Literary Terms Review

Study Guide

Basic Situation/Exposition

• An author’s introduction of the characters, setting, and conflict at the beginning of a story, novel, or play.

• Example: What is the exposition of Romeo and Juliet?

Complication/Rising Action

• A complicating factor or occurrence in a story.• What is a complicating factor at the beginning

of Romeo and Juliet?• What is a complicating factor at the beginning

of Of Mice and Men?

Climax

• The point of greatest emotional intensity, interest, or suspense in the plot of literary work.

• Is the climax always in the middle of a story? Give an example of climax from one of your readings from last year.

Resolution

• The resolution is the part of a plot that concludes the falling action by revealing or suggesting the outcome of the conflict.

• Is the resolution of a story always pleasant? Give examples from Of Mice and Men and Romeo and Juliet.

Conflict

• The struggle between opposing forces in a story or drama.– External: exists when a character struggles against

some outside force, such as another person, nature, society, or fate.• Provide an example of external conflict from Romeo and

Juliet.

Conflict

– Internal: is a struggle that takes place within the mind of a character who is torn between two opposing goals.• Provide an example of internal conflict from Of Mice

and Men.

Foreshadowing

• An author’s use of clues or hints to prepare readers for events that will happen later in the story.

• What does the dead mouse foreshadow at the beginning of Of Mice and Men?

Protagonist

• The central character in a literary work around whom the main conflict revolves.

• Who is the protagonist of Romeo and Juliet?• Does the protagonist always have entirely

positive personality traits?

Antagonist

• A person or a force in society or nature that opposes the protagonist, or central character, in a story or drama.

• Name an antagonist in Of Mice and Men.• Does the antagonist only possess negative

personality traits?

Theme

• The main idea or message of a story, a poem, a novel, or a play, sometimes expressed as a general statement about life.

• Examples of Theme: Love, Hate, Familial Conflict, War

• Provide a theme from Romeo and Juliet and one from Of Mice and Men.

Setting

• The time or place in which the events of a literary work occur. Setting includes not only the physical surroundings, but also ideas, customs, values, and beliefs of a particular time period.

• If you were reading a story in which people traveled in horse and buggy what would most likely be the setting? What is another possible option?

Atmosphere

• The dominant emotional feeling of a literary work that contributes to the mood.

Symbol• Any person, animal, place, object, or event

that exists on a literal level within a work but also represents something figurative.

• A symbol of a cross is tangible you may touch and hold it, but it represents Christianity something you must believe in and cannot physically hold.

Figurative Language

• Language that uses figures of speech, or expressions that are not literally true, but express some truth beyond a literal level. Types of figurative language include: hyperbole, metaphor, personification, simile, symbol, understatement.

• Ms. Wall’s nagging is like a hang-nail.

Verbal Irony

• A person says one thing and means another.• Example: Sarcasm, “Yes, I totally want you to

turn in your paper a week late.”

Situational Irony

• The actual outcome of a situation is the opposite of what is expected.

Dramatic Irony

• The audience or reader knows information that the characters does not know.

Satire

• Writing that uses humor or wit to ridicule the vices or follies of people or societies to bring about improvement.

• Examples: The Simpsons, South Park