Literary Terminology

(Information directly from About.com, 9-10-09 with changes by Tina Heller)

Analyzing literature involves understanding

and accurately using a common vocabulary.
 Plot

Definition: The sequence of events told in a story, plot is also

known as narrative structure. There are usually considered to
be five elements in a plot line: exposition or background
information, rising action (that which complicates the story),
climax or crisis, falling action, and resolution. The plot
describes the structure of a story. It shows arrangement of
events and actions within a story.
 Plot

Climax

Resolution
Exposition (Dénouement)
 Exposition

Definition: The part of the plot that provides the reader

with background information introducing the setting,
characters, and main conflicts. The exposition usually occurs at
the beginning of a novel or story and may be short or long. the
start of the story, the situation before the action starts. It
provides background information about characters and
circumstances or explains relationships.
 Rising Action

Definition: The part of the plot where 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. Rising action includes the
series of events (usually the conflicts or struggles of the
protagonist) that increase tension, propel the plot forward,
and lead to the climax of the story.
 Climax

Definition: The part of the plot that is the point of greatest

tension in a work of literature and the turning point in the
action or plot; it is the most intense moment – either mentally
or in action. In a plot line, the climax occurs after the rising
action and before the falling action.
 Falling Action

Definition: The part of the plot in a work of literature that

follows the climax and ends in the resolution. This is in
contrast to the rising action which leads up to the plot's
climax. The part of the plot which follows the climax and
diminishes tension before the resolution.
 Resolution
("De'nouement")

Definition: The conclusion of a plot’s conflicts and

complications. Events immediately following the climax – a kind
of “cleaning up.” Resolution is the part of the story's plot line in
which the problem of the story is resolved or worked out. This
occurs after the falling action and is typically where the story ends.
where everything ends; the reader may have some sense of
"closure.”
 Resolution

("De'nouement")
Definition: Dénouement is a French word meaning the
“unraveling” or “unknotting.” Sometimes referred to as the part of
the plot in which a resolution or clarification takes place, but often
truly containing no firm resolution to tensions or conflicts.
 Conflict

Definition: Conflict is the struggle between the opposing

forces on which the action in a work of literature depends.
There are five basic forms of conflict: person versus person
(man vs. man), person versus self (man vs. man), person
versus nature (man vs. nature), person versus society (man
vs. society), and person versus God.
 Protagonist

Definition: the central character, who propels the plot.

 Antagonist

Definition: the character or force that opposes the protagonist.

 Setting

Definition: the context in which the action occurs;

includes time, place, and social environment.
 Allusion

Definition: An allusion is a reference to a famous person, place,

thing or part of another work of literature, well-known person,
place, event, work of art, mythology, or religion. It is assumed
that the reader understands the allusion.