Transcript Intro to Literature - Saugerties Central Schools

Forms and Elements of Literature
 Novels and Novellas are long works of prose fiction
that tell a story about imaginary people or animals
called characters who live in a made-up world.
 A novella is briefer than a novel
 Each has a plot, a theme, and sometimes a subplot
 A short story is a brief work of prose fiction
 Tells a story about imaginary people or animals called
characters
 Plot is short and focused
 Nonfiction tells the story of a person’s life, narrates a
series of true events, describes a real scene, or presents
information
Literature created from the imagination, not presented
as fact, though it may be based on a true story or
situation. Types of literature in the fiction genre
include the novel, short story, and novella.
The word is from the Latin fictiō, “the act of making,
fashioning, or molding.”
 Poetry is literature that appears in verse form
 Many poems have a regular rhythm and possibly a
rhyme scheme
 Most poems use highly concise, musical, and powerful
language to tell a story or to convey a single image or
idea
 Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories
often tell about science and technology of the future. It is
important to note that science fiction has a relationship
with the principles of science—these stories involve
partially true-partially fictitious laws or theories of science.
It should not be completely unbelievable, because it then
ventures into the genre fantasy.
 Science fiction texts are often set in the future, in space, on
a different world, or in a different universe or dimension.
 Drama can be written in prose or poetry
 It tells a story through the words and actions of actors
who impersonate characters
 The text of a drama contains the characters’ spoken
words, or dialogue, and calls for stage directions,
telling actors how to speak and move
 Most dramas are meant to be performed
 The plot of a story is a sequence of actions
 A typical plot, diagrammed below, involves:
Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and
Resolution
 Imaginary people or animals that take part in the
action of the story
 Authors use Characterization to bring these
characters to life
 Characterization is the development of the
characters in a story. Usually the author reveals things
about the characters in the story (traits, thoughts,
actions or reactions) that tell you about them
 POV is the vantage point from which the story is told
 First person: narrator is involved in the action, refers
to himself or herself as “I”
 Third person: narrator is outside of action. Narrator is
referred to as “she” or “he”
 Omniscient third person: The narrator knows all of
the characters’ thoughts
 Setting is the story’s world
 It includes not only the time and place of the story’s
action, but also the customs and beliefs of that time
and place
 The Theme of a story is an insight into life that it offers
directly or indirectly
 Certain recurring themes appear in many stories
because they are important. Example: Good vs. Evil
 A struggle or problem a character must overcome
 This exists on the “Plot Diagram”
 The author’s voice or attitude about what he or she
writes
 The feeling a reader gets from a story
Now, let’s read!