Lit terms

Literary TermsLiterary Terms

A General Introduction

So why learn these terms?

� It gives us a common ground of vocabulary to work with when talking about literature (or most other art forms).

� It helps us to see connections beyond the surface level.

� It helps us to read and think with specific goals (particularly with works we don’t understand or like).

Plot

� “The plan or groundwork for a story, with the actions resulting from believable and authentic human responses to a conflict” (Roberts and Jacobs 1905).

� “the sequence of incidents or events of which a story is composed” (Arp 1492).

Conflict

� “The opposition between two characters (often protagonist v. antagonist), between groups of people, or between protagonists and larger forces such as natural objects, ideas, modes of behavior, public opinion, and [even himself]. Conflict may also be internal and psychological, involving choices facing a protagonist” (Roberts and Jacobs 1896).

Setting

� “The context in time and place in which the actions of a story occurs” (Arp 1494).

� Not just the physical place action occurs, but all that is involved in that environment.

Character

� Not just the people involved in a story, poem or play, but also, “an extended verbal representation of a human being, the inner self that determines thought, speech and behavior” (Roberts and Jacobs 1894).

� � Characters can be developing

(or dynamic), flat, round, static, stock or stereotyped, or foils.

Theme

� “The central idea of a literary work” (Arp 1494).

� “The theme of a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the unifying generalization about life stated or implied by the story” (102).

� It is not the same thing as a “moral” Mr. Arp points out (104).

Imagery

� “The representation through language of sense experience” (Arp 1489).

Language that appeals not only to the senses, but also to the reader’s sense of something.

Symbol

� “A specific word, idea, or object that may stand for ideas, values, persons, or ways of life” (Roberts and Jacobs 1910).

� Symbols are first order metaphors (one-for-one), like the fire of Prometheus that represents knowledge.

� Symbols are direct representations of one thing by another: light = knowledge.

Irony

“Broadly, a means of indirection. Language that states the opposite of what is intended is verbal irony. The placement of characters in a state of ignorance is dramatic irony, while emphasis on powerlessness is situational irony” (Roberts and Jacobs 1901).

Archetype

� “A character, action, or situation that is a prototype or pattern of human life generally; a situation that occurs over and over again in literature, such as a quest, an initiation, or an attempt to overcome evil. Many myths are archetypes” (Roberts and Jacobs 1893).

Point of View

� “The angle of vision from which a story is told” (Arp 1492).

� Fundamental points of view are omniscient, limited omniscient, first person, and objective (dramatic).

� Point of view can limit what information is known or shift between different perspectives.

Metaphor

� A comparison made by referring to one thing as another (related to symbol, but less fixed).

� Metaphors are unique expressions of an aesthetic experience that shows rather than tells.

Allusion

� Allusions are brief references to some other person, event, place, text, or phrase.

The most commonly alluded to texts are the Bible & Shakespeare’s works.

Keep in mind...

� Your fundamental enjoyment of literature is not determined by your understanding of these terms any more than a lover of music needs a class in music history or theory to have an emotional response to a song.

� Knowing the jargon helps. We might be able to read more effectively and get more out of the experience if we know what to look for and know “what’s in a name.”