Elments Of Literature

Front 1

verisimilitude

Back 1

realism, characters or situations similar to those many humans experience know or think

Front 2

imitation

Back 2

when a story purposely is realistic or based on something real

Front 3

postulate or premise

Back 3

the assumptions the authors makes about the nature of their story

Front 4

character

Back 4

a reasonable facsimile of a human being

Front 5

actions or incidents

Back 5

life like experiences which occur to the main character throughout the story

Front 6

organic unity

Back 6

the compostion of the actions or incidents

Front 7

conflict

Back 7

the protangonist is engaged in a situation that must be resolved for the story to end

Front 8

protagonist

Back 8

the central chracter

Front 9

plot

Back 9

interactions and effects as they develop sequentially or chronologically

Front 10

antagonists

Back 10

the protagonists oppoing character who is the cause of the problem

Front 11

structure

Back 11

the way the story is assembled in accord with the general ideas and purposes of their work

Front 12

idea

Back 12

the resukt or results of general and abstract thinking about the stroy including finding meaning interpretation explanaton and significance

Front 13

theme

Back 13

the underlying message of the story

Front 14

exposition

Back 14

the laying out the putting forth of the materials in the story (backgrounds chraacters goals limitationsbasic assumptions)

Front 15

complication

Back 15

the onset or development of the major conflict-the plot

Front 16

crisis

Back 16

where the conflict reaches its greatest tension a decision or action to resolve the conflict is taken

Front 17

climax

Back 17

the storys highest point takes the shape of the decision or action it is the logical conclusion of the preceding actions

Front 18

resolution

Back 18

after the works tension and uncertainty are finished

Front 19

flashback

Back 19

when present circumstances are explained by selective introduction of past events

Front 20

trait

Back 20

a quality of mind or hbaitual mode of behavior

Front 21

round characters

Back 21

the author presents enough information about then to render them full, life like and memorable they are dynamic

Front 22

dynamic

Back 22

characters which recognize change with or adjust to circumstacnes throughout the story in htis way the character grows or changes

Front 23

flat characters

Back 23

they do not grow because they are not developed enough to know whether they are growing they are static

Front 24

static

Back 24

the opposite of dynamic unable to go through change

Front 25

stock character

Back 25

chqaracters in repreating situations they have many common traits they are representative of their group or class

Front 26

sterotype charcters

Back 26

those stock characters which never break from the class or group mold

Front 27

point of view

Back 27

the speaker marrator or voice created by the author to tell the story

Front 28

major mover

Back 28

a narrator deeply involved in the conflict who trys to sound blameless or uninvolved

Front 29

first person

Back 29

"I" the most independent point of view the sspeaker tells about things that he has seen done spoken heard thought or learned

Front 30

second person

Back 30

a narration in which a second person listener "you" is the protagonist and the speaker is someone with knowledge the protagonist does not possess or understand about his or her own actions

Front 31

unrealiable narrators

Back 31

narrators who have interests or limitations that lead them to mislead distort or even lie

Front 32

third person

Back 32

she, he, it they them the speaker is not apart of the story

Front 33

third person objective

Back 33

a fly on the wall narrates from the outside

Front 34

omniscient third person

Back 34

the speaker not only presents the actions and dialogue but is also able to report what goes on in the minds of the characters

Front 35

limited third person

Back 35

the narrator is limited to only describing the thoughts and actions of one or two characters and not the others

Front 36

setting

Back 36

the places and time of the story can also create an atmosphere or a mood for the actions of the story

Front 37

framing or enclosing setting

Back 37

the author opens with a particular description and then returns to the same setting at the end

Front 38

style

Back 38

the way writers assemble words to tell the story

Front 39

diction

Back 39

the qualities of the author's words

Front 40

formal diction

Back 40

more elegant words more mature

Front 41

neutral diction

Back 41

normal word choice which a normal person would feel natural speaking

Front 42

informal diction

Back 42

slang ungrammatical

Front 43

specific diction

Back 43

very detailed

Front 44

general diction

Back 44

vague

Front 45

concrete words

Back 45

qualitites of immediate perception the ice cream is cold

Front 46

abstract words

Back 46

broader less aplpable qualities the ice cream is good

Front 47

parallelism

Back 47

the repetition of the same grammatical forms to balance expressions conserve words and build climaxes

Front 48

tone

Back 48

method of which the author reveals his attitudes or feelings

Front 49

verbal irony

Back 49

language expressing the importance by stating the oposite of what is meant

Front 50

situational irony

Back 50

emphasizing that human beings are enmeshed in forces beyond their comprehension and control the oppostie of what we expect occurs

Front 51

cosmic irony

Back 51

iorny of fate situational irony connected to a pessimistic or fatalistic view of life just plain being born poor

Front 52

dramatic irony

Back 52

a character peceives his or herplight in a limited way while the audience and one or more of the other chracters understand it entirely

Front 53

symbolism

Back 53

a specific word ideae or object that may stand for ideas values persons or ways of life

Front 54

allegory

Back 54

a complete narrative that can also be applied to a parallel set of situations that may be political moral religious or philosophical

Front 55

parable

Back 55

a short allegory designed to illistrate a religious truth most often associated with jesus as recorded in gospels