Keystone Literature

The prevailing emotions or atmosphere of a work derived from literary devices such as dialogue and literary elements such as setting. Not always what might be expected based on its subject matter.

• Mood

• Tone

• Author's Intended Theme

• Atmosphere

A recurring subject, theme, or idea in a literary work.

• Motif

• Author's Purpose

• Central Message

• Extended Metaphor

A story, actual or fictional, expressed orally or in text.

• Narrative

• Short Story

• Memoir

• Plot

A person, animal, or thing telling the story or giving an account of something.

• Narrator

• Protagonist

• Perspective

• Main Character

The structure of a story. The sequence in which the author arranges events in a story. The structure often includes the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. It may have a protagonist who is opposed by an antagonist, creating what is called conflict.

• Plot

• Conflict

• Outline

• Table of Contents

The portion of a story following the climax in which the conflict is resolved. The resolution of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is neatly summed up in the following sentence: “Henry and Catherine were married, the bells rang and everybody smiled.”

• Resolution

• Falling Action

• Happily Ever After

• Inciting Incident

The part of a story where the plot becomes increasingly complicated. Leads up to the climax, or turning point.

• Rising Action

• Falling Action

• Climax

• Tension

The time and place in which a story unfolds

• Setting

• Protagonist

• Rising Action

• Characterization

A dramatic speech, revealing inner thoughts and feelings, spoken aloud by one character while alone on the stage.

• Soliloquy

• Dramatic Irony

• Monologue

• Dialogue

A topic of discussion or work; a major idea broad enough to cover the entire scope of a literary work. May be stated or implied. Clues may be found in the prominent and/or recurring ideas in a work.

• Theme

• Author's Purpose

• Message

• Moral