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Literary Elements

Prologue/Epilogue

Example of a Prologue is from the book of In Their Own Words Abraham LincolnFour Score and Seven Years Ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”  These are the opening words of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Only ten sentences long, it is often called the most famous speech in American history. 

An example of Epilogue came form the book of Planting The Trees of Kenya In 2004, Wangari was the first women form Africa to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. It was awarded to her for the connection she made between the health of her country’s natural environment and the well-being of her country’s people. In Kenya, where a vast majority of the people depend directly on the land for survival, that connection is glaringly evident.

 
Antagonist-a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary.  One who opposes and contends against another; an adversary.  The principal character in opposition to the protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama.  a character in a story or poem who deceives, frustrates, or works again the main character, or protagonist, in some way. The antagonist doesn’t necessarily have to be an person. It could be death, the devil, an illness, or any challenge that prevents the main character from living “happily ever after.
 
Caricature-a picture, description, etc., ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities or defects of persons or things: His caricature of the mayor in this morning's paper is the best he's ever drawn.  to make a caricature of; represent in caricature.  A representation, especially pictorial or literary, in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect. An exaggeration, or distortion by exaggeration, of parts or characteristics, as in a picture. In art or literature, portrayal of an individual or thing that exaggerates and distorts prominent characteristics so as to make them appear ridiculous. Caricature is commonly a medium for satire.
 
Point of View-a specified or stated manner of consideration or appraisal; standpoint: from the point of view of a doctor.  an opinion, attitude, or judgment: He refuses to change his point of view in the matter.  the position of the narrator in relation to the story, as indicated by the narrator's outlook from which the events are depicted and by the attitude toward the characters.  The attitude or outlook of a narrator or character in a piece of literature, a movie, or another art form.  a way the events of a story are conveyed to the reader, it is the “vantage point” from which the narrative is passed from author to the reader. The point of view can vary from work to work. For example, in the Book of Genesis the objective third person point of view is presented, where a “nonparticipant” serves as the narrator and has no insight into the characters' minds.
 
Structure-the pattern of organization of a language as a whole or of arrangements of linguistic units, as phonemes, morphemes or tagmemes, within larger units.  the relationship or organization of the component parts of a work of art or literature: the structure of a poem.
 
Climax-the highest or most intense point in the development or resolution of something; culmination: His career reached its climax when he was elected president. in a dramatic or literary work a decisive moment that is of maximum intensity or is a major turning point in a plot.
 
Internal Conflict-in literature and drama, a struggle which takes place in the protagonist's mind and through which the character reaches a new understanding or dynamic change
 
Theme -The story is about how they communicate and the ways different cultures approach problems and how they view the world. (Yellow Eye)
 
Protagonist-A protagonist is considered to be the main character or lead figure in a novel, play, story, or poem.  It may also be referred to as the "hero" of a work. Over a period of time the meaning of the term protagonist has changed. The word protagonist originated in ancient Greek drama and referred to the leader of a chorus. Soon the definition was changed to represent the first actor onstage. In some literature today it may be difficult to decide who is playing the role of the protagonist.
 
Hyperbole-obvious and intentional exaggeration.  an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”  A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in I could sleep for a year or This book weighs a ton. A figure of speech in which the expression is an evident exaggeration of the meaning intended to be conveyed, or by which things are represented as much greater or less, better or worse, than they really are; a statement exaggerated fancifully, through excitement, or for effect.  Hyperbole is common in love poetry, in which it is used to convey the lover's intense admiration for his beloved. An example is the following passage describing Portia:Why, if two gods should play some heavenlymatchAnd on the wager lay two earthly women,And Portia one, there must be something elsePawned with the other, for the poor rudeworldHath not her fellow.
 
Alliteration-You won't believe your ears! The Baffling and Bewildering Barking! Cat!!! Its shocking. (Rudolph's Second Christmas.
Assonance
 
Unity- (in literature and art) a relation of all the parts or elements of a work constituting a harmonious whole and producing a single general effect.  In dramatic composition, one of the principles by which a uniform tenor of story and propriety of representation are preserved; conformity in a composition to these; in oratory, discourse, etc., the due subordination and reference of every part to the development of the leading idea or the eastablishment of the main proposition.
 
Denouement-literally meaning the action of untying, a denouement is the final outcome of the main complication in a play or story. Usually the climax (the turning point or "crisis") of the work has already occurred by the time the denouement occurs. It is sometimes referred to as the explanation or outcome of a drama that reveals all the secrets and misunderstandings connected to the plot. In the drama Othello, there is a plot to deceive Othello into believing that his wife, Desdemona, has been unfaithful to him. As a result of this plot, Othello kills his wife out of jealousy, the climax of the play. The denounement occurs soon after, when Emilia, who was Desdemona's mistress, proves to Othello that his wife was in fact honest, true, and faithful to him. Emilia reveals to Othello that her husband, Iago, had plotted against Desdemona and tricked Othello into believing that she had been unfaithful. Iago kills Emilia in front of Othello, and she dies telling Othello his wife was innocent. As a result of being mad with grief, Othello plunges a dagger into his own heart. Understanding the denouement helps the reader to see how the final end of a story unfolds, and how the structure of stories works to affect our emotions.
 
External Conflict-in literature, a struggle between the protagonist and another character against nature or some outside force
 
Dialogue-conversation between two or more persons.  the conversation between characters in a novel, drama, etc.  in its widest sense, the recorded conversation of two or more persons, especially as an element of drama or fiction. As a literary form, it is a carefully organized exposition, by means of invented conversation, of contrasting philosophical or intellectual attitudes.
 
 

Onomatopeia-thwoink, gulp, cha-klick!, whoa, uh-oh, yipes (Time Warp Trio Meet You at waterloo Jon Scieszka
 
Simile/Metaphor-Simile "It's as red as a beet"(Rudolph the red nose reindeer) Metaphor The room he came down in was blacker than ink. (Rudolph the red nose reindeer)
 
Personification-One morning a little rabbit sat on a bank He picked his ears and listened to the trit-trot trit-trot of a pony. (The tale of Benjamin Bunny)
 
Direct Characterization-in literature and drama, the method of character development in which the author simply tells what the character is like
 
Fore shadowing-he organization and presentation of events and scenes in a work of fiction or drama so that the reader or observer is prepared to some degree for what occurs later in the work. This can be part of the general atmosphere of the work, or it can be a specific scene or object that gives a clue or hint as to a later development of the plot. The disastrous flood that occurs at the end of George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss (1860), for example, is foreshadowed by many references to the river and to water in general throughout the book.
 
Mood/Tone-mood-a set of categories for which the verb is inflected in many languages, and that is typically used to indicate the syntactic relation of the clause in which the verb occurs to other clauses in the sentence, or the attitude of the speaker toward what he or she is saying, as certainty or uncertainty, wish or command, emphasis or hesitancy. Tone-Manner of expression in speech or writing: took an angry tone with the reporters. In this sense, the word is metaphorically applied to character or faculties, intellectual and moral; as, his mind has lost its tone. The character of voice expressing an emotion.
 
 
 
 

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