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| Genre | From the French word "kind" or "type, genre is the classification of literary works on the basis of their content, form, or technique |
| Genre Examples | Season of Life is a memoir; Inherit the Wind and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are drama/plays |
| Memoir | A narrative, nonfiction account typically written by an individual that depicts things, persons, or events he or she has known or experienced. Memoirs combine elements of autobiography and biography, but memoirs cover a shorter or longer timespan |
| Point of View | The vantage point from which a narrative is told. A narrative is typically told from a first person or third person point of view. In first person, the author tells the story through a character or the author himself . Season of Life is first person and the narrator is the author |
| Character | A figure in a literary work; does not need to be human, although most characters are. Characters may be animals or nonliving entities; author must give them attributes of a human. Carries connotation of persons good, bab, shady |
| Plot | The arrangement and interrelation of events in a narrative work, chosen and designed to engage the reader's attention and interest, even arose suspicion and anxiety. Provides a framework to expose the author's message, and for symbol and conflict |
| Conflict | A confrontation or struggle between opposing characters or forces in the plot of a narrative work, from which the action emanates and around which it evolves. Usually broken down into 3 categories. A single work can contain many sources of conflict; however the key conflict is the one that confronts the protagonist, or main character. |
| Physical Conflict | Physical: involves the elemental clash between a character and nature or the physical world. |
| Social Conflict | Takes place between humans competing or struggling against one another or against the entity called society. |
| Internal or Psychological conflict | Involves the inner divisions or turmoil of a single character |
| Conflict examples ITH | ITW Cates is in conflict with his religious society; Brady is in conflict with Drummond, as opposing lawyers in the case. Brady also experiences a personal / psychological conflict as he confronts the loss of his popularity and to the challenges to his faith |
| Julius Caesar Conflicts | Caesar confronts a conflict with the conspirators. Brutus confronts a personal / psycho conflict in his decision to join the conspiracy. |
| Theme | The statement(s), express or implied, that atext seems to be making about its subject or the message that the author wishes to convey in the work. A single work can have a major or primary theme and several secondary themes. |
| Setting | That combination of place, historical time, and social millieu that provides the general background for the characters and plot of a literary work. |
| Setting Examples | ITW setting is Hillsboro, Tennessee in the 1920's. In JC the setting is the first century B.C.E and the place is Rome (on the brink of conversion from a Republic to an Empire). In Season of Life the primary action occurs in Baltimore, Md at the Gilman School; the time period is from 1974 - 2001 |
| Alliteration | The repetition of sounds in a sequence of words, generally repeated consonant sounds at the beginning of stressed syllables. |
| Allusion | A reference, which may be historical, literary, Biblical, or mythological, in aliterary work. An author's use of this device tends to presuppose that readers in general will posess the knowledge necessary to make the connection, but sometimes only a choice few can understand. |
| Allusion examples | Season of Life: allusion to events of 9/11, lone ranger father, and masked man. In ITW Biblical allusions are the serpent, little Eva, and the apple are Biblical allusions. Other references (Socrates, Dreyfus, Marconi, Henry's Lizzie) are historical allusions |
| Allusion in Julius Caesar | Aeneas and Anchises are historical allusions to figures in the Trojan War. |
| Drama | A literary work usually intended for performance on stage before an audience; also known as a play |
