Glossary
Glossary
A glossary of literary terms — from metaphor to free verse.
Literature01Versification
Rhythm, metre, rhyme and the stanza.
44 termsOpen
Literature02Tropes & Figures
Metaphor, metonymy and rhetorical figures.
43 termsOpen
Literature03Stylistics
Language, register and stylistic devices.
52 termsOpen
Literature04Genres & Forms
Novel, novella, sonnet — genres and folk forms.
91 termsOpen
Literature05Movements
Baroque, romanticism, modernism, avant-garde.
38 termsOpen
Literature06Composition
Plot, fabula, conflict and structure.
50 termsOpen
Literature07Character & Image
Hero, character, lyric subject, archetype.
30 termsOpen
Literature08Theory & Criticism
Literary theory, criticism and book culture.
68 termsOpen
Composition
← All dimensions
Climax
The climax is the peak moment in the development of the plot, the point of the highest tension of the conflict, when the struggle of forces…
Collision
Collision is a sharp clash of opposing forces, characters, circumstances, or ideas in a literary work — the concrete form in which conflict…
Conflict
Conflict is the clash of opposing interests, views, characters, social forces, or inner aspirations, which constitutes the driving force of…
Denouement
The denouement is the concluding component of the plot, the moment of the resolution of the main conflict, when the final result of the cla…
Exposition
Exposition is the initial component of the plot, preceding the inciting incident and introducing the reader into the work's fictional world…
Fabula
Fabula is the totality of a work's events in their natural, chronological, and causal sequence — that is, 'what actually happened', as oppo…
Inciting Incident
The inciting incident (zav'iazka) is a component of the plot — the event that initiates the work's main conflict and gives impetus to the d…
Peripeteia
Peripeteia is a sudden, unexpected turn in the development of the plot action, a sharp change of the situation, circumstances, or the hero'…
Plot
Plot is the system of events of a literary work in their cause-and-effect and temporal unfolding, through which the characters, conflicts,…
Rising Action
Rising action is the central and largest-in-volume component of the plot, embracing the course of events between the inciting incident and…
