Literary Terminology
Agon: conflict; dramatic confrontation
Allusion: a reference (to some other work/historical event/personage/ etc. outside
the given work)
Antagonist: the other force or forces which may be essentially external or essentially
internal
a) another character or group of characters
b) force of nature or power of universe
c) society or culture
d) an aspect of the protagonists own personality or value system
Character: Character is developed by description, both of the character and the
things they possess or inhabit, by gesture and action--what they do, and
by language—what they say and what kind of language do they use to say
it.
a) Round Character: a three dimensional and humanly complex
character in a story, play, film, etc.
b )Flat Character: a two dimensional, simple character that embodies a single
idea or quality in a story etc.
c) Dynamic Character: evolves under the pressure of events of a story
etc.; changes; we recognize the consequence of events upon the
character
d) Static Character: a character who does not change
or develop
Climax; the moment of supreme tension
Conflict: tension between opposing forces that makes the plot move and holds
events together
Connotation: the suggesting of a meaning by a word apart from the thing it
explicitly names or describes; something suggested by a word or thing
Denotation: a direct specific meaning as distinct from an implied or associated
idea
Denouement: resolution of the conflict in the plot
Dialogue: verbal exchanges between characters
Dramatic/Tragic Irony: incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and
the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience
but not by the characters in the play
Epiphany: a revelation; a moment of sudden recognition
Exposition: background information necessary to understand the opening
situation
Falling Action: continuing action of the plot, after the climax.
Hyperbole: calculated exaggeration
Imagery: information that appeals to the 5 senses
Irony: incongruity between what actually happens and what might be expected to
happen; the use of words to express something other than and
especially the opposite of the literal meaning; incongruity between the
actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result
Litotes: calculated understatement
Metaphor: a direct comparison
Oxymoron: a figure of speech that yokes together two seemingly contradictory elements
Personification: attributing human qualities to non-human things
Point of View
First person narrator or character-narrator: an "I" tells the story
Second Person: story addressed to a you
Third Person: He, she, it
Plot: the events or actions of a story, novel etc.; what happens
Aristotle: the imitation of an action
Poetry ‘Fields’: Visual, Rhythmic, Sonic, Imagistic, Ideational
Protagonist: the central character of a narrative
Rising Action: increasing tension in the conflict; suspense
Setting: where the story happens; time, place, scenery, physical elements
Simile: a comparison using like or as
Soliloquy: a speech a character delivers to him or herself; thinking out loud
Symbol: a figure of speech which combines a literal, concrete quality with a
suggestive, abstract dimension
Verisimilitude: illusion of reality; a true likeness