Honors English 1-2
Literary Terms – Summer Assignment
TERM
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Resolution
Setting
Mood
Conflict
Protagonist
Antagonist
Characterization
DEFINITION
The exposition is the opening of the story and usually includes the
setting and introduces us to some of the main characters. It ends
when the conflict is introduced to the reader.
Rising action is the chain of events in which the conflict is
introduced to the reader.
The climax is the point of highest interest, the point at which the
reader makes his greatest emotional response. The climax is the
point in the story in which action is about to turn into the falling
action.
Falling action takes place after the climax when the action begins to
wind down or conflicts being to lessen.
The resolution tells how the story conflict is resolved and ties up
loose ends from the story.
The setting is the physical background, or time and place, of the
events of the story. The setting may be revealed through details
about the story’s geographical location, time or period, or the
characters’ occupations and daily manner of living.
The mood is the feeling or attitude that the author creates in the
reader. Mood is created mainly through the use of words, which
appeal to the senses.
Conflict is the struggle between or among opposing forces
(protagonist and antagonist). Conflicts can generally be categorized
as follows:
Character vs. Character
Character vs. Self
Character vs. Nature
Character vs. Society
The main character in a piece of fiction; typically considered the
hero.
Ex) Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games
The character in conflict with the protagonist; typically considered
the villain.
Ex) President Snow in The Hunger Games
There are four methods of characterization – ways the reader figures
out what kind of person a character is.
1. A character’s thoughts or words – the things a character says
or thinks tells the reader what kind of person (s)he is.
2. A character’s actions – the things a character does tells the
reader what kind of person (s)he is.
3. Another character’s thoughts, words or actions – the
reader can learn about a character based on information given from
other characters.
Imagery
Unreliable
Narrator
Verbal Irony
Figurative
Language
Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Alliteration
Hyperbole
Foreshadowing
4. Author’s Description – the author directly tells the reader
what type of person the character is.
A common term of variable meaning, imagery includes the
"mental pictures" that readers experience with a passage of
literature. It signifies all the sensory perceptions referred to in a
poem, whether by literal description, allusion, simile, or
metaphor. Imagery is not limited to visual imagery; it also
includes auditory (sound), tactile (touch), thermal (heat and
cold), olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), and kinesthetic
sensation (movement).
An imaginary storyteller or character who describes what he
witnesses accurately, but misinterprets those events because of
faulty perception, personal bias, or limited understanding.
Often the writer or poet creating such an unreliable narrator
leaves clues so that readers will perceive the unreliability and
question the interpretations offered.
Verbal Irony (also called sarcasm) is when a speaker makes a
statement in which its actual meaning differs sharply from the
meaning that the words supposedly express. Often this sort of
irony is plainly sarcastic in the eyes of the reader, but the
characters listening in the story may not realize the speaker's
sarcasm as quickly as the readers do.
Figurative language is the use of words to create vivid pictures and
ideas in the mind of the reader and is not meant to be literally true.
A simile is a comparison which uses like, as, as if, as though. Ex)
When I am happiest, my heart soars like an eagle in love with the
sky.
A metaphor is a figure of speech, which compares two unlike things
and does not use like or as.
Ex) She is a cackling hen.
Personification is a figure of speech in which something non-human
is given human characteristics or powers.
Ex) Snow-laden pines whispered together in the moonlight.
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the
beginning of words.
Ex) Buckets of big blue berries
A hyperbole is an exaggeration or a figure of speech in which the
truth is exaggerated for emphasis or humor.
Ex) I was so angry I could have killed her!
Foreshadowing is the writer’s use of hints or clues to indicate events
that will occur later in a narrative; it creates suspense and prepare
the reader for what is to come.