7th Grade Lit Terms

Fiction

prose writing that tells about imaginary characters and events. Short stories and novels are examples of this type of writing 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 a 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 presents 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 story’s theme.

Plot

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 characters and central conflict.

Exposition

introduces the setting (the time and place of the story), the characters, and the basic situation (conflict is often introduced at the end 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 in the action of the plot. It is the moment of greatest tension when the outcome of the plot hangs in the balance.

Falling Action

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

Resolution

is the story’s conclusion; final outcome is achieved; loose ends are tied up.

Character

a person or an animal that takes part in the action of a literary work. the main, or major, on is the most important on in a story, poem, or play. A minor one is one who takes part in the action but is not the focus of attention.

Setting

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

Theme

central message, concern, or purpose in a literary work. It can usually be expressed as a generalization, or a general statement, about human beings or about life. It is not a summary of its plot.

Point of View

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

Conflict

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

flashback

A scene within a story that interrupts the sequence of events that occurred in the past

Foreshadowing

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

External conflict

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

Internal conflict

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

First person point of view

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

Third person point of view

Omniscient point of view

In stories told from this point of view, the narrator knows and 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 in a literary work. It is often a person but sometimes it can be an animal.

Antagonist

This is a character or a 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 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 are known as figures as figures of speech. Common figures of speech include metaphor, personification, and simile writers use these techniques to state ideas and vivid in imaginative ways.

Hyperbole

A form of figurative language that uses exaggeration for effect

Imagery

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 subject looks sounds feels taste and smells

metaphor

a Figure of speech in which something is described as though it were something else it works by, pointing out a similarity between two and unlike

Motive

A reason that explains or partially explains a characters thoughts feelings, actions, or speech writers try to make their characters thoughts, feelings, actions, or speech as clear as possible

narrative

A story. Novels a short story or fictional examples biographies and autobiographies are nonfiction examples

onomatopoeia

The word used to imitate sounds crash, buzz, screech, hiss, neigh, jingle, and cluck are examples

personification

Figurative language in which a nonhuman subject is given human characteristics

repetition

the Use more than once of an element of language a sound, word, phrase, clause or sentence

Simile

Figure a speech that uses like or as to make a direct comparison between two unlike ideas every day speech contains these such as “pale as a ghost,” “good as gold,” “spread like wildfire,” and “clever as a fox.”

Symbol

Anything that stands for or represents something else. These are common in every day live. I dove with an olive branch in it's beak means peace. A blindfolded woman holding a balance 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 contains these like the importance of courage, the power of love or the danger of greed

comedy

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

drama

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

script

made up of dialogue and stage directions

lines

the words spoken by the actors

acts

this is how a drama is divided

stage directions

notes included in a drama to describe how the work is to be preformed or staged. These are usually printed in italics and enclosed within parentheses or brackets they describe the movement costumes emotional states and ways of speaking of the charters

scene

a section of uninterrupted action in the act of a drama

playwright

a person who writer plays

set

the scenery used for a play or a movie

prop

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

theater

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

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

allusion

a reference to something else. In literature, it’s frequently used to reference cultural works (e.g.a. Biblical story or Greek myth.)

Actors

the people who perform the play