World Lit & Comp. Lit Terms Capstone

Characterization

a description of the distinctive nature or features of someone or something

Antagonist

The main character who works against the protagonist.

Protagonist

The central character in a story, the one who initiates or drives the action. Usually the hero or antihero; in a tragic hero, like John Proctor of The Crucible, there is always hamartia, or tragic flaw in his character which will lead to his downfall.

Conflict

The opposition between two characters (such as a protagonist and an antagonist), between two large groups of people, or between the protagonist and a larger problem such as forces of nature, ideas, public mores, and so on.

Plot

the series of related events in a story (storyline) 

Setting

The general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which the action of a fictional or dramatic work occurs

Point of View

The way a story gets told and who tells it. It’s a method of narration that shows where the story unfolds from a person's perspective 

Flashback

a scene that interrupts the normal chronological sequence of events in a story to depict something that happened at an earlier time.

Foreshadowing

A device used in literature to create expectation or to set up an explanation of later developments.

Diction

Word choice, particularly as an element of style.

Syntax

Ability to create a variety of sentence structures, appropriately complex and/or simple and varied in length. Sentence structures that are extraordinarily complex and involved. Often difficult for a reader to follow.

Rhetorical Appeal

The qualities of an argument that make it truly persuasive.

Ethos

Appeal to the authority of the rhetoric. 

Pathos

Appeal to the emotions of the audience.

Logos

Appeal to the systems of reasoning the rhetoric and the audience share.

Mood

An atmosphere created by a writer’s diction and the details selected.

Theme

The central idea or message of a story. 

Tone

The author's attitude toward a certain topic.

Imagery

The representation of an object or scene made by applying the 5 senses to it.

Metaphor

A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things without the use of such specific words of comparison as like, as, than, or resembles. 

Motif

A recurring idea in a piece of literature. 

Personification

Attributing human characteristics to something nonhuman.

Similie

A figure of speech which compares two unlike things using words “like” or “as”.

Symbol

Anything that represents or stands for something else.

Tragic Hero

The protagonist of a tragedy

Tragic Flaw

Also Hamartia, a flaw or error made

Tragedy

Serious incidents in which protagonists undergo a change from happiness to suffering

Soliloquy

When characters think out loud in a play

Aside

When a character speaks to the audience, but not to the characters in the play

Monologue

A long speech made by one character in a theatrical play.

Stanza

A “paragraph” of poetry

Free Verse

Poetry written in an improper meter however, it still flows

Rhyme Scheme

The ordered pattern of rhymes in poetry.