| A | B |
|---|
| Narrative Elements | Exposition, rising action, CLIMAX, falling action, Denouement |
| Exposition | introduction; sets the scene |
| Rising Action | complication; develops a conflict |
| 3 types of conflict | human vs environment, human vs. human, and human vs. self |
| Climax | high point, point of no return; something occurs to alter forever the story's main progression |
| Falling Action | reversal, speeds the story to its end |
| Denouement | conclusion; gives the story closure |
| Plot | Action of the sotry; sequence of events that creates a cause/effect pattern |
| Characterization | a character may be "static" (remains unchanged throughout the story), or "dynamic" (undergoes some kind of personality alteration); also, a character may have "roundness" (complex personality) or "flatness" (little development at all) |
| Protagonist | main character of the story |
| Antagonist | opponent of the protagonist |
| Foil | character whose function is to emphasize the character traits of some other character |
| Tragic Hero | protagonist of a tragedy (traditionally, a person of noble birth who suffers a downfall because of a tragic flaw in his personality) |
| Anti-Hero | protagonist with villanous qualities |
| Setting | Time and place in which the literary work occurs |
| Theme | an idea or observation set forth by the story as a universal truth |
| Tone | the attitude of its narrator, his opinion of the characters and events in the story |
| Mood | emotional atmosphere of the story; what a reader feels while he is reading |
| Literary Devices vs. Elements | Elements provide basic make-up of the work; Devices offer color, uniqueness, or dynamism to a work |
| Imagery | description that appeals to the senses |
| Metaphor | comparison is made between two things although one or both may not be explicitly named |
| Simile | comparison is made between two things using the words LIKE or AS |
| Personification | makes an inanimate object sound as if it were human |
| Apostrophe | (Related to personification) Speaker's direct address to either a nonhuman entity or an absent human |
| Hyperbole | Exaggeration |
| Conceit | an original comparison is developed more fully in the text |
| Metonymy | a larger whole- usually an abstract- is represented by one of its parts |
| Synecdoche | usually occurs when a part represents a specific, tangible whole rather than an abstract |
| Allusion | Reference to something outside the written work= Most allusions refer either to general literature, classical mythology, or the Bible |
| Symbolism | Occurs when one thing in a literary work stands for another; many times, some item will represent a person or an abstract concept |
| Irony | (verbal, situational, dramatic) where some unexpected but fitting twist is discovered |
| Paradox | Seeming contradiction with a greater truth (sounds weird but when translated, is almost like a moral) |
| Balance | can occur in a sentence, a paragraph or stanza, or a whole work; indicates harmony and implies the unity of smaller ideas into a larger; most common "balancing acts" are repetition, paralellism, and antithesis |
| Antithesis | pairing of opposites to make point |
| Diction | (helps create a tone and mood) word choice; words that a writer chooses determine how the narrator relates a story and how a reader views a situation/idea/character |
| Syntax | (AKA Phrasing) the way words are put together in a sentence or series of sentences; helps create a tone and mood |
| Repetition | repeating a word/phrase/etc. to place emphasis on that item= Sometimes repetition can also create sensations associated with recurrence (such as unity or routine) |
| Parallelism | (thematic and grammatical) Repetition of phrases, sentences, or lines that are similar in meaning or structure |
| Rhetorical Question | used by narrator to emphasize a point; question requires no response, simply the audience's consideration of an idea |
| Effect of Rhyme | connotates a harmony of ideas; keeps its theme unified |
| Rhythm | cadence that a phrase ot series of phrases develops |
| Alliteration | Repetition of a sound at the beginning of words in a phrase |
| Assonance | the repetition of vowel sounds within words |
| Consonance | repetition of final consonant sounds within words |
| Onomatopoeia | is a term referring to words which imitate the sound they represent |
| Rhyme Scheme | pattern of a poem's rhyme; marked by reader by using capital letters (AABBCC...) |
| Meter | set rhythm of a poem |
| Iambic Pentameter | (type of meter) an iamb is a metrical foot of two syllables, with the accent on the second syllable. Pentameter signifies that there are five iambs to a line |
| Iamb | metrical foot of 2 syllables with the accent on the second syllable |
| Couplet | two consecutive rhyming lines in a poem (AABBCCDD...) |
| Heroic Couplet | two consecutive rhyming lines in a poem that are also in iambic pentameter (typically try to emulate the loftiness of epic poetry) |
| Sonnet | 14 lines of iambic pentameter; features a specific rhyme scheme; serious, usually discursive poem that compacts a unified idea into small space |
| Blank Verse | Type of poetry featuring iambic pentameter with no rhyme scheme (iamb is a 2 syllable metrical foot with an accent on the second syllable= Will be 5 iambs in a line) |
| Sprung Rhythm | features a variety of set meters and a complex rhyme scheme |
| Free Verse | Type of poetry that has no meter and no rhyme |
| Ode | praises someone or something still in existence |
| Elegy | honors someone dead |
| Ballad | narrative poem, usually with a tragicomic tone; has an ABCBDEFE thyme scheme |
| Concrete Poetry | sometimes called emblematic poetry; forms its words onto pictures on the page; the point is that the picture has something to do with the poem's theme |
| Point of View | perspective and possible limitations the narrator has in a short story/novel/etc.; different types of narrators and narrative techniques have different effects on literary works |
