The Vocabulary of
\Literature
Leonard M. Miller
Adjunct Professor of English
Lake Sumter State College
Leesburg, Florida
FROM THE START….
…we need to get it right:
Authors write fiction and nonfiction.
Playwrights write drama.
Poets create poetry.
( NEVER should they referred to by first name only in academic writing!)
FICTION: A BROAD CATEGORY
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Types of Fiction:
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Tale/Tall tale
Legend
Fable
Allegory
Novel/Novella
Short stories
Genres—mystery, science fiction,
fantasy, historical, romance, action,etc.
(children’s literature, young adult,
advanced reading ability)
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PLOT: THE DEFINITION AND “TRIANGLE”
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The sequence of events in a work of literature.
ELEMENTS OF PLOT
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Exposition: Reveals or “exposes” the
“backstory,” background information,
setting, and initial characters.
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Rising Action: Leads to the story’s “turning
point,” where complications to the plot or
conflicts, either internal or external, can
initiate within a character or characters
ELEMENTS OF PLOT
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Climax or “Turning Point”: Here a conflict may
come to an explosive “head” or a character may
come to have a greater awareness of himself or
his situation (epiphany).
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Falling Action: Until there is a resolution or
conclusion, all segments of the plot will lead to
the story’s denouement.
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Resolution: The story ends with settlement of
conflict(s) or characters’ greater understanding
of a universal truth.
PLOT STRUCTURE IN REVIEW
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An author develops character in several
ways:
 by
revealing what the character says;
 by showing what the character does;
 by sharing what the character thinks;
 by describing the character’s appearance;
 by including what other characters think
about this character or showing how they
react to the character.
TYPES OF CHARACTER
Protagonist
 Antagonist
 Foil/Antithesis
 Flat/Round
 Static/Dynamic
 Comic relief
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CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
SETTING
Setting is more than only time and place.
Setting may also create:
mood and atmosphere;
 conflict;
 another character
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When looking at Point of View consider:
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Who is telling or narrating the story?
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What is stream of consciousness?
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From what perspective is the story given?
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Why is recognizing Point of View important?
POINT OF VIEW: IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOICE
First Person (I, me, we, us,)
*major
*minor
Third Person (he, she, they,)
* fully omniscient (“God-like”)
*limited omniscient
* “familiar” observer
* “objective” observer
POINT OF VIEW: HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER
THEME: IT’S ALL ABOUT MEANING.
THEME:
LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE MEANINGS
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The literal meaning in a literary work rests in
the understanding of the story’s plot.
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The figurative meaning in a literary work depends
upon the reader’s interpretation of the author’s
subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, uses of
language, character, and symbol.
LITERARY TECHNIQUE AND STYLE
An author/playwright’s literary style makes
up his/her style.
It is his/her literary “fingerprint.” Although
not always cast into stone, it is an evolving
piece of artistry.
LITERARY TECHNIQUE AND STYLE
Components of Style include (but are not limited
to):
*Plot choices-flashback, foreshadowing, plot twists, etc.
*Point of view choices
*Mood/Tone
*Setting choices
*Theme
*Characterization
*Diction and Syntax
LITERARY TECHNIQUE AND STYLE
Artistic Devices: Literary “tools” available to writers for the creation
of their particular literary publication. These “tools” include, but are not
limited to:
sensory detail,
figurative language,
symbolism,
satire and/or humor,
irony, etc.
LITERARY TECHNIQUE: USE OF LANGUAGE
* Sensory Detail: Descriptive language utilizes reader’s awareness of the
senses: *sight, *sound, *touch, *smell, *taste
Examples:
“The water lapped at my waist as I looked out over the moonburnished ripples, the mats of algae that clung to the surface like
scabs.”--“Greasy Lake” T. C. Boyle
“Because the nights were cold, and because the monsoons were
wet, each carried a green plastic poncho that could be used as a
raincoat or groundsheet or makeshift tent.”
“The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien
LITERARY TECHNIQUE: USE OF LANGUAGE
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Figurative Language: A writer can utilize any of the following whether
in narrative, poetic, or dramatic forms:
*simile, *metaphor, *personification, *onomatopoeia,
*alliteration, *hyperbole, *understatement, *oxymoron, etc.
Examples:
“We looked at her like zombies, like war veterans, like deaf-anddumb pencil peddlers.” —”Greasy Lake” T. C. Boyle
“Behind the rotunda the slender trees with yellow leaves down
drooping, and through them just a line of sea, and beyond the blue
sky with gold-veined clouds.
“Tum-tum-tum tiddle-um! Tiddle-um tum tiddley-um tum ta! blew
the band.”
--”Miss Brill” Katharine Mansfield
LITERARY TECHNIQUE: USE OF SYMBOLISM
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Symbolism: A person, place, or thing in a narrative, poetic, or
dramatic form that suggests meanings beyond its literal sense.
Example:
“A hungry fox saw some fine bunches of grapes hanging from a vine that
was trained along a high trellis, and did his best to reach them as high as
he could into the air. But it was all in vain, for they were just out of reach:
so he gave up trying, and walked away with an air of dignity and
unconcern, remarking, ‘I thought those grapes were ripe, but I see now they
are quite sour.” --”The Fox and the Grapes” Aesop
LITERARY TECHNIQUE: USE OF SATIRE
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Satire: A literary composition, in verse or prose, where human folly and vice are
held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule. Satire may be based in either humor or in
more serious sarcasm.
Examples: (novels)
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Fahrenheit 451 by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
LITERARY TECHNIQUE: USE OF IRONY
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Irony: Writers use irony to “mask” meaning beneath the “surface” of
the language.
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Types of Irony
Verbal—This is the difference between what is said and what is meant.
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Dramatic—This is where the reader/audience knows something about the story and/or
character that character(s) does/do not know.
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Situational—This is a discrepancy between what is expected to happen and what actually
happens in the story or the drama.
Cosmic or Irony of Fate—A type of situational irony, this is the discrepancy
between actions and their results upon a character; between what characters
“deserve” and what they get.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER…
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Literature is more than the black and white words on the
page. Much more. It is the combination of very carefully
arranged choices reflecting the writer’s style.
Choices in:
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Plot
Character
Setting
Point of View
Theme
Literary Technique