List #1 – Short Stories 1.Plot - The sequence of events in a selection 2.Exposition - The beginning or introduction to a selection 3.Narrative Hook - The point in a selection in which the author tries to grab the reader's attention 4.Rising Action - When the suspense begins to build in a selection 5.Climax - The point of highest interest or the point of no return in a selection 6.Falling Action - When the suspense in a selection begins to lessen 7.Resolution - The outcome or conclusion to a story 8.Conflict - A problem in a selection 9.External Conflict - A problem with an outside force 10.Internal Conflict - A problem a character has within himself 11.Setting - The time, place, location, or era in which a story takes place Literary Terms List #2 – Short Stories 12.Character – A person in a story 13.Dynamic Character – A character that undergoes a personality change in the story 14.Static Character – A character that morally remains the same in the story 15.Round Character – A fully developed character 16.Flat Character – An under-developed character 17.Point of View – The perspective from which a story is told 18.1st Person POV – When one of the characters is telling the story 19.3rd Person Limited POV – When the narrator is not a character and zooms in on the thoughts of one character 20.Omniscient POV – An all-knowing narrator that knows everything about the characters including their past; not a character Literary Terms List #3 – Drama 21.Aside – When a character says something that the audience can hear but other characters can’t 22.Comedy – A drama with a humorous ending 23.Comic Relief – A humorous incident used to break up a dramatic moment 24.Drama – A piece of literature that is written specifically to be acted out 25.Pun – A play on multiple meanings of a word 26.Soliloquy – When a character is on stage by themselves making a long speech 27.Monologue – When a character is on stage making a long speech with other characters present 28.Tragedy – A drama in which the main characters often come to a perilous end 29.Protagonist – The good guy or hero in a story 30.Antagonist – The bad guy or villain in a story Literary Terms List #4 – The Epic 31.Allusion – A reference to something, usually from the Bible or Greek mythology 32.Couplet – Two consecutive lines of rhyming poetry 33.Epic – A long narrative poem in which the main character goes on adventures 34.Narrative Poem – A poem that tells a story 35.Epic Hero – A hero that has extraordinary powers whether they be physical or mental 36.Fable – A story that uses animals to teach a lesson or moral 37.Myth – A story that is created to explain the unexplainable (something we don’t know the cause of ) 38.Folk Tale – A story with no known author that has been passed down from generation to generation, usually by word of mouth 39.Foreshadowing – When you know ahead of time that something is going to happen 40. Symbol – Something that stands for or represents something else Literary Terms List #5 - Nonfiction 41.Autobiography – An account of the writer’s own life 42.Biography – An account of a person’s life, written or told by another person 43.Connotation – The emotional meaning of a word ie. Positive, negative, neutral 44.Dialect – Way of speaking that is characteristic of a particular region or group of people 45.Imagery – The use of the 5 senses in literature. 46.Essay – A short piece of nonfiction that examines a single topic 47.Tone – The author’s attitude towards a subject 48.Nonfiction – Prose writing that deals with real people, things, events, and places 49.Analogy – A comparison between 2 things. 50.Novel – A fictional writing that usually has more than 50,000 words 51.Argument – A form of persuasion that uses reason 52.Fiction – Literature that is based on the imagination 53.Figurative Language – Writing or speech that is not meant to be taken literally Literary Terms List #6 – Poetry 54.Personification – The giving of human characteristics to non-human things 55.Metaphor – Compares two unlike thing; without using like or as 56.Alliteration – The repetition of initial consonant sounds 57.Onomatopoeia – When words sound like their meanings 58.Hyperbole – The use of extreme exaggeration 59.Haiku – A 3-line, natural, Japanese poem 60.Free Verse – A poem with no set rhyme pattern or scheme 61.Lyric Poem – A poem with imaginary and musical qualities 62.Limerick – A 5-line poem with an AABBA rhyme pattern 63.Simile – A comparison of two like things using like or as. 64.Assonance – The repetition of vowel sounds 65.Sonnet – A 14-line lyric poem