Literary Terms
Terms
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- setting
- time and place
- foil
- a character or thing that emphasizes another character's attributes or personality by contrast
- first person point of view
- the narrator tells the story from the "I" point of view
- irony of circumstance
- a discrepancy of what seems to be and what really is.
- external conflict
- A struggle between the protagonist and some outside force
- third person point of view
- Writer describes others ("He, she, they, etc)
- conflict
- a general clash between character and something/someone else
- characterization
- the character's words, actions, physical desription, and what other characters say about the character
- antagonist
- a character who works against the protagonist
- static character
- a character that does not change from the beginning of the story to the end
- climax
- the decisive moment in a novel or play
- dynamic character
- a character who undergoes change during the story
- connotation
- The emotions and feelings that surround a word; htey may be negative, neutral, or positive, depending on their content
- dramatic irony
- when a reader is aware of something that a character isn't
- verbal irony
- discrepancy between what is said and what is meant
- plot
- the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc.
- tone
- reflection of a writer's or speakers attitude toward the subject
- third person objective point of view
- the narrator is outside the action and not one of the characters
- denouement
- the final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work
- second person point of view
- the narrator addresses the reader directly using the pronoun "you"
- foreshadowing
- the act of providing vague advance indications
- third person omniscient point of view
- narrator knows everything in the story and reveals the thoughts of all the characters
- theme
- a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary
- irony
- a general contradiction between what is said and what is meant or what is expected and what actually happens
- symbol
- a person, place, thing, or event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more than itself
- third person limited omniscient point of view
- the story is told in 3rd person and the thoughts and feelings are limited by certain characters
- motif
- recurring person, character, thing
- rising action
- Action that leads to turning point
- stock character
- the stereotyped character in which he is immediately known from typical characters in history
- falling action
- action resulting from the climax, resulting in the denouement
- protagonist
- the main character, who must overcome obstacles and resolve the conflict
- point of view
- the general frame or reference from which the narrator tells the story
- internal conflict
- conflict within the character