UnityThe unifying or controlling idea that a text revolves around.ConflictThe problem, question, opposition, or tension in a play or story that the protagonist faces.TensionA component of a dramatic situation that presents a struggle or conflict of values or ideas resulting from a dilemma choice, or competing circumstances.SuspenseA feeling of tension and delayed expectation created in a reader by the events leading to a story's climax.CatharsisThe intense release of emotion (often pity or fear) evoked in the audience by a narrative or play.ResolutionThe section of the plot where the conflict is solved and important questions are answered.External conflictThe tensions between a literary character and another character, a group, or other outside force.IncongruityAn often deliberate inconsistency in a literary work that juxtaposes unrelated ideas, events, or circumstances; they usually subvert, clash with, or otherwise unsettle the audience's expectations.AnachronismAn object within a literary work that is out of place historically.Antecedent actionThe events that have occurred prior to the beginning of a story or play.Invisible characterAn unseen character who remains literally and physically absent from a literary text but whose influence is significant to the narrative.NarratorA character or person who directly addresses readers and either recalls events or describes them as they occur, relates a story to the reader, and builds connections between the reader and the text. In poetry, the _____ is referred to as the speaker.PersonaAn invented voice, perspective, or character that an author uses to narrate a story or poem.ChorusA set of characters in a classical tragedy who comment on the action of the play and help the audience understand the characters and plot, as well as provide background on the play's wider moral and social context.ToneThe attitude of the author, narrator, or speaker toward the subject, characters, or setting of a literary work, as revealed through diction, syntax, and other stylistic choices.SpeakerThe voice that narrates a poem and builds connections between the reader and the text.PerspectiveThe lens through which a person makes sense of their experiences and circumstances.ComplexityThe ambiguous, inconsistent, or contradictory aspects of a character, theme, or other literary element that suggest layered meanings and multiple interpretations.IronyA literary device in which a word, statement, or situation takes on a different meaning from its apparent meaning, or departs from expectations (often surprisingly).Points of viewJuxtapositionA literary technique that places two people, events, or places side by side to compare, contrast, or illuminate the relationship between them.Reliable narratorA credible, trustworthy, and consistent storyteller.DictionThe vocabulary and specific word choices of an author or poet.CharacterA person, group, or force that acts and speaks in a narrative or play; a character may also represent ideas, values, assumptions, and cultural norms.ContrastThe opposition of two literary elements or events of plot, usually presented to highlight the differences between them.ParadoxA seemingly contradictory statement that reveals complexity, insight, or a truth.FlashbackA structural element of a narrative that interrupts linear chronological time to show readers events that happened in the past.Unresolved endingA type of plot structure where the conflict is not solved, leaving the reader to determine the ending or allowing for the story to continue.ClimaxThe section of a plot that produces the strongest emotional tension and serves as the main turning point in the story or play.CircumstanceThe cultural, historical, and social settings in which characters find themselves.Narrative pacingAn author's choices of order and tempo to reveal the events of the story's plot.
