7th Grade Literary Terms
Name:
Genre
Plot
The time and place of the action.
Theme
A person, animal or creature who takes part in the action.
The main character in the story who usually experiences conflicts.
Antagonist
Motivation
The techniques an author uses to develop the personality of a character.
Direct – the author makes direct statements about the character’s personality
Indirect – the author reveals the character’s personality through the thoughts of the
character and what others think and say about that character
Round – a character who is well developed
Flat – a character who is one-sided
Dynamic – characters who change
Static – characters that do not change
A struggle between opposing forces.
individual vs. individual
individual vs. nature
individual vs. society
individual vs. supernatural
individual vs. technology
Internal
Conflict
The introduction of the setting, characters and plot of a story.
Initiating
Event
Sequential events leading up to the climax.
Climax
Falling Action
The new norm. What happens in the end.
Dialogue
The action that interrupts to show an event that happened at an earlier time which is
necessary to better understanding.
Foreshadowing
The vantage point from which the story is told. First person – the story is told by a
character. Third person – the story is told by a narrator who is not a character in the story.
Third person omniscient – the narrator tells the story through all the characters’ feelings and
thoughts. Third person limited omniscient – the narrator tells the story through only one
character’s feelings and thoughts.
The conflict between expectation and reality; between what is said and what is meant;
between what appears to be true and what really is true.
Tone
Mood
Repetition of final consonant sounds
Repetition of vowel sounds
A category or type of literature – Prose, Poetry and Drama
Assonance
Setting
Irony
Characters
Protagonist
Consonance
Point of View
Characterization
External Conflict
Exposition
Rising Action
Flashback
Resolution
The sequence of events in a literary work. (the action or events in a story)
The turning point in the story where the problem is at its worse.
The central message or insight the author wants us to learn. The moral of the story.
The character that opposes the main character
The words spoken by characters in a literary work.
The use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen later in literature.
The feeling created in the reader by a literary work.
The driving force behind a character’s actions or thoughts
A struggle inside a character.
The introduction to the central conflict in the story.
Sequential events that tie up loose ends and begin to resolve the conflict.
The attitude a writer takes towards a subject or character.