Literary Terms

The sequence of events in the story

Another word for sentences and paragraphs

When the author states the character's traits outright

In a story, when problems arise and the plot thickens

A character who stays the same throughout the narrative

A comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as"

When the author develops character by showing how they think, act, and speak,

Descriptive language which appeals to the five senses

A one-dimensional character

A type or class of literature

A figure is made of psychological/emotional/physical characteristics, and social interactions

When an inanimate thing is described as having human characteristics

The attitude of the speaker towards the subject described

A unit or section of poetry, like a paragraph of prose

A basic, universal symbol

When words which sound alike appear at the end of a line of poetry

When the narrator closely follows only one character of the story

A two lined stanza

In a story, when the setting and characters are introduced

The perspective from which the story is told

Another word for poetry

When the exact opposite of what is expected occurs

The turning point of a story

A reference in a text to another historical, literary, or religious source

The general atmosphere or feeling evoked by the story or passage

A character who changes in significant ways over the course of the narrative

When the source of tension in a story comes from inside the main character

When the source of tension in a story comes from outside the mind of the main character

A character who opposes the main character of the story, often a villian

Two characters who bear opposite characteristics and are as a result pitted against each other

Two words which do not rhyme, but sound close

The central idea of the narrative

The time period, geographic place, and culture of a story

In a story, the beginning of the end

The main character, the hero of the story

The conclusion reached at the end of a story; the level at which problems are resolved

Exaggeration, often used for humorous effect

When the narrator focuses on more than one character, often sharing their thoughts and feelings

The pattern of end words which sound alike within a poem

The choice of words the writer uses to achieve a desired effect

When the narrator is the main character of the story

A character, color, or figure which represents an idea

A comparison between two unlike things, stating that one thing is the other

When words which sound alike occur in the middle of a line of poetry

the method by which a character is developed over the course of the story

Language which is not literal. When the author compares two unlike things

A complex, well-defined character