiphany | A realization of a character; an "aha!" moment |
| Hyperbole | Extreme Overexageration |
| Hamartia | A tragic flaw of a character |
| Dramatic Irony | When the reader of a narrative knows something a character doesn't |
| Alliteration | A poetic device, where two following words have the same constonant at the begining. E.g. mad monday |
| Shakespearean Sonnet | A shakespearean poem with eight lines (each in Iambic pentameter), where the first 2 introduce the topic, the second 2 further, the third 2 complicate, and the final 2 resolve. All Sonnets are about love |
| Dialogue | Communication between two characters |
| Epic Poem | a long narrative poem telling of a hero's deeds |
| Deus ex Machina | a god introduced into a narrative to resolve the entanglements of the plot. |
| Classical Allusion | An Allusion to a Greek or Roman story, religion, work of art, song, or poem |
| Personification | Giving an object or idea human qualities. E.g. I wandered lonely as a cloud |
| Non Fiction | A narrative that recounts actual events/recounts events that are true |
| Diction | style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words |
| voice | Either active or passive voice |
| Narrative | a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious. |
| Character | A person in a story |
| Protagonist | The main character of a narrative |
| Audience | The readers of a narrative |
| Perspective | The veiwpoint of a character |
| Antithesis | Dualities in a narrative |
| Poetic Justice | The antagonist(s) getting what they deserve at the end of a narrative |
| Metaphor | A comparsion of two things without using "Like" or "As" |
| Imagery | Descripition of an object |
| Monologue | a prolonged talk or discourse by a single speaker |
| Epic Simile | a simile developed over several lines of verse, generally used in an epic poem |
| In Medias Res | The start of a narrative in the middle of the plotline |
| Literal | The actual meaning of words or a set of words |
| Objective | something that one's efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish |
| Foreshadow | A hint at something that is yet to come in a narrative |
| Rhyme Scheme | The arrangement of rhymes in a poem or stanza. |
| Syntax | patterns of formation of sentences and phrases from words. |
| Allusion | Reference to an outside work in a narrative |
| Climax | Most intense point of a narrative |
| Conflict | A conflict between two forces in a narrative. E.g Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Society |
| Setting | he locale or period in which the narrative is set |
| Purpose | The intent of a character or narrative |
| Narrative Frame | When a narrative is told within a narrative |
| Dualities | a dual state or quality |
| Flat Character | A character who, in a narrative, is static, or doesn't change |
| Round Character | A character who, in a narrative, is dynamic, or is changes througout the narrative |
| Extended Metaphor | a metaphor that is extended through a stanza or entire poem, often by multiple comparisons of unlike objects or ideas |
| Iambic Pentameter | A line of poetry composed of 5 "feet", following the pattern of "unstressed stressed" |
| Poetic "Feet" | a group of two syllables constituting a metrical unit of a verse. |
| Soliloquy | an utterance or discourse by a person who is talking to himself or herself or is disregardful of or oblivious to any hearers present (often used as a device in drama to disclose a character's innermost thoughts) |
| Epithet | any word or phrase applied repeatetly to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality e.g. Grey eyed athena |
| Pathetic Fallacy | the endowment of nature, inanimate objects, etc., with human traits and feelings |
| Figurative | of the nature of or involving a figure of speech, esp. a metaphor; metaphorical; not literal |
| Couplet | a pair of successive lines of verse, esp. a pair that rhyme and are of the same length. |
| Oral Tradition | The spoken relation and preservation, from one generation to the next, of a people's cultural history and ancestry, often by a storyteller in narrative form. |
| Deduce | to derive as a conclusion from something known or assumed |
| Subject | The main focus of a narrative |
| Theme | A recurring idea or object in a narrative |
| expostion | The build up of events in a narrative |
| Resolution | The resolving of problems and conflicts in a narrative |
| Topic sentence | The sentence within a paragraph or discourse that states the main thought, often placed at the beginning. |
| Point of view | an opinion, attitude, or judgment of a character in a narrative |
| Unreliable narrator | a narrator whose credibility has been seriously compromised. E.g. Holden |
| Meter | Rythm of lines in a poem |
| convention | What the audience accepts to be true |
| Machinery | Gods |
| Aegis | the Guidance of a divine force in a narrative |
| Quatrain | a stanza or poem of four lines, usually with alternate rhymes. |
| Subjective | existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought |
| Imply | to indicate or suggest without being explicitly stated |
| Irony | the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning |
| Motif | a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., esp. in a literary work |
| Plot | the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work |
| Mood | a prevailing emotional tone or general attitude in a narrative |
| Thesis | a subject for a composition or essay |
| Hero | a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity |
| Hubris | An excess in pride; a tragic flaw in many greek heroes |
| Simile | A comparison using "like" or "as" |
| Verse | A succession of metrical feet written, printed, or orally composed as one line; one of the lines of a poem |
| Prose | the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse |
| Aside | How a monologue is delivered |
| Scan | to break up a verse into feet and stressed and unstressed syllables |
| Genre | Catagories narratives are breaken up into |
| fiction | a narrative that isn't true |
| infer | to derive by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence |
Combine with other sets
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