| A | B |
|---|
| Plot | sequence of events in a story |
| Exposition | introduction to characters, setting, theme, conflict |
| Rising Action | series of events that make the conflict more complicated |
| Climax | point in a story where the plot is most complicated |
| Falling Action | series of events that are a result of the climax |
| Resolution | the final result of the conflict in a story |
| Character | any individual (animal, person, etc) presented in a work of fiction or drama |
| Dynamic character | a character who changes as a result of the events in a story |
| Static characters | a character who remains the same through the course of a story |
| Characterization | the methods an author uses to present characters |
| Setting | time and place in a work of literature |
| Theme | the main message of a work of literature |
| Point of View | the relationship of the narrator to the story |
| First person | the narrator is also a character in the story |
| Third person | the narrator is an outside the story |
| Omniscient | a third person narrator that knows everything that's going on in the story |
| Limited | third person narrator that is restricted to the knowledge of one character |
| Myth | anonymous traditional story that explains a belief, custom, or mysterious natural phenomenon |
| Folktale | a story with no known author that originally was passed from one generation to another |
| Archetypes | a pattern that appears in literature across cultures |
| Genre | the category to which a literary work belongs |
| Epic hero | the larger-than-life main character of an epic poem |
| irony | when what is expected is different from what happens |
| In medias res | the technique of starting a story in the middle and using flashbacks |
| Epic simile | elaborately extended comparisons used in epic poetry |
| Sonnet | a 14-line poem usually written in iambic pentameter |
| English sonnet | a sonnet consisting of 3 quatrains and a couplet |
| Italian sonnet | a sonnet consisting of an octet and a sestet |
| Iambic pentameter | 10-syllable line of poetry consisting of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables |
| Blank verse | unrhymed iambic pentameter |
| dramatic irony | a form of irony in which the audience knows something the characters don't |
| verbal irony | a form of irony in which what is said is different from what is meant |
| situational irony | a form of irony in which what is expected and what happens are different |
| allegory | a story in which the characters, settings, and events stand for abstract moral concepts |
| solioloquy | a long speech in a play given when a character is alone on stage |
