Chapter 15. Introduction to Literature

Genres [14]:

Fiction: novels, short stories, fables.

Poetry: lyric, narrative, sonnets, haiku, free verse.

Drama: plays written to be performed.

Non-fiction: biography, autobiography, essays, journalism.

Elements of fiction: plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution), character, setting, point of view (first person, third person limited, third person omniscient), theme and conflict.

Elements of poetry: speaker, imagery, rhythm, rhyme, stanza, line, tone and sound devices.

Drama: dialogue, stage directions, acts and scenes, soliloquy.

Responding to a text. State your interpretation, support it with evidence from the text, and discuss how language and structure create meaning. A basic analysis paragraph follows point, evidence, explanation [14][16].

The English literary tradition. Key landmarks include Beowulf (Old English), Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (Middle English), Shakespeare’s plays (Early Modern), and the rich modern tradition of literature in English from Britain, North America, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Oceania [1][2].

Review: List the five parts of a typical plot structure. (Answer: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution.)