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
