Glossary of Literary Terms

J David Moton

Literary Terms: Understanding good literature is a lot like being a detective.  Instead of solving a crime, however, you’re trying to solve  the overall meaning of the piece, and you must use several tools to find the clues which will assemble to form that meaning.  The tools are Literary Terms, several of which are listed below…

• Theme: any significant, recurring, or developed idea, concept, or argument in a work of literature.  Some works present a central or dominant theme; others play with or interweave a number of related themes.

• Tone: used to describe an author’s attitude toward a reader, although some commentators use the term interchangeably with mood, which in the strictest sense refers to the author’s attitude toward the theme of the work.

• Symbol: Derived from the Greek verb sumballein, meaning “To throw together and to compare.”  A symbol is an image which refers to deeper meaning, concept, or abstract idea important to the theme of the work.

•  Plot: What happens in a story and why it happens.  To appreciate plot, some understanding of motives and causes that create or drive the incidents and actions is needed.

            Exposition: how the audience learns the major characters, setting, and themes.

            Rising Action: a series of complications the character(s) undergo.

            Climax: Turning point or crisis from which no return seems possible.

            Falling Action: Attempts to resolve the crisis or turning point.

            Denouement: The “unknotting” of all remaining elements of the story.

• Character: A fictional person in a narrative or dramatic work of literature.  Generally speaking, characters are created by three means:

A)    Exposition: the revealing of important information about characters, setting, time, etc.

B)     Action: the events in which a character takes place, the things a character does.

C)    Dialogue: the words spoken by characters.  Like in real life, we can’t always assume they are true...

• Narrator/Speaker: the person (or being) telling the tale or relating the poem.  The teller of the tale.

            First Person: The narrator is a character in the tale, so an author restricts the

narrator’s scope to what he or she might reasonably be expected to experience

first-hand from other characters or sources.  Often, these narrators are not

trustworthy.

Third Person Omniscient: The narrator, generally not a character, knows

everything about characters’ actions, thoughts, and feelings whereas

Third Person Limited: Still outside of the story, the narrator focuses attention on

the perceptions, thoughts and feelings of a single character.

Epistolary: A novel told through the guise of letters, journal/diary entries, fictional newspaper

articles and other assembled clippings.  It is commonly, therefore, made up of several distinct narrators as

many clips are written by a different characters.  Popular examples include Bram Stoker's Dracula and

Alice Walker's The Color Purple.

• Setting: the time and place in which the action of a narrative occurs.  Could also include historical setting, social setting, cultural setting, and so on.

• Epiphany: derives from the Greek epiphainein, meaning “to show or to manifest.”  In a literary context, an epiphany is a sudden flash of insight or recognition of importance.  It is a point when someone finally understands the answer to a larger question.

• Utopia/Dystopia: A utopia is an ideal or perfect state or society meant to show how perfect the world could be if managed differently.  Often, it is a world without war, poverty, crime, or social injustices. A dystopia (Greek for “bad place) is the exact opposite.  It is used to describe a work of literature that projects a future world in which the human condition is wholly degraded, and the world is much worse than our own.  They usually express concern over a potentially dreadful future.

• Postmodernism: a term offered by literary historians to refer from the period from the WWII until the present.  It encompasses everything from literature to film, art, architecture, and popular culture.  Postmodernism describes an age transformed by information technology, shaped by electronic images, and fascinated by popular culture.

Note: These definitions, though modified, are originally found in Barton and Hudson’s A Contemporary Guide to Literary Terms.