Prose and Poetry Terms

Point of View

The physical and psychological relationship between the narrator and the story's characters and events

First Person

The narrator is a character in the story; told with "I" and "me", etc.

Third person objective

The narrator is not a character in the story; reports only what can be seen and heard

Third person limited omniscient

The narrator is not a character in the story; reports one character's thoughts and feelings

Third person omniscient

The narrator is not a character in the story; reports multiple characters' thoughts and feelings

Plot

a sequence of events in a narrative that is carefully constructed by the author for artistic purpose

PLOTLESS SHORT STORY

Describes characters in a situation without the development of the conflict or resolution

In Media Res

A narrative that begins somewhere in the middle, usually at some crucial point in the plot

Frame Story

A large, overarching story that contains smaller stories within it

Conflict

The interplay between opposing elements

Protagonist vs Self

internal struggle

Protagonist vs other

conflict between characters

Protagonist vs Enviroment

external struggle with nature

Setting

The time and place of events in a literary work. Three functions

Foreshadowing

A literary device used to give an indication or hint of what is to come later in the story—useful for creating suspense, a feeling of unease, a sense of curiosity, or a mark that things may not be as they seem.

Flashback

An interruption in a text's "present" chronological sequence to show readers a scene that unfolded in the past.

Exposition

Gives background information on the characters, setting, and other events necessary for understanding the story; introduces conflict

Complication

A situation that makes a plot's main thread more complex or difficult develops conflict creates suspense

Technical Climax

The turning point in the plot at which the outcome is determined. Often, the protagonist changes or has an opportunity to change at this point; after this point, the conflict begins to come to an end

Dramatic Climax

The point of greatest interest or intensity of the story; this is subjective and may not be the same as the technical climax

Resolution

The events following the technical climax in which the outcome is actually worked out; works out the decision that was arrived at during the technical climax

Conclusion

The final event of a story's plot

Situational Irony

When something happens that is opposite of expectations.

Verbal Irony

A statement which is opposite of the speaker's intent.

Dramatic Irony

A situation in which the reader has a better understanding of events than the characters in a story do.

characterization

The technique a writer uses to create and reveal characters in a work of fiction

Expository Character Revelation

Telling what a character is like a straightforward manner

Dramatic Character Revelation

Showing what a character is like through descriptions of thought, dialogue, action, etc

Motivation

The reason that explains a character's thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech

Protagonist

The central character in a work of fiction; the character who sets the action of the plot in motion.

Antagonist

The principal opponent of the protagonist

Foil Character

A character who contrasts in some important way with a more important character; underscores the distinctive characteristics of another

Stock Character

A character that relies on common literary or social stereotypes for personality; often used as simple props to help develop the main characters or story

Round character

A character who is well described and whose thoughts and actions are clearly revealed in a story

Flat Character

A character who is not well developed in a story

Dynamic Character

A character who grows, learns or changes in some significant way throughout the story

Static Character

A character who resists change or refuses to change during the story

Tone

The author's or speaker's attitude toward the characters, events or audience.

Atmosphere

A story's general feeling; usually established by the setting's description

Mood

The reader's state of mind and emotions after she finishes the story

Diction

The choice of words and phrases in speech or writing

Syntax

The arrangement of words and phrases to create sentences

Theme

The controlling idea of a literary work that is a general truth or commentary about life, people, and the world that is brought out in a story

Narrative

A long story told in verse form; an epic is an example of a narrative poem

Lyric

A brief, personal poem that uses many sound devices, as well as rhythm and meter, and is filled with emotion; sonnets, odes and elegies are types of lyrics

Ballad

A type of poem that is actually meant to be sung and is both lyric AND narrative in nature

Rhymed Verse

Has regular meter and rhyme scheme

Blank Verse

Unrhymed iambic pentameter

Free Verse

No regular metrical rhythm or end rhyme

Figurative Language

Words or phrases that describe one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be taken on a literal level

Simile

A comparison between two dissimilar things using words such as "like," "than," "as," or "resembles."

metaphor

comparison between two unlike things WITHOUT using like or as

Direct metaphor

A comparison in which the literal term and figurative term are both named

Implied metaphor

A comparison in which the literal term is named and figurative term is only implied

extended metaphor

A comparison - direct or implied - that is developed over more than one line of poetry

Symbol

Something (object, person, situation or action) that means more than what it is

Synechdoche

Using a part of something to represent the whole

Metonymy

The substitution of one word for another closely associated word

Motif

Any recurring element that has symbolic significance to a literary work

Personification

Giving human or animate qualities to an animal, an object or a concept

Apostrophe

Addressing someone absent or dead or something nonhuman as if it were alive and present and could reply

Pathetic Fallacy

Using the setting, or nature, to parallel or mirror the mood of a character or of the story

Literary Allusion

A reference to a person, place or thing from previous literature (often Biblical, mythological, Sheakespearean)

Hyperbole

Exaggeration used for emphasis; overstatement

Litotes

A special form of understatement; it affirms something by negating the opposite

Antithesis

The pairing exact opposite or contrasting ideas in a parallel grammatical structure

Paradox

A seemingly contradictory or absurd statement that may actually be true

Oxymoron

A short phrase in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction

Imagery

Language that appeals to any of the five senses

Alliteration

Repetition at close intervals of the initial consonant sounds of certain words

Consonance

Repetition at close intervals of middle or end consonant sounds of certain words

Assonance

The similarity and repetition of vowel sounds of certain words at close intervals

Onomatopoeia

The use of words that mimic their meaning in their sound

Repetition

Repetition of a word or a phrase within a poem in order to make it easier to remember, emphasize an important idea, and give the poem structural unity

Parallelism

In poetry, the repetition of words or phrases in two or more lines

Anaphora

In prose, the repetition of a word or phrase; typically found in writing at the beginning of successive sentences

Cataloging

The listing of words, images, or attributes

Refrain

Repetition of a word, phrase, or line(s) at definite intervals in a poem, similar to a chorus in a song

Stanza

A group of consecutive lines in a poem that form a single unit

couplet

2 line stanza

Enjambment

The continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line or stanza

End-Stopped Lines

Lines in which both the grammatical structure and the sense reach completion at the end

Caesura

A pause within a line of verse, usually marked by punctuation

Inversion

The rearranging normal word order to emphasize a certain word or maintain meter and rhyme

Perfect Rhyme

Repetition of accented vowel sound and all succeeding sounds

Imperfect Rhyme

Rhyme in which there is only a partial matching of sounds (also called near rhyme or slant rhyme)

Eye Rhyme

Rhyme that appears correct from spelling but does not rhyme because of pronunciation

End Rhyme

Rhyme that occurs between words found at the ends of two or more lines in a poem

Internal Rhyme

Rhyme between words that occurs within a single line of poetry

Rhyme Scheme

The pattern of end rhyme throughout a poem; marked with corresponding letters for each rhyming match

Meter

The regularized pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry; the intentional arrangement of language in which the accented syllables occur at equal intervals of time

Scansion

The process of marking lines of poetry to determine the meter; that is, marking the accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into feet, identifying the most common type of foot, and noting significant variations from that pattern

Foot

The basic unit of meter; either consisting of 2 or 3 syllables

iambic foot

unstressed, stressed (U/)

trochaic foot

stressed, unstressed (/u)

spondaic foot

//

pyrrhic foot

uu

anapestic foot

uu/

dactylic foot

/uu

monometer

1 foot per line