English 3201 Narrative Terms
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1.
ALLEGORY
4.
ATMOSPHERE/MOOD
The feeling surrounding a literary work.
For instance, the witches' scene in the
play Macbeth is quite dark and ominous.
5.
CLIMAX
A form of extended metaphor in which objects,
persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated
with the meanings that lie outside the narrative
itself.
2.
ANECDOTE
The moment when the action comes to
its highest point of dramatic conflict
6.
COMPLICATION
A brief story or account of a single incident without
the elaboration (character development, figurative
language, symbolism, etc.) of a short story.
3.
A series of difficulties forming the central
action in a narrative.
ANTAGONIST
7.
CONFLICT
The struggle between two opposing
forces within a work.
The character, force, or collection of forces in
fiction or drama that opposes the protagonist and
gives rise to the conflict of the story; an opponent
of the protagonist.
8.
DRAMATIC
IRONY
14.
FLASHBACK
Occurs when the audience and/or one or more
characters in a work are aware of information that
another character or characters are not.
9.
EPIPHANY
An interruption of a work's chronology to
describe or present an incident that
occurred prior to the main time frame of a
work's action.
15.
FOIL
A moment of enlightenment that may be caused by an
everyday event or occurrence.
10.
EXPOSITION
the background material about the characters,
setting, and dramatic situation; introduces the
essentials of the story.
A character whose qualities or actions
serve to emphasize those of another
character (usually the protagonist) by
providing a strong contrast with that
character.
16.
11.
EXTERNAL
CONFLICT
Involves the struggle of a character with an outside
force (man versus nature, man versus man, man
versus society, et cetera).
12.
FALLING
ACTION
Follows the climax and leads to the resolution and a
sharp decline in dramatic tension.
13.
FIRST
PERSON
The point of view in which the speaker uses 'I" and
reveals thoughts, feelings and emotions to the reader.
FORESHADOWING
When hints of what is to come in the
action of a play or a story are given.
17.
INTERNAL
CONFLICT
20.
NARRATOR
The voice and implied speaker of a fictional
work, to be distinguished from the actual
living author.
Involves a struggle within (man versus himself).
Examples of this include guilt, fear, indecision, et
cetera.
18.
19.
JUXTAPOSITION
MOTIF
21.
PLOT
The arrangement of two or more ideas, characters,
actions, settings, phrases, or words side-by-side or
in similar narrative moments for the purpose of
comparison, contrast, or character development.
22. POINT OF
VIEW
The author's arrangement of events that
make up the action of a story;
includes:exposition, complication, rising
action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
The perspective established by the
narrator/speaker of a literary work.
23.
PROTAGONIST
A recurring important idea or image in a literary
work.
The main character in a literary work.
24.
RESOLUTION
27.
SETTING
The time, place and circumstances of a literary
work that establish its context.
Follows the falling action and pulls together all the28. SITUATIONAL
loose threads of the story; also called the
IRONY
conclusion or falling action.
25.
RISING
ACTION
When something is expected to happen but the
opposite occurs.
29.
SUBPLOT
The events in a story that build up to the climax.
Often the conflict intensifies and the audience
wonders what will happen to the characters.
26.
SECOND
PERSON
A secondary or subordinate plot, as in a play,
novel, or other literary work. Many sitcoms and
movies rely heavily on the use of subplots.
30.
SUSPENSE
The point of view in which the speaker addresses
the protagonist directly as "you" and never reverts
back to "I".
The excited anticipation of an approaching climax.
31.
SYMBOLISM
36.
THIRDPERSON
OMNISCIENT
Exists when an object or action in a literary
work that means more than itself, that stands
for something beyond itself.
32.
TEMPORAL
REFERENCE
37.
A reference in a literary work that identifies the
passage of time. It is also called a
chronological reference and is especially
important to narrative writing.
33.
THEMATIC
STATEMENT
34.
THEME
A single sentence that describes a specific
interpretation of the overall meaning of a work
of literature. It must be brief, focused and
insightful.
The central observation about life or the human
condition explored in a text.
35.
THIRDPERSON
LIMITED
The point of view in which the speaker knows
and reveals everything about the characters
including their feelings, thoughts, and
emotions.
The point of view in which the speaker's
knowledge of a character is limited; uses
he/she/they and can describe only what can be
seen or heard.
VERBAL
IRONY
Speech in which what is said is the opposite to
what is meant. Sarcasm!