Literary Terms

1. Antagonist The character or force who opposes the hero (protagonist) in a story.

2. Characterization The development of a character through actions and dialogue. Sometimes the author will directly tell the audience information about the character. Other times, the reader must infer character traits through speech, thoughts, actions, and looks.

3. Conflict The struggle between two opposing forces. Internal: struggle within (man vs man) External: struggle outside of character (man vs nature, man vs man, man vs society, man vs supernatural)

4. Flashback A scene that interrupts the action of a work to show a previous event.

5. Foreshadowing The use of hints or clues to suggest further action.

6. Imagery Text that creates a mental picture and appeals to the five senses. Ex: “Blood red were his spurs in the golden noon; wine-red his velvet coat.”

7. Irony When the opposite of what you expect happens.

8. Mood Atmosphere or emotion in a literary work. Ex: the suspenseful mood of a mystery

9. Narration/Narrator The telling of a story in writing or speaking. The speaker or character who tells the story.

10. Plot The sequence of events or actions in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem.

11. Parts of the Plot Exposition: the introduction of the plot (characters, setting, and conflict) Rising action: the suspense building up to the climax Climax: turning point in plot marking the highest emotional intensity

Parts of the Plot Falling action: events following the climax in a narrative Resolution: the final outcome

12. Point of View The perspective from which a narrative is told. 1st person: told from the perspective of a character in the story using pronouns such as I or me. The audience is limited to the viewpoint of that character.

Point of View 3rd person omniscient: told from the point of view from the perspective of an “all knowing” narrator who is not a character. 3rd person limited: told from the perspective of a narrator revealing the thoughts and knowledge of some but not all characters.

13. Protagonist The main character in a literary work.

14. Setting The time and place in which events in a short story, novel, play, or narrative poem take place.

15. Simile Comparison of two unlike things/ideas using “like” or “as” Ex. The classroom was like a warzone.

16. Suspense Elements that make the reader uncertain or tense about the outcome.

17. Symbol Any object, person, place, or action that has both meaning in itself and that stands for something larger than itself. Ex. A crown is a symbol of a king’s status and authority.

18. Theme The central message in a literary work. The author’s intended message.

19. Allusion A reference to a well-known person, place, event, character, or other literary work.