Elements of Literature - Ms. Vander Heiden



Elements of Literature

Like most people, you know a “good” story or book when you read one. But can you put into words why you liked it? If not, the following glossary of what “goes into” a story (the elements) will help you discuss and write about what you’ve read.

The setting is the _______ and _______ of a story.

The tone is the _________’s attitude or feeling about a piece of writing. The author’s tone may be serious, humorous (funny), satiric, and so on.

Dialogue refers to the talking that goes on between ____________in a story.

Mood is the _________(s) a ________ gets from a story: happy, sad, peaceful.

The _____________ is the person or character who is telling the story. For example, Black Beauty tells his own story in the book Black Beauty, so the ____________ is actually the horse.

Action refers to everything that goes on or happens in a story.

A character is a person in a story.

The ______________ is main character: the most important character in a novel, play, story, or other literary work.

The _______________is the person or thing fighting against the main character of a story; the villain or “negative force.”

Characterization is the author’s special way of explaining the characters in his/her story—telling us about their ___________________ and motives.

Direct-

Indirect-

Flat-

Static-

Dynamic-

The inciting incident is an event or series of events that _____________ the ___________ ___________.

Conflict is the “problem” in a story which triggers the action. There are ________ basic types of conflict.

❖ Person vs. _________: One character in a story has a problem with one or more of the other characters.

❖ Person vs. _________: This is inner conflict. The main character is challenged by his/her personal beliefs or temptations.

❖ Person vs. __________: A character has a conflict or problem with society—the school, the law, tradition.

❖ Person vs. ___________: A character has a problem with some element of nature: a snowstorm, an avalanche, the bitter cold, etc.

❖ Person vs. ________ (God or supernatural being): A character has to battle what seems to be an uncontrollable problem.

The ____________ is the lesson an author is trying to teach in his/her story. Children’s stories often have obvious morals such as “Treat others as you would like to be treated.”

The ____________ is the “big idea” being written about or discussed. It must be more than one word.

The ____________ ___________ of a piece of writing is the overall influence it has on you, the reader—the way it makes you feel and the ideas it gives you.

____________ is making fun of society or a prominent individual for the purpose of bringing about a change in society's thoughts or actions.

The plot is the action of the story. This action is usually made up of a series of events called a ________ _________.

The _______ _________ shows the action or events in the story. It has five parts: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution:

❖ The exposition is that part of a story (usually the beginning) which explains the ______________ and ____________ of the story; the characters are often introduced in the exposition.

❖ The rising action is the ___________ part of a story during which various problems arise, leading up to the climax.

❖ The ____________ is the highest point (turning point) in the action of a story.

❖ ____________ ____________ is that part of a story which follows the climax or turning point; it contains the action or dialogue necessary to lead the story to a resolution or ending.

❖ The resolution is the satisfying end of a play or story—that part in which the problems are ___________.

[pic]

The point of view is the angle from which a story is told. This depends upon who is telling the story.

❖ A _________-person point of view means that one of the characters is telling the story: “I walked slowly, wishing I could turn and run instead of facing Mrs. Grunch.”

❖ A __________-person point of view means that someone outside of the story is telling it: “She walked slowly, wishing she could turn and run instead of facing Mrs. Grunch.”

There are three third-person points of view:

➢ ________________is a third-person point of view which allows the narrator to relate the thoughts and feelings of all the characters; a godlike intuition.

➢ _____________ ______________ allows the narrator to relate the thoughts and feelings of only one character.

➢ __________ view (objective view) is seeing and recording the action from a neutral or unemotional point of view.

Definition:

Freytag's Pyramid is a diagram cooked up in 1863 by Gustav Freytag to chart the structure of tragedy, but [it can be used] to talk about the plot structure of just about any piece of prose.

We begin with exposition, then it's on to rising action, we hit a complication, move on to the climax, get a reversal, kick it with some falling action, and then finally the resolution and dénouement.

A bit formulaic, sure, but you can actually track this pattern in quite a few tragedies, as well as novels, movies, and television shows.

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Literature Glossary." . Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 21 Jan. 2016.

Let’s try it!

Fill in the boxes below with your observations of plot structure to the clip.

-----------------------

This packet is narrated by _________________________

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download