http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/171978
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
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Literary Devices - Definition and Examples of Literary Terms - Website
http://literarydevices.net/
This is an excellent little website for anyone interested in really studying literature. Highly recommended.
This is an excellent little website for anyone interested in really studying literature. Highly recommended.
Elements of Fictions - Terminology and Definitions
Characterization - The methods a writer uses to communicate information about
characters to readers
Climax - The moment when the action comes to its highest point of
dramatic conflict.
Complication - Any obstacle that increases the tension of the story
conflict.
Conflict - The central source of tension and drama in the story
Dialogue - The actual words that characters speak
Dramatic irony - A technique that increases suspense by letting readers know
more about the dramatic situation that the characters know
Exposition - Background material about the characters, setting, and
dramatic situation with which the author introduces the essentials of the story
to the reader
Falling Action - The part of the story, following the climax and leading to
the resolution, in which there is a sharp decline in dramatic tension
foreshadowing - A writing technique that gives readers clues about events
that will happen later in the story.
Imagery - The use of selected details to describe one thing in terms
of another.
Irony - A particular tone created when the speaker intends a meaning
that is opposite to the words he or she says
Character development - The ways in which a novelist shows how a character changes
as a result of experiencing a sequence of events over an extensive period of
time
crisis - a small peak of dramatic tension that functions within a
chapter in the way that the more dramatic climax functions in the novel plot as
a whole
flashback - a dramatic scene that is presented out of chronological plot
sequence
foil
- a character that serves as a
contrast to another
genre - Any of a number of traditional forms of the novel that are
categorized by a particular treatment of characters, settings, plot, or style
In media res - A latin term meaning "in the midst of things" that
describes a plot that starts at a moment of high action in the middle of the
story and provides the reader with necessary background information later on
Multiple points of view - A narrative technique in which the novel's storyline is told
by more than one character in the plot.
Parallel plotting - The technique of presenting more than one storyline to the
reader at the same time
plot - the arrangement of story events that defines a novel's
structure
serial plotting - the technique that creates suspense by telling the plot in a
series of unresolved chapters with cliffhanger endings.
stream of consciousness - a narrative point of view that presents the actual thoughts
going on inside the character's mind
subplot - a secondary storyline involving secondary characters that
parallels or contrasts with the main plot involving the central characters
narrator - the speaker who tells the story
point of view - the perspective from which a story is told
protagonist - the central character of the story
resolution - the conclusion of the story
rising action - the part of the story, including exposition, in which the
tension rises
setting - the environment in which the story takes place
structure - the framework that determines how a story is put together,
its skeleton.
style - the characteristic ways that an individual author uses
language
suspense - techniques used by the author to keep readers interested in
the story
symbol - an image, object, character, or action that stands for an
idea beyond its literal meaning
theme - the story's main ideas, the message that the author intends
to communicate by telling the story
tone - the clues in a story that suggest the writer's own attitude
toward the elements of his or her story
Types of Characters in Fiction
Types of Characters in
Fiction
"What does characterization do
for a story? In a nutshell, it allows us to empathize with the protagonist and
secondary characters, and thus feel that what is happening to these people in
the story is vicariously happening to us; and it also gives us a sense of
verisimilitude, or the semblance of living reality. An important part of
characterization is dialogue, for it is both spoken and inward dialogue that
afford us the opportunity to see into the characters' hearts and examine their
motivations. In the best of stories, it is actually characterization that moves
the story along, because a compelling character in a difficult situation
creates his or her own plot."
Karen Bernardo, Characterization in Literature
In fictional literature, authors use many different types of characters to tell their stories. Different types of characters fulfill different roles in the narrative process, and with a little bit of analysis, you can usually detect some or all of the types below.
Karen Bernardo, Characterization in Literature
In fictional literature, authors use many different types of characters to tell their stories. Different types of characters fulfill different roles in the narrative process, and with a little bit of analysis, you can usually detect some or all of the types below.
- Major or central characters are vital to the development and resolution of the conflict. In other words, the plot and resolution of conflict revolves around these characters.
- Minor characters serve to complement the major characters and help move the plot events forward.
- Dynamic - A dynamic character is a person who changes over time, usually as a result of resolving a central conflict or facing a major crisis. Most dynamic characters tend to be central rather than peripheral characters, because resolving the conflict is the major role of central characters.
- Static - A static character is someone who does not change over time; his or her personality does not transform or evolve.
- Round - A rounded character is anyone who has a complex personality; he or she is often portrayed as a conflicted and contradictory person.
- Flat - A flat character is the opposite of a round character. This literary personality is notable for one kind of personality trait or characteristic.
- Stock - Stock characters are those types of characters who have become conventional or stereotypical through repeated use in particular types of stories. Stock characters are instantly recognizable to readers or audience members (e.g. the femme fatale, the cynical but moral private eye, the mad scientist, the geeky boy with glasses, and the faithful sidekick). Stock characters are normally one-dimensional flat characters, but sometimes stock personalities are deeply conflicted, rounded characters (e.g. the "Hamlet" type).
- Protagonist - The protagonist is the central person in a story, and is often referred to as the story's main character. He or she (or they) is faced with a conflict that must be resolved. The protagonist may not always be admirable (e.g. an anti-hero); nevertheless s/he must command involvement on the part of the reader, or better yet, empathy.
- Antagonist - The antagonist is the character(s) (or situation) that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend. In other words, the antagonist is an obstacle that the protagonist must overcome.
- Anti-Hero - A major character, usually the protagonist, who lacks conventional nobility of mind, and who struggles for values not deemed universally admirable. Duddy, in Mordecai Richler's The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, is a classic anti-hero. He's vulgar, manipulative and self-centered. Nevertheless, Duddy is the center of the story, and we are drawn to the challenges he must overcome and the goals he seeks to achieve.
- Foil - A foil is any character (usually the antagonist or an important supporting character) whose personal qualities contrast with another character (usually the protagonist). By providing this contrast, we get to know more about the other character.
- Symbolic
- A symbolic character is any major or minor character whose very
existence represents some major idea or aspect of society. For example, in
Lord of the Flies, Piggy is a symbol of both the rationality and
physical weakness of modern civilization; Jack, on the other hand,
symbolizes the violent tendencies (the Id) that William Golding believes
is within human nature.
- Direct presentation (or characterization) - This refers to what the speaker or narrator directly says or thinks about a character. In other words, in a direct characterization, the reader is told what the character is like. When Dickens describes Scrooge like this: "I present him to you: Ebenezer Scrooge....the most tightfisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!" - this is very direct characterization!
- Indirect presentation (or characterization) - This refers to what the character says or does. The reader then infers what the character is all about. This mimics how we understand people in the real world, since we can't "get inside their heads". In other words, in an indirect characterization, it's the reader who is obliged to figure out what the character is like. And sometimes the reader will get it wrong.
Ten (Direct or
Indirect) Ways in which a Character Can Be Revealed
a. By psychological description.
b. By physical description.
c. By probing what s/he thinks.
d. By what s/he says.
e. By how s/he says it.
f. By what s/he does.
g. By what others say about him or her.
h. By his or her environment.
i. By her reaction to others.
j. By his reaction to himself.
a. By psychological description.
b. By physical description.
c. By probing what s/he thinks.
d. By what s/he says.
e. By how s/he says it.
f. By what s/he does.
g. By what others say about him or her.
h. By his or her environment.
i. By her reaction to others.
j. By his reaction to himself.
http://learn.lexiconic.net/characters.htm
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