Literary Terms 25-26 Reading Language Terms

Fiction

Prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Short stories and novels are example of this type of writing. Some writers base their writings on actual events and people adding invented characters, dialogue, settings, and plots. Other writers rely on imagination alone.

Novel

A long work of fiction - It contains such elements as characters, plot, conflict, and setting. The writer (novelist) develops these elements. In addition to the main plot, it may contain one or more subplots, or independent, related stories. It may also have several themes.

Novella

A work of fiction that is longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.

Short Story

A brief work of fiction. Like a novel, it represents a sequence of events, or plot. The plot usually deals with a central conflict faced by a main character or protagonist. The events usually communicate a message about life or human nature. This message, or central idea, is the stories theme.

Plot

A sequence of events in which each event results from a previous one and causes the next. In most novels, dramas, short stories, and narrative poems, it involves both character and a central conflict.

Exposition

Introduces the setting (the time and place of a story), the characters and a basic situation (conflict is often introduced at the end of this part of this part of the plot)

Rising Action

Events that increase the tension.

Climax

the turning point in the story. It is the high point of the action of the plot. It is the moment of the greatest tension when the outcome of the plot hangs in the balance.

Falling Action

Is the part of a story when the conflict lessens; events that follow the climax.

Resolution

Is the stories conclusion; final outcome is achieved; loose ends are tied up.

Character

A person or animal that takes part in the action of a literary work. The main, or major, one is the most important one in the story, poem, or play. A minor one is one that takes part of the action but is the the focus of the attention.

Setting

The time and place of an action. It includes all of the details of a place or time- the year, the time of day, even the weather.

Theme

Central message, concern, or porpose in a literary work. it can usually be expressed as a generalization., or a general statement, about human being or about life. It is not a summary of its plot.

Point of View

The perspective, or vantage point, from which the stroy is told. It is either a narrator outside of the story or a character in the story.

Conflict

A struggle between opposing forces. It is one of the most important elements of a stories, novels, and plays because it is the action. There are two types: external and internal.

Flashback

Definition: A scene within a story that interrupts the sequence of events to relate events that occured in the past.

Foreshadowing

The author’s use of clues to hint at what might happen later in the story.

External Conflict

One in which a character struggles against some kind of outside force, such as another person. Another one may occur between a character and some force of nature.

Internal Conflict

It takes place within the mind of a character. The character struggles to make a decision, take a action, or overcome a feeling.

First-person Point of View

Told by a character who uses the first-person pronoun “I”.

Third-person Point of View

There are two kinds, limited and omniscient. They are called “third person” because the narrator uses third person pronouns such as he or she to refer to the characters.

Omniscient Point of View

In stories told form this point of view, the narrator knows tells about what EACH character feels and thinks.

Limited Point of View

In stories told from this point of view, the narrator relates the inner thoughts and feelings of only ONE character, and everything is viewed from this character’s perspective.

Dialect

The form of a language spoken by people in a particular region or group. They differ in pronunciation, grammar, and word choice. The use of it gives a short story a more authentic feel and helps a character’s words sound more realistic.

Dialogue

A conversation between the characters. In poems, novels, and short stories, it is usually set off by quotation marks to indicate a speaker’s exact words.

Protagonist

The main character is a literary work. It is often a person but can sometimes be an animal.

Antagonist

This is a character or force in conflict with a main character.

Alliteration

the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Writers use this device to draw attention to certain words, ideas, to imitate sounds, and to create musical effects.

Tone

The writer’s attitude toward his or her audience and subject. It can often be described by a single adjective, such as formal or informal, serious or playful, bitter, or ironic.

Mood

The feeling created in the read by a literary work or passage. It is also known as atmosphere.

Figurative language

Is writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally. The many types are known as figures of speech. Common figures of speech include metaphor, personification, and simile. Writers use these techniques to state ideas in vivid and imaginative ways.

Hyperbole

A form of figurative language that uses exaggeration for effect.

Imagery

A technique of writing with images.

Images

Words or phrases that appeal to one or more of the five senses. Writers use these to describe how their subjects look, sound, feel, taste, and smell.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which something is described as thogh it were something else. It works by pointing out a similarity between two unlike things.

Motive

A reason that explains explains or partially explains a character’s thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech as clear as possible.

Narrative

A story. Novels and short stories are fictional examples. Biographies and autobiographies are nonfiction examples.

Onomatopoeia

Is the use of words that imitate sounds. Crash, buzz, screech, neigh, jingle, and cluck are all examples.

Personification

Figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics.

Repetition

The use, more tahn once, of any element of language - a sound, word, phrase, clause, or sentence.

Simile

A figure of speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas. Everyday speech conains these, such as “pale as a ghost,” “good as gold",” “spread like wildfire,” and “clever like a fox.”

Symbol

Anything taht stands for or represents something else. These are common in everyday life. A dove with an olive branch in its beak means peace. A blidfolded woman holding a balanced scale stands for justice.

Universal Theme

A message about life that is expressed regularly in many different cultures and time periods. Folk tales, epics, and romances often contain these like the importance of courage, the power of love, or the danger of greed.

Allusion

A reference to something ese. In literature, it's frequently used to reference cultural works (e. g. a Biblical story or a Greek myth.

comedy

a literary work, especially a play, which is light, often humorous or satirical, and ends happily. They frequently depict ordinary charaters faced with temporary difficulties and conflicts.

drama

a story written to be performed by actors. Although it is meant to be performed, one can also read the script, or written version, and imagine the action.

scripts

made up dialogue and stage directions

dialogue

the words spoken by the actors

acts

this is how drama is divided

stage directions

notes included in a drama to describe how the work is to be performed or staged. These are usually printed in italics and enclosed within parentheses or brackets. They describe the movements, costumes, emotional states, and ways of speaking of the characters.

scene

a section of uninterrupted action in the act of drama

playwright

a person who writes plays

tragedy

a work of literature, especially a play, that results in a catastrophe for the main character. in modern drama, the main character can be an ordinary person, and the cause of it can be some evil in society itself.

Set

the scenery used for a play or a movie

Theater

a building or outdoor area in which plays and other dramatic performances are given

Prop

a portable object other than furniture or costumes used on the set of a play or movie

Static Character (flat)

one-sided and often stereotypical

Dynamic Character (round)

fully developed and exhibits many traits - often both faults and virtues

Characterization

the act of creating and developing a character. Authors use two types of characterization: direct and indirect.

Tragedy

a genre of story in which a hero is brought down by his/her own flaws, usually by ordinary human flaws - flaws like greed, over-ambition, or even an excuse of love, honor, or loyalty

Tragic hero

a type of character in a tragedy and is usually the protagonist. They typically have heroic traits that earn them sympathy of the audience but also have flaws or make mistakes that ultimately lead to their own downfall.

IIndirect characterization

a writer depends on the reader to draw conclusions about a character’s traits. Sometimes writers tlls what other participants in the story say and think about a character

Direct characterization

a writer states the character’s traits and characterizations

Pun

a joke based on the interplay of homophones - words with the same pronunciation but different meanings. It can also play with words that sound similar, but not exactly the same. The joke’s humor (if any) comes from the confusion of the two meanings.

Oxymoron

a figure of speech that links two opposite or contradictory words, to point out an idea or situation that seems contradictory or inconsistent but on closer inspection turns out to be true (jumbo shrimp)