| First Person (Major Character) Point of View | Has a narrator who is usually the main character of the narrative |
| First Person (Minor Character) Point of View | A character who is not the main focus of the narrative tells the story; most limited point of view |
| Third Person (Observer) Point of View | Narrator is not a character in the story nor does he know the thoughts and feelings of the story's characters |
| Third Person (Limited Omniscient) Point of View | The narrator, who is not a character in the story, knows only of the main character's thoughts and feelings- no one else's |
| Third Person (Omniscient) Point of View | The narrator can know all of the thoughts/feelings of every character, can "see" any location at any time in the novel, and have almost a God's eye view |
| Narrative Distance | refers to the narrator's proximity in relation to other characters; a narrator can be physically close (like 1st person narrators) or physically distant (like 3rd person omniscient); a narrator can also be psychologically close (sympathetic with characters) or pschologically distant (cold) |
| Narrative Shift | Usually manifests itself as a change in verb tense= Most narratives are told in past tense but occasionally a narrator shifts to present for a greater sense of immediacy |
| Voice | Author thinks of 3 things that go into voice= her own style of writing, her audience, and her writing purpose= Voice is the dominant element in a written work because it is all-encompassing |
| Narrative | (Type of Mode) Poem that simply tells a story (typical with a piece of fiction) |
| Discursive | (Type of Mode) Expounds on a topic= It is an idea poem (many questions about theme and the way the structure develops theme can be taken from this) |
| Imagistic | (Type of Mode) Poem that is pure image= Does not want to tell a tale or formulate a them (EX: haiku) |
| Lyric | (Type of Mode) Poem whose meter and rhyme give it a song-like quality |
| Rhyming Verse | Poetry that not only has lines with end rhyme, but also kinds of set rhythms (METERS) |
| How to read rhyming verse | rhyming lines will help to unify an idea (harmony of the rhyme symbolizes the completion of an idea) |
| Anastrophe | Inversion of a sentence in poetry to better suit rhyme scheme and metrical rhythm |
| In poetry... | Annotate and mark where sentences begin and end |
| Nonfiction Passages | Determine what its unifying idea is (is done by quickly scanning the passage)= Next identify passage's mode/purpose |
| What do all nonfiction passages have? | At least one of four purposes (persuasive, expository, descriptive, narrative) |
| Persuasive Purpose | (Type of purpose of a nonfictional piece) Writer wants to change the reader's mind or convince the audience to take action= To do this, writer will use certain appeals (logos, pathos, ethos) |
| Logos | (Part of Persuasive Purpose) Writer wants to speak to one's logical mind= Using verifiable evidence, rational analogies, and common sense anecdotes, writer wants to convince his audience that there is no error in his thought |
| Pathos | (Part of Persuasive Purpose) Emotional appeal= Using stories that tug at our sympathies, or language that is particularly moving, the wirter tries to stir our feelings so that we will side with his argument |
| Ethos | (Part of Persuasive Purpose) Appeal to ethics (to the rightness/morality of a concept)= Writer wants us to believe that his ideas are part of a higher cause |
| Expository Purpose | (Type of purpose of a nonfictional piece) Gives the audience information and nothing more/less (might explain a process or reveal previously unknown facts about an already familiar topic)= Is less complex than persuasive piece |
| Descriptive Purpose | (Type of purpose of a nonfictional piece) Most difficult to sustain in an entire essay= If a piece only describes a landscape, a city scene, or a crowd of people, it may seem to lack the importance of a persuasive/expository work= Is thus usually joined to other modes in nonfiction |
| Narrative Purpose | (Type of purpose of a nonfictional piece) Appears in nonfiction works such as biographies and histories= Most closely resembles fictional prose in that it tells a story= Plot, characterization, and dialogue may all be present except that the tales are supposed to be based on fact |
| Fictional Passage | Can identify because they will almost always appear in narrative mode (they will usually be telling a story)= As you read, first thing to look for is the identity of the storyteller (who is the narrator and what point of view does he have) |
| First Person Major Character Narrator | Features a narrator who is the protagonist of the work= Although this kind of narrator can be highly personal, and can draw readers more immediately iinto the text, he also has a very subjective viewpoint (can thus be an unreliable source of information) |
| First Person Minor Character Narrator | Most limited of narrators= Possesses all the subjectivity of the major character point of view and is further hampered by watching the action from the sidelines= Since he is not the protagonist of the work, the narrator must watch as those more important than himself act out the drama of the text |
| Third Person Narrator | These points of view occur outside the story= Text unfolds through the narration of someone who is not a character in the work= This distance from the story helps the point of view to become more objective= Offers more reliable information |
| Third Person Observer | Narrator that sees what is physically occurring in the story but is unable to "read" the thoughts or feelings of the characters= Represents a fictional work almost as if it were a play |
| Third Person Limited Omniscient Point of View | Narrator than can follow the thoughts and feelings of one character in the work but the inner workings of other characters remain unknown to him |
| Third Person Omniscient Point of View | Is privy to all character's thoughts and feelings |
