Literature Terminology

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Stream of Consciousness

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narrative style mimics the complexity of the human mind
--most often, language is used to enhance a story’s other elements

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Tone

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the attitude of the narrator or author of a work toward the subject matter, characters, and audience

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How is tone created?

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created through word choice and sentence structure

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Style

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the way in which a writer uses language

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Name 6 things style encompasses.

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word choice
--syntax
--sentence length
--sentence structure
--presence, frequency, and prominence of imagery and figures of speech

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alliteration

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repetition of beginning sounds

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Formal Diction

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characterized by elaborate, complex sentences; a learned vocabulary; and a serious, objective, detached tone
--may indicate:

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Informal Diction

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characterized by slang, contractions, colloquialisms, shortened word forms, incomplete sentences, and casual/conversational tone

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Imagery

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characterized by slang, contractions, colloquialisms, shortened word forms, incomplete sentences, and casual/conversational tone

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Figure of Speech

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a departure from what users of the language apprehend as the standard meaning of words, or else the standard order of words, in order to achieve some special meaning or effect

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SImile

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a comparison of 2 distinctly different items indicated by a
connective such as “like,” “as,” or “than;” or by a verb such as “appears” or “seems”

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Metaphor

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an unasserted comparison of two distinctly different things

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Metonymy

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something is named that replaces something closely related to it (City Hall for all municipal authority)

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Synecdoche

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the whole replaced by the parts (or vice versa) (wheels for car)

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Personification

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the attribution of human feelings or characteristics to abstractions or inanimate objects

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Hyperbole

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extreme exaggeration

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Allusion

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references within a work to other works of literature, music, or art

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Character

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a fictional representation of a person; usually a psychologically realistic depiction

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Characterization

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the way writers develop characters and reveal the character's traits to readers through:

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Foil

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role is to highlight the protagonist

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Stock Character

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easily identifiable types who behave predictably

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Omniscient

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--all-knowing; able to move at will from onecharacter’s mind to another

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Limited Omniscient

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focus only on a single character
--similar advantages to omniscient narrators

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Objective (dramatic) Narrator

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remains outside of the character’s minds
--omits characters’ thoughts as well as their own

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Epic

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long narrative poems about a hero whose actions determine the fate of a nation or race

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Picaresque

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episodic, often satirical work about a rogue or rascal
17th Century,Spain--Cervantes Don Quixote

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Pastoral Romance

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prose tale set in an idealized rural world
Popular in Renaissance England

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Novel

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episodic narrative unified by a central character in a single setting
Defoe—Robinson Crusoe—1719; credited as 1st novel

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Epiphany

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a moment of illumination in which something hidden or misunderstood immediately becomes clear

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What are the characteristics of the short story?

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-limited in length and scope
--begins close to, or at the height of, the action
--develops only one character
--usually, the author focuses the story on a single event and develops a character by showing his or her responses to that event
--detailed description of setting and emphasis on character dev

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Plot

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more than simply what happens.

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what is plot shaped by?

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--casual connections—historical, social, personal
--interaction between characters
--juxtaposition of events

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-the way in which a story’s events are arranged

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Plot

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Conflict

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lies at the heart of any story; a tension that works toward resolution. Heightens reader’s interest and involvement.

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Protagonist

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story’s principle character

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antagonist

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someone or something presented in opposition to the protagonist

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Exposition

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setting forth of the initial situation

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characteristics of exposition

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intro setting and characters
--may suggest major events/conflict
--gives readers essential information for understanding the plot
--maybe a single sentence, may be more fully developed, may be absent

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Crisis/Climaz

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as the plot progresses, the story’s conflict unfolds through a series of complications eventually leading to climax

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Crisis

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a peak in the story’s action; a moment of considerable importance

--the story may contain several crises

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Climax

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the point of greatest tension/importance within the story; the scene that presents the story’s decisive action or event

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Dénouement

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(“unknotting”; resolution)—the outcome of the conflict.

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deus ex machina

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an intervention from an outside force/agent; often used to achieve resolution.

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in media res

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(in the middle of things)—starting with a key event, then working back to explain the preceding events

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Flashback

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moves out of sequence to explore an event that occurs before the time in which the story’s action takes place

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Foreshadowing

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the introduction, early in a story, of situations, events,characters, or objects that hint at things to come

--helps readers understand what is to come