Literary Terms

Action:  The series of events that make up the plot.

Antagonist:  The character who opposes or challenges the main character.  The antagonist does not have to be a villain and can be something other than human.  For example, nature in “The Call of the Wild.”

Atmosphere:  The mood or feeling.

Catharsis:  The purifying of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions.

Character:  The individual within the literary work. Flat characters are one dimensional, usually representing one idea or quality, and are not very complex.  Round characters are complex and well developed in actions, motivations, and ideas.

Chronological:  The presentation of ideas or events in their normal historical order.

Cliché:  A trite expression or idea that is so overused it has lost its effectiveness.

Climax:  The turning point of the plot that leads to the resolution of the action.

Coherence:  The logical relationship of each element of the work.

Comic relief:  The introduction of a comic character, scene, or dialog into a serious or tragic work in order to relieve tension.

Coming of age:  The maturation of a character due to an event that forces him to lose his innocence.

Conflict:  The relationship or struggle between the protagonist and antagonist.

Critique:  A critical analysis of a literary work.

Denouement:  The final resolution of the conflict or the solution to the mystery.

Falling action:  The events that follow the climax and lead to the resolution.

Figurative language:  The nonstandard, as opposed to literal, use of language composed of figures of speech.

                Simile:  a comparison using “like” or “as.”  She was as cold as ice.

                Metaphor:  a comparison not using “like” or “as.”  She is ice.

                Personification:  an inanimate object is given life-like qualities.  Sandburg describes Chicago

              “…with lifted head singing so proud to be alive….”

                Hyperbole:  exaggeration.  I would slay dragons to prove my love.

Oxymoron:   Combining opposite or seemingly contradictory terms.  A lonely crowd; jumbo shrimp

Flashback:  The interruption of the plot in order to present an event that occurred earlier.

Foreshadowing: A hint of something to come.

Genre:  The types or classes of literary works like the novel, short story, poem, play or essay.  Also refers to subclassificatons as the detective story  or Gothic novel.

Gothic novel or romance:  The literary “horror story” that deals with the mysterious or supernatural and  has as its sole purpose the aim of invoking terror in the reader.  The stories contain a gloomy atmosphere, death, decay, ghosts, corpses, haunted mansions, strange noises, secret passages, and elements of the grotesque.

Irony:  A statement in which the implied meaning is the opposite of what is usually expressed.  A discrepancy between what someone says and means or between what someone expects to happen and what really happens.

Plot:  The sequence of the events and actions.  The plot consists of the beginning, the exposition; the middle, the rising action or complication, the crisis, and the falling action; and the end, the resolution or denouement.

Poetic justice:  The end of the literary work in which good is rewarded and evil punished; in other words, the protagonist and antagonist get what they deserve.

Point of view:  The perspective from which the story is told.  In a third person point of view, a narrator outside the story describes the events and thoughts of the characters.  Limited point of view refers to a narrator who tells the story in the third person but from a character’s viewpoint.  The first person point of view, narrated from an “I” perspective, is very limited because the reader only knows what the character knows.

Premise:  The  statement that forms the basis of an argument.

Primary source:  The original document, for example the short story “Rear Window.”

Protagonist:  The major character around whom the action revolves; also called the hero or heroine.

Red  herring:  Frequently used in mystery stories; a clue, event, or statement designed to throw the reader off the track.

Secondary source:  A critique or evaluation of a primary source.  For example, a review of “Rear Window.”

Setting:  The time and place of the action.

Tragedy:  A serious literary work in which a change in fortune leads to the downfall or death of the protagonist.

Tragic flaw:  The defect in the protagonist or an error in judgment which leads to his death or downfall.