ELA 1-2

Freytag's Pyramid

1. Exposition: setting the scene. The writer introduces the characters and setting, providing description and background. 2. Inciting Incident: something happens to begin the action. A single event usually signals the beginning of the main conflict. The inciting incident is sometimes called 'the complication'. 3. Rising Action: the story builds and gets more exciting. 4. Climax: the moment of greatest tension in a story. This is often the most exciting event. It is the event that the rising action builds up to and that the falling action follows. 5. Falling Action: events happen as a result of the climax and we know that the story will soon end. 6. Resolution: the character solves the main problem/conflict or someone solves it for him or her. 7. Dénouement: (a French term, pronounced: day-noo-moh) the ending. At this point, any remaining secrets, questions or mysteries which remain after the resolution are solved by the characters or explained by the author. Sometimes the author leaves us to think about the THEME or future possibilities for the characters.

Genre

A French word meaning form or type. Novel, essay, poetry, or play.

Dramatic Irony

A form of irony that is expressed through a work's structure: an audience's awareness of the situation in which a work's characters exist differs substantially from that of the characters', and the words and actions of the characters therefore take on a different—often contradictory—meaning for the audience than they have for the work's characters.

Situational Irony

An occasion in which the outcome is significantly different from what was expected or considered appropriate. Also called irony of fate, irony of events, and irony of circumstance.

Mood & Atmosphere

Different from tone. The general feeling of the work.

Climax

High point in a story, point of most intense interest, and point of no return.

Verbal Irony

Involves what one does not mean.

Turning Point

Part of the plot, when one of the central character changes somehow.

Rhetorical Irony

Rhetorical is sub-category verbal irony. Like sarcasm. Used with comments that do not need responses. To convince, or assuming they agree with the speaker.

Tone

The attitude of the author towards the work.

Sarcasm

The lowest, crudest form of irony.

Plot

The sequence of events in a literary work.

Irony

When something different than what it is supposed to be or thought to be. Rhetorical, verbal, dramatic or situational.