Adv English literary terms

fiction

something invented by the imagination or feigned specifically

genre

A category into which a literary work can be grouped.  Literature is commonly divided into three major genres:  poetry, prose, and drama.    

poetry

stanzas, not complete sentences, etc

prose

regular paragraph writing

drama

plays, scripts, etc

plot

The Sequence of events that make up a story.

Shown as a diagram in the shape of a mountain or angle.

exposition

The setting, characters, and conflict are introduced.

rising action

The characters and conflict are developed and suspense is built.

climax

The most exciting part of the story.  The main character faces the conflict and is somehow changed.  The climax is the turning point of the story.

falling action

also called Denouement.

The conflict is resolved

resolution

All loose ends are tied up, and the story comes to a reasonable ending.

setting

When and where the story takes place

theme

The central message of the story.

Examples: The importance friendship, The value of family, being true to yourself

archetype

a typical character who represents a universal symbol

static

a character who does not undergo any changes

dynamic

a character who undergoes some kind of change

flat

a character who the reader learns very little about during a story

round

a well-developed, multifaceted character

protagonist

main character in a story

antagonist

opposes protagonist

direct characterization

 The author directly states a personality trait about a character

indirect characterization

Information the author provides that allows the reader to create a mental picture of the character.

• Physical Appearance

• What the character says/thinks

• What the character does

• What others say/think about the character

foil

A character whose purpose in the story is to bring out a trait in another character.

conflict

The conflict is any struggle between opposing forces.  It is the central issue or problem the protagonist faces in the story.

• Man v. man

• Man. v. himself

• Man v. society (technology)

• Man v. nature

irony

The author means the opposite of what happens or what is said.  An unexpected result or a twist in a story.

verbal/rhetorical irony

Sarcasm.  When a speaker means the opposite of what he says.

A play on words or pun.

situational irony

When the result of a situation is the opposite of what’s expected.  Something the reader does not see coming.

dramatic irony

When the reader or audience knows something that the characters don’t know.

point of view

Point of view - the perspective from which the story is told

First person - from the narrator’s perspective; using the pronoun “I”

Third person - a narrator telling the story about someone else using third-person pronouns (He, She)

• Limited - The reader knows the thoughts of only one character

• Omniscient - The reader knows the thoughts of all of the characters

personification

Giving human characteristics to nonhuman objects

symbol

Anything that stands for something else.  In addition to having its own meaning and reality, a symbol also represents an abstract idea.

allegory

A story or tale with two or more levels of meaning – a literal level and one or more symbolic levels.  The events, setting, and characters in an allegory are symbols for ideas and qualities.