Literary Devices

• Arc


  A curved line that goes up and comes back down
• Story arc


  Situations in a story that take one or more characters upward and then bring them back down
• Stages in a typical story arc

  1. Exposition

  2. Rising action

  3. Climax

  4. Falling action

  5. Resolution
• Exposition


  Where the story is introduced and can include background on setting, the characters and one or more conflicts
• Rising action


  A series of events that create more and more tension before finally resulting in the climax
• Climax


  The highest point of the arc, when the conflicts reach a point where something big has to happen. It's the most exciting part and often the turning point in the lives of characters
• Falling action


  The events that happen after the climax and are the result of it
• Resolution


  The end of the story where the conflicts get resolved
• Allusion


  A reference in one literary text to another literary text or source
• Character


  People, animals and sometimes objects that serve a particular function when writers tell a story
• Types of characters


  • Protagonist
  • Antagonist
  • Major characters
  • Minor characters
  • Round characters
  • Flat characters
• Protagonist


  The main character in a story
• Antagonist


  The character in conflict with the protagonist
• Major characters


  The important characters in a story
• Minor characters


  Characters appearing once or only a few times in a story
• Round characters


  Complex characters that grow, change or react
• Flat characters


  One-sided characters, often only appearing to show something about a main character or to move the plot forward
• Imagery


  The way a writer tries to bring a scene to life in the mind of the reader
• Types of imagery


  • Gustatory (the way something tastes)
  • Olfactory (the way something smells)
  • Tactile (the way something feels when touched)
  • Auditory (the way something sounds)
  • Visual (the way something looks)
  • Kinaesthetic (the way something moves)
  • Organic (a feeling inside someone)
• Polysemy


  The levels of meaning a word, phrase, sentence or entire text can have