LiteraryElements

LITERARY ELEMENTS

Link to Print-Out of Personal Literary Elements Glossary

ALLITERATION: This is the repeating of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or within words. This is used to create melody, establish mood, call attention to important words, and point out similarities and contrasts. Example: wide-eyed and wondering while we wait for others to waken.

ALLUSION: A reference to a famous person, place, event, or work of literature.

ANTAGONIST: This is the character or force that opposes the protagonist.

CHARACTERIZATION: The techniques writers use to create and develop characters.

CLIMAX: This is the result of the crisis. It is the high point of the story for the reader. Frequently, it is the moment of the highest interest and greatest emotion. It is the point at which the outcome of the conflict can be predicted.

CONFLICT: This is the central part of fiction. It creates the plot. These can usually be identified as one of four kinds: Man versus Man, Man versus Nature, Man versus Society, or Man versus Self. Often, more than one kind of conflict is taking place at the same time. In every case, however, the existence of conflict enhances the reader’s understanding of a character and creates the suspense and interest that make you want to continue reading.

CRISIS: The conflict reaches a turning point. At this point the opposing forces in the story meet and the conflict becomes most intense. This occurs before or at the same time as the climax of the story.

EXPOSITION: The introductory material that gives the setting, creates the tone, presents the characters, and presents other facts necessary to understanding the story.

FALLING ACTION: These are the events after the climax, which close the story.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE: Whenever you describe something by comparing it with something else, you are using this. This is any language that goes beyond the literal meaning of words in order to give them new effects or fresh insights into an idea or a subject. The most common types of this include simile, metaphor, and alliteration.

FIRST PERSON: In this point-of-view, the narrator is a character in the story who can reveal only personal thoughts and feelings and what he or she sees and is told by other characters. He or She can’t tell us thoughts of other characters.

FOIL: This is the character who provides a contrast to the protagonist.

FORESHADOWING: Hints or clues provided by the author that permit the reader to predict what might happen later in the story.

FRAMESTORY: The story that contains or connects other stories when there are two or more stories within one story.

IMAGERY: This is language that appeals to the senses. It is the descriptions of people or objects stated in terms of our senses.

INFERENCE: A logical guess or conclusion based on facts.

IRONY: A contrast between what is expected and what actually happens or exists.

HYPERBOLE: This is an exaggerated statement used to heighten effect. It is not used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point. Example: She’s said so on several million occasions.

MAN VERSUS MAN: This type of conflict pits one person against another.

MAN VERSUS NATURE: This type of conflict occurs when the main character experiences a run-in with the forces of nature. On the one hand, it expresses the insignificance of a single human life in the cosmic scheme of things. On the other hand, it tests the limits of a person’s strength and will to live.

MAN VERSUS SELF: This is an internal conflict, within the main character. Not all conflict involves other people. Sometimes people are their own worst enemies. An internal conflict is a good test of a character’s values. The internal conflicts of a character and how they are resolved are good clues to the character’s inner strengths and weaknesses.

MAN VERSUS SOCIETY: This type of conflict explores the values and customs by which everyone else’s lives are being challenged. The characters may come to an untimely end as a result of their own convictions. The characters may, on the other hand, bring others around to a sympathetic point-of-view, or it may be decided that the culture was right after all.

METAPHOR: This is a figure of speech that involves an implied comparison between two relatively unlike things using a form of be. The comparison is not announced by like or as. Example: The road was a ribbon of moonlight.

MOOD: This is the climate of feeling in a literary work. The choice of setting, objects, details, images, and words all contribute towards specifically creating this.

ONOMATOPOEIA: This is the use of words that imitate sounds. They appeal to our sense of hearing and they help bring a description to life. They are typically made-up of a string of syllables the author has made up to represent the way a sound really sounds. Example: Caarackle!

PERSONIFICATION: This is a figure of speech that gives the qualities of a person to an animal, an object, or an idea. It is a comparison that the author uses to show something in an entirely new light, to communicate a certain feeling or attitude towards it and to control the way a reader perceives it. Example: a brave handsome brute fell with a creaking rending cry--the author is giving a tree human qualities.

PLOT: A series of related events(what happens in the story).

POINT-OF-VIEW: The relationship between the narrator and the story (who is telling the story).

PROTAGONIST: This is the main character of the story.

RESOLUTION: This rounds out and concludes the action of the story (the ending).

RISING ACTION: This is a series of events that builds from the conflict. It begins with the inciting force and ends with the climax of the story.

SCIENCE FICTION: Fiction based on technological or scientific developments.

SETTING: The time and place of the story.

SIMILE: This is a figure of speech that involves a direct comparison between two unlike things, usually with the words like or as. Example: The muscles on his brawny arms are strong as iron bands.

SYMBOL: An object or idea that has its own meaning and represents something else as well.

THEME: The main idea or author's opinion about life expressed in a piece of literature.

TONE: This is the author’s attitude, stated or implied, toward a subject. Some possible attitudes are pessimism, optimism, earnestness, seriousness, bitterness, humorous, and joyful. This can be revealed through choice of words and details.