Glossary

The final part of a play, after the climax, in which tensions diminish and the action reaches its conclusion.

Early part of a work where the complications and conflicts begin to arise.

The repetition of  sounds in words that are located closely to one another.  Alliteration can be at the beginning of words such as "Taco Tuesday" or

A character or a force that creates problems or conflicts for the protagonist.  Whoever or whatever opposes the protagonist can be a antagonist.  Usually there is one main antagonist.

A character who grows and changes either for the better or for the worse because of the action in a story.

A character with depth.  A round character will feel like a real person because they could have competing values and motivations, they have thoughts and idea, and they are don't show stereotypical characteristics, but show individuality.  A round character will feel as if they have a background and a history whether that is given in the story or not.

A character who does not have any change or growth through the work.

The methods that authors use to create characters in a story.  This could include physical, intellectual, and emotional descriptions.  It could include the way the character talks and acts, interacts with other characters and what the motivations of the character are.

The major turning point of a work, usually emotionally tense, often in the middle of the work.

The struggle between opposing characters or opposing forces in a work

The baggage associated with a word.  Associations that go beyond the literal or dictionary meaning of a word.

Characteristics of a literary genre that are understood and accepted by the readers and authors.

A major turning point where opposing forces affect the protagonist, leading to the conclusion.

Literal, dictionary meaning of a word

What characters actually say out loud.  It can reveal thoughts, motives, feelings, and plans.

Use of elevated, high-flown, sometimes flowery or classical diction

In the literary sense,  drama means plays.

Where the audience understands more about the situation than the characters do.  For example-In the play Coriolanus, the citizens of Rome are celebrating that Coriolanus is exiled and gone, while in reality, Coriolanus is at the gate of Rome with a conquering army.

An elegy is a serious, meditative poem usually commemorating someone who has died.  An elegy can commemorate an important event, such as a battle, but usually commemorates someone’s death.

Line of poetry that do not end in punctuation and therefore are read without pause with the next line.

Necessary background material provided to the reader

Telling a story through the perspective and consciousness of one of the story's characters. This narrator uses "I" and is a major or minor part of the action

Plot device that shows or explains events that happened before the beginning of the story or earlier in the story

A character that that contrasts with the protagonist or another main character in such as a way as to highlight the aspects compared.

A hint or suggestion of events yet to come

Descriptive language that invokes the senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Imagery is what creates the pictures in the reader's head as they read.  Imagery is not the same as symbolism, but much imagery does carry symbolism with it.

When a story is written in media res, the action begins somewhere in the middle of the story, often at one of the most crucial moments.  The reader is either given the beginning of the story in flashback or exposition or is expected to figure it out through the action of the rest of the story.

Using contradictory statements or situations to show that reality is different from what might appear to be true.

a 14 line sonnet broken up into eight lines, which is called an octave, and then six lines, called a sestet.  Also known as a Petrarchan sonnet.

A short rhyme, five lines long with an AABB rhyme pattern,  always  silly or funny and light.

An implied comparison between two things without using an explicit comparison word.  Example-"He was a beast in workouts."

When reasons and explanations are given for the behavior of a character, the reader is being given motivated action.

A statement which initially appears self-contradictory but on closer inspection turns out to be true

Brief restatement of the central ideas and actions of a work into your own words

Give inanimate objects human characteristics. Example-"The house stared down at me."

The series of events and the order they are arranged in a story.  The author can use various arrangements to shape the action and the reader's perception or knowledge of that action.  How the events are arranged can help create the focus of the story.

Who narrates the story and how.  The most common points of view are first person, when a character in the story is telling the story, or third person omniscient, when the narrator is completely out of the story and can not only narrate action, but tell the reader what the characters are thinking and feeling.  There are other points of view also, such as limited third person narrators, who are outside the story but can only tell the reader the thoughts of one character or can only narrate the action.

A story has a first-person point of view when the narrator is one of the characters in the story.  We see everything from that character's point of view and the character will use "I."

The narrator can report the thoughts and emotions of a single character. It isn't the character talking, as in first-person, but an outside narrator who can see into one character's head.

The narrator is all-knowing and all-seeing.  The narrator can be and see everything and everything.  The narrator can report the characters thought and emotions as well as their actions and words.

A narrator who can be and see everything, but only from the outside.  They do not report the emotions or thoughts of any of the characters.  They tell you what was done and said.

The protagonist the most prominent figure in the story.  He or she is the focus of the story and about whom the action revolves.

How the plot and the tensions or conflicts in the plot are concluded or worked out

Physical location of a work, but also the time period, and social environment. The context in which the action of the story occurs.  It evokes the atmosphere and the mood of the story.

A 14 line sonnet broken up into three quatrains, so three groups of four, followed by a couplet, one group of two. Also known as the English sonnet.

Explicit comparison between two things using words such as "like" or "as."

A playwright's specific and written directions to the actors in the script about their movements and actions.

Anxiety created in the reader about what is going to happen next.

A symbol is a person, object, setting, or event that means something more than its literal meaning

Central idea of a work or the big question that the work asks of the reader.  The theme is the unifying point which characters, setting, plot, and point of view contribute to.  A plot point will never be the theme.  It will always be the big question that the work is asking the reader about life outside the work.

The writer's attitude toward the subject or the work

A story where the protagonist is faced with failure, defeat, and death.  Tragedies move from order to disorder.  The action and setting in the work will deteriorate over the course of the work until the protagonist is facing, usually with dignity and courage, his failure, defeat or death.

A principle from Aristotle in which a play has a single line of action in a single place over a single day