Literary Terms
Character
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Actors in a story – people, animals,
objects
Conflict
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struggle between opposing forces in a
story or play, usually resolved by the
end of the work
Man vs. self: may occur within a
character (internal)
Man vs. man (external)
Man vs. society (external)
Man vs. nature (external)
Dialogue
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lines spoken by a character in a play,
essay, story, or novel.
conversation that is often used to
reveal characters and to advance the
plot
Setting
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Where the story takes place
Plot
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The sequence of events in a story:
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax (major conflict)
Falling action
Resolution
Mood
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The atmosphere of a literary work
Purpose? Creates a certain emotion or
feeling from the audience or reader…
how do you feel while reading a story
about a murder?
How the reader feels
Tone
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The attitude of an author, as opposed
to a narrator, toward the subject matter
and/or audience.
How the author feels
Allusion
a reference in a literary work to a person, place,
or thing in history or another work of literature,
often indirect or brief references to well-known
characters or events
Example: “Chocolate was her Achilles’ heel.” This
means that her weakness was her love of
chocolate.
“When she lost her job, she acted like a Scrooge,
and refused to buy anything that wasn’t
necessary.” Scrooge was an extremely stingy
character from Charles Dickens’, A Christmas
Carol.
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Foreshadowing
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Clues that an author gives you to help
you figure out what is going to happen
later in the story (use these clues to
make inferences)
Flashback
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A flashback is a narrative technique
that allows a writer to present past
events during current events, in order
to provide background for the current
narration
Irony
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A person, situation, statement, or
circumstance is not as it would actually
seem. Many times it is the exact
opposite of what it appears to be
Verbal Irony
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Implies the opposite of what is said –
surface meaning = what is said/
intended meaning = what is really
meant
"The cake is as soft as concrete"
“The concept is as clear as mud"
Cosmic Irony
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some sort of misfortune, end result of
fate or chance
The Titanic was promoted as being
100% unsinkable; but, in 1912 the ship
sank on its maiden voyage.
Situational Irony
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actions have an opposite effect than
what was expected
A man who is a traffic cop gets his
license suspended for unpaid parking
tickets.
Dramatic Irony
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miscommunication in a book, play or
film and the audience is smarter than
the characters
In Romeo and Juliet by William
Shakespeare Romeo finds Juliet in a
drugged state and he thinks she is
dead. He kills himself. When Juliet
wakes up she finds Romeo dead and
kills herself.