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Literary Terms

Literary Terms. PLOT. The sequence of events in a story. Plot is also a pattern of actions, events and situations Plot includes exposition exciting force/inciting incident rising action climax falling action denouement. Think of the Parts of a Story like a Peak…. Climax.

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Literary Terms

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  1. Literary Terms

  2. PLOT • The sequence of events in a story. • Plot is also a pattern of actions, events and situations • Plot includes • exposition • exciting force/inciting incident • rising action • climax • falling action • denouement

  3. Think of the Parts of a Story like a Peak… Climax Rising Action Falling Action Inciting Incident or Exciting Force Exposition Denouement

  4. Definitions • Exposition: opening portion of a narrative or drama, it sets the scene, introduces the main characters, and discloses necessary background • Exciting force/inciting incident: sets the action in motion • Rising action: part of the narrative, including the exposition, in which events start moving toward a climax. • Climax: the turning point, moment of greatest intensity • Falling action: the events that follow the climax and bring the story to its conclusion • Denouement: resolution or conclusion of narrative

  5. CONFLICT • Conflict is a struggle between opposing forces • Conflict can be • Internal– person vs. self • External • person vs. person • person vs. nature • person vs. society • man/woman vs. machine • man/woman vs. supernatural

  6. Setting The four elements of setting are: Time (When does it take place? Think era and time of day/week) Place (Where does it take place?) Mood (What is the overall feeling of the story?) Circumstance (What is going on around the characters in the story? Ex: War, depression, technological era, etc.)

  7. Characters • static (stay the same) vs. dynamic (change) • flat (one-sided) vs. round (many-sided) • major/minor/functional

  8. Protagonist – main character Antagonist – in conflict with/opposes protagonist

  9. Theme • A generally recurring subject or idea conspicuously evident in a literary work • Longer works may have multiple themes • The theme is not necessarily a moral or a lesson • The theme is the center, the moving force, the unifying vision

  10. Theme is developed through motifs. • A motif is an element that recurs significantly throughout a narrative. It can be a/an • image • idea • situation • action • Example: motifs in the Harry Potter books include • loyalty • lying • blood • abandonment

  11. Characterization • The techniques a writer uses to create, reveal, or develop the characters in a narrative. • Direct: author states directly what a character is like • Indirect: reader must infer what a character is like through description, dialogue, action, and how other characters treat him/her • Most often, writers reveal/develop characters through what they say (dialogue) and what they do (action). • Characters are motivated by desires, temperament and moral character.

  12. Point of view • The perspective from which a story is told • First person • The narrator is “I” and he/she is a participant in the action • Third person • Narrator is a nonparticipant in the action • Omniscient: narrator can move freely through the mind of any character, and has complete knowledge of all the events in the story • Limited: the narrator sees into the minds of some, but not all, of the characters; typically, one major or minor character

  13. Symbol • An object, character, or event that suggests meanings beyond its literal sense • A symbol adds meaning • In fact, a symbol can add multiple meanings

  14. Metaphor? Symbol? So what’s the difference? • How does a symbol differ from a metaphor? • A metaphor • is a statement that one thing is something else, which, in a literal sense, it is not • creates a close association between the two things, underscoring some important similarity between them • Examples: • Richard is a pig. • She’s a doll. • “I will speak daggers to her, but use none.” (Hamlet)

  15. How can I recognize a symbol? Symbols are • Not abstract terms (love, truth) but perceptible objects • Sometimes people and events are symbolic • Frequently given particular emphasis (repetition) • May supply the title • Lead us to the author’s theme

  16. Tone • Attitude the author is trying to convey about the subject • Tone is the net result of the various elements the author uses to create the work • Tone plays an important role in establishing the reader’s relationship to the characters and ideas

  17. Irony • Literary device in which the actual meaning is masked by the surface language • Three main types of irony: • Verbal: say one thing but mean another • Situational: something happens that is not what we (or the character) expects • Dramatic: the audience knows or understands something that the characters on stage do not

  18. Other Techniques • Suspense: enjoyable anxiety and/or curiosity about the outcome of an event • Foreshadowing: hints at what may happen in a story • Flashback: a scene relived in a character’s memory; gives information about something that happened before the current narrative began

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