Literary Vocabulary http://www.leasttern.com/LitTerms/literary_terms.htm Setting - time (date, time of day, season) and place - a piece of writing will generally have many settings and each setting will generally carry with it a mood or atmosphere. Plot - what happens, concretely, as though it were placed on a history time line. Incident - one specific thing which happens in a plot. Many short stories are basically one incident described in detail. Theme - the answer to this question: What is this all about? Themes tend to be the author's message about important human conditions or problems, such as Good and Evil, Death, Freedom, Bondage, Hope, the Quest, Heritage, Believing, Family, Relationships, The Role of Women in Society. The Theme Statement is your one sentence summary of what the author or the work (novel, story, poem, play) has to say about an overall theme - for example: A theme of the novel Dragonwings is that the support of family is essential in a good life. Stories, plays and poems will have more than one theme about which you can formulate more than one theme statement. But be careful - you must be able to support a theme statement with specific evidence from the story, play or poem itself. Another expression for theme of a poem is the abstract meaning. Mood or atmosphere or tone - the overall feeling created by a piece of writing. Mood can often be described in a few words, such as scary, lonely, empty, triumphant, anxious, but you must be able to refer to specific details in the description, setting, or passage to defend your word or words. Dialogue - a discussion or conversation between two or more characters. Most dialogues follow the rules of punctuation. Do not confuse dialogue with a play script. Dialogue is part of, or sometimes all of, a story or novel and this is what you should write when you asked to write a dialogue.
Monologue - one character alone talking to the reader/audience/to himself. A monologue in a play is called a soliloquy and finds the character alone on the stage, often speaking about a decision, plan, or other internal conflict. Interior monologue or internal monologue - a character thinking to himself. The author will often begin this by saying: He thought, he was thinking, she imagined... Malapropism - substitution of "fancy" or "pompous" words, often opposite to the intended meanings or meaningless, for a correct word - for example: in Midsummer Night's Dream Bottom says, "We will rehearse most obscenely (seemly?) and courageously." Character traits of a character - what type of person is this? Character traits are revealed through actions, dialogue, internal monologue, and by the author or narrator directly. Motive - why a character does what he/she does. Motives are often feelings or logical conclusions, but can be also impulse based upon the actions or words of another. Every action has a motive. External Conflict - a fight, argument, disagreement or simply opposition in which 2 sides are present. Characters, themes, ideas, forces can all be in conflict. Conflicts are stated this way: Joe vs. Sue, man vs. nature, love vs. hate, freedom vs. bondage, free vs. caged, beautiful vs. ugly. Be sure that both sides of the vs. are the same part of speech and that they are, in fact, nearly opposite or in opposition in the book. An external conflict is shown through actions (fight, argument, physical struggle), character traits (a good and a bad character), dialogues, descriptions - just about anything. Identification of conflicts will lead you to theme. The resolution of the external conflict will advance the plot toward the climax and the end. Internal Conflict - an argument or decision-making process within one character's mind. An internal conflict is stated this way: Should I swallow my pride and go visit my son, or should I wait until he comes to me with an apology? An internal conflict has a motive and its resolution is important to the development of the plot.  Plot diagram
Introduction or Exposition - setting, characters, main conflicts are introduced to the reader; this is the beginning of a novel or story and may be short or long, but is always flat (little action or emotion). Rising Action - the round characters are developed, the conflicts are increased and acted out in many ways, motives are introduced, things happen; generally, the major part of a novel or story. Climax - the "high point" of a story in which the major conflicts erupt in some kind of final showdown (fight, argument, violent or physical action, very tense emotional moment...); at the end of the climax, the "winner" will be clear (there is not always a winner!). Falling Action - what events immediately follow the climax; a kind of "cleaning up." Resolution - where everything ends; the reader may have some sense of "closure" or may be asked to think about what might come next; in fairy tales, the Happy Ending; in some novels, you will read about the characters many years later.
Irony - There are 3 types of irony which you need to know: Irony of situation - when the reverse of the expected happens or when the person you least expect to do something, does it - for example: It is ironic that Cinderella gets the prince; it is ironic in Dragonwings that the Chinese own and are able to rebuild houses upon the land denied to them by the Demons; it is ironic in Dragonwings that Black Dog dies in the same manner that he tries to kill Moon Shadow. Dramatic irony - when the viewer or the reader is aware of a situation of which the character(s) are not aware - for example: In Romeo and Juliet the reader knows that Juliet is not really dead, but Romeo does not know this. Another example is when the audience knows that Lysander is "drugged" into loving Helena, but he does not know this. Dramatic irony can be a source of tragedy, of comedy, or of tension. Irony of language - when a name or description refers to or suggests the opposite of truth - for example: In Dragonwings the leader of a fierce brotherhood/gang is called Water Fairy. The irony is not just that the name is inappropriate, but that it was earned in an inappropriate way. Irony of language is often used for humor, but it can also be cruel or sarcastic. The name of the character Lefty, in Dragonwings, is as ironic as his situation.
Coincidence - something which happens by chance. Authors use coincidence to advance the plot, to create and resolve conflicts, and sometimes just for humor or to startle the reader. Mirroring or parallels - A character or incident mirrors another character or incident when the two follow similar plots, act in similar ways or contain similar elements or traits. Remember, though, that a mirror image is also opposite - left is right. So one mirror character may be rich, the other poor; one relationship may end happily, the other unhappily. Authors use mirrors to add depth to stories and to increase the reader's interest in and appreciation for the characters and their situations. Mirrors are used frequently on situation comedy shows - watch for them!
concrete meaning - in a poem or story, what happens, in one sentence if possible. For example:
The concrete meaning is this: The narrator is in a strange bed at night and the light of the moon makes him think of home.
abstract meaning - the theme or message of the poem or story. This has to be based on the concrete meaning, upon what is actually in the poem, and should also take conflicts into consideration. For example: In the poem above, the abstract meaning might be: Loneliness and homesickness are cold feelings, but we are warmed by our memories of home.
- literal vs. figurative meaning - relates to the meanings of words and phrases or expressions. For example, "She was all ears" has a figurative meaning (She was listening intently) as well as a literal meaning (Her body was composed of ears or she had a huge set of ears). Lewis Carroll and other authors use and confuse the meanings to create nonsense and humor. In some novels, characters who are literal-minded are a source of ridicule.
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