Literature Terms

A long poem that traces the adventures of a hero.

The person who tells the story

The struggle between opposing forces

The central person/thing in a piece of literature.

The central message of a story, poem or play is called...

a short work of non-fiction on a single subject

The action that follows the climax

Lit. that is diff. than prose because it emphasizes the "line".

A book length fictional prose narrative

The point of greatest intensity in a piece of literature

Literature about real people and real events

The introduction of information at the beginning of a piece of literature.

Literature intended to be performed on stage

When the audience has information that the characters don't have

A figure of speech made up of two contrasting terms

Written conversation between characters

a person in a literary work

The sequence of events in a piece of literature

The all-knowing point of view of a story

A character or force that opposes the protagonist

When a person says one thing but means another

Complications to the plot develop, and increase reader interest

When the narrator of a story is a character in the story

A category of literary work characterized by a particular form or style

Giving human characteristics to non-human things

the time and place in which the events of a story take place

When the actual outcome of a situation is the opposite of someone's expectations.

A diff. between appearance & reality or what is expected & what really happens

A figure of speech that uses exaggeration to express emotion, make a point, or evoke humor.

Literature in which the characters and events are invented

The relationship of the narrator to the story

The part of the plot that concludes the falling action by revealing the outcome of the story.

the use of clues to prepare the reader for what will happen later in the story

a brief fictitional narrative written in prose