Literary Concepts and Definitions

Text Structure

• Chronology (Sequence)

• Narrative Arc

• Character Development

• Theme Exploration

Dialogue

• When characters talk. Look for the 'quotation marks.'

• A type of narrative that describes actions.

• A method of character development through thoughts.

• A visual representation of a scene.

Text Feature

• Things that help you learn from nonfiction text (like bold words, pictures, or charts).

• Elements that are only found in fiction texts.

• Decorative images that do not provide information.

• Random words that are highlighted for emphasis.

Title

• The name of the book, article, or story.

• A brief summary of the content.

• The author's name.

• The publication date.

Character’s Point of View

• What the character thinks or feels.

• What the character sees in the environment.

• What the character says to others.

• What the character does in the story.

Plot

• The sequence of events in a story, including the characters' development.

• The main theme or message conveyed by the author.

• What happens in the story from start to finish. Includes the problem and how it’s solved.

• The setting and background information of the story.

Stanza

• A group of lines in a poem, similar to a paragraph in prose.

• A type of rhyme scheme used in poetry.

• A literary device that involves the repetition of sounds.

• A narrative poem that tells a story.

Central Idea

• The main theme of a story or article.

• A summary of the author's biography.

• What the whole story or article is mostly about.

• The setting and characters of the story.

Alliteration

• The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of words in a sentence or a line of poetry.

• The use of similar sounding words at the end of lines in poetry.

• A figure of speech that compares two unlike things using 'like' or 'as'.

• The repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.

Illustration

• Pictures that help you understand the story.

• A type of drawing used for decoration.

• A method of storytelling without words.

• A visual representation of data.