This document provides definitions for various literary terms that will be used throughout the school year. It defines terms related to characters like protagonists and antagonists. It also defines elements of plot such as exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Additionally, it defines literary devices like imagery, mood, conflict, flashbacks, foreshadowing, point of view, setting, theme, tone, metaphors, similes, oxymorons, personification and alliteration. Examples are provided for many of the terms.

1. Literary terms
We will be using these literary
terms throughout the school
year.

2. We will use the following terms:
Character Antagonist Protagonist
Imagery Mood Plot Tone
Rising Action Climax Falling Action
Resolution Conflict Setting
Flashback Foreshadowing Suspense
Point of View Theme Metaphor Simile
Oxymoron Personification Alliteration

3. Character
A character is a person
or an animal that takes
part in the action of a
literary work.

4. Antagonist
The Antagonist is a character or force in
conflict with a main character, or
protagonist.

5. Do you know any
Antagonists???
 On your paper take a few minutes to write down some
Antagonists that you can recall from movies, television shows,
and video games
 Remember the Antagonist is in conflict with the Protagonist or,
main character!
 Helpful hint – you should now know why people use the saying
“Don’t antagonize me!”

6. Protagonist
The Protagonist is the
main character in a literary
work
Can you name some
famous Protagonists that
are found in literature?

7. Imagery
Imagery is words or phrases
that appeal to one or more
of the five senses. Writers
use imagery to describe
how their subjects look,
sound, feel, taste, and
smell.

8. MOOD
Mood, or atmosphere, is the feeling
created in the reader by a literary
work or passage. Writer’s use
many devices to create mood,
including images, dialogue, setting,
and plot. Often, a writer creates a
mood at the beginning of a work
and then sustains the mood
throughout. Sometimes, however,
the mood of the work changes
dramatically.

9. Plot
Plot is the sequence of events. The first event
causes the second, the second causes the
third, and so forth.
In most novels, dramas, short stories, and
narrative poems, the plot involves both
characters and a central conflict.
The plot usually begins with an exposition that
introduces the setting, the characters, and
the basic situation. This is introduced and
developed. The conflict then increases until
it reaches a high point of interest or
suspense, the climax. The climax is followed
by the falling action, or end, of the central
conflict. Any events that occur during the
falling action make up the resolution.

10. PLOTLINE
Exposition
Resolution
RisingAction
Climax
FallingActionConflict Introduced

11. Rising Action
Rising Action is the part of the
plot that begins to occur as
soon as the conflict is
introduced. The rising action
adds complications to the
conflict and increases reader
interest.

12. Climax
The Climax is the point of
greatest emotional
intensity, interest, or
suspense in the plot of a
narrative. The climax
typically comes at the
turning point in a story or
drama.

13. Falling Action
Falling Action is the action
that typically follows the
climax and reveals its
results.

14. Resolution
The Resolution is the part of
the plot that concludes the
falling action by revealing
or suggesting the outcome
of the conflict.

15. Conflict
Conflict is the struggle
between opposing forces
in a story or play. There
are two types of conflict
that exist in literature.

16. Internal Conflict
vs
External Conflict
-Internal conflict exists within the mind of a character who
is torn between different courses of action.
Man vs. Himself
-External conflict exists when a character struggles against
some outside force, such as another character, nature,
society, or fate.
Man vs. Man
Man vs. Nature

17. Flashback
A flashback is a literary device
in which an earlier episode,
conversation, or event is
inserted into the sequence of
events. Often flashbacks are
presented as a memory of the
narrator or of another
character.

18. The movie Titanic is told almost entirely in a flashback.
What are some other films that contain flashback to help tell stories?
Holes
Willy Wonka
Think of some more…
Flashback continued…

19. Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is the author’s use of clues to hint at what
might happen later in the story. Writers use
foreshadowing to build their readers’ expectations and to
create suspense. This is used to help readers prepare
for what is to come.

20. Suspense
Suspense is the growing interest and excitement readers
experience while awaiting a climax or resolution in a
work of literature. It is a feeling of anxious
uncertainty about the outcome of events. Writers
create suspense by raising questions in the minds of
their readers.

21. Point of View
Point of View is the perspective, or vantage point, from which a story
is told. It is the relationship of the narrator to the story.
First-person is told by a character who uses the first-person pronoun
“I”.
Third-person limited point of view is the point of view where the
narrator uses third-person pronouns such as “he” and “she” to
refer to the characters.

22. Setting
The setting of a literary work is the time and
place of the action.
The setting includes all the details of a place
and time – the year, the time of day, even
the weather. The place may be a specific
country, state, region, community,
neighborhood, building, institution, or home.
Details such as dialect, clothing, customs, and
modes of transportation are often used to
establish setting.
In most stories, the setting serves as a
backdrop – a context in which the characters
interact. The setting of a story often helps to
create a particular mood, or feeling.

23. Theme
The theme of a literary work is its central
message, concern, or purpose. A
theme can usually be expressed as a
generalization, or general statement,
about people or life. The theme may
be stated directly by the writer
although it is more often presented
indirectly. When the theme is stated
indirectly, the reader must figure out
the theme by looking carefully at what
the work reveals about the people or
about life.

24. Tone
Tone is a reflection of a writer’s or speaker’s
attitude toward a subject of a poem, story, or
other literary work. Tone may be
communicated through words and details that
express particular emotions and that evoke
and emotional response from the reader.
For example, word choice or phrasing may
seem to convey respect, anger,
lightheartedness, or sarcasm.

25. Metaphor
A Metaphor is a type of speech that compares or equates two or
more things that have something in common. A metaphor does
NOT use like or as.
Example: Life is a bowl
of cherries.

26. Simile
A Simile is another figure of speech that compares
seemingly unlike things. Simile’s DO use the words like
or as.
Example: Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard.

27. Oxymoron
An Oxymoron is a figure of speech that is a combination of
seemingly contradictory words.
Examples: Same difference
Pretty ugly
Roaring silence

28. Personification
Personification is a figure of speech in
which an animal, object, force of
nature, or idea is given human
qualities or characteristics.
Example: Tears began to fall from
the dark clouds.

29. Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of sounds, most often
consonant sounds, at the beginning of words.
Alliteration gives emphasis to words.
Example: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers