What you need to know!

Story Elements
Setting 
Characters
Plot
Conflict
Resolution
Point of
View
Theme
 Setting

Setting is the “where and
when” of a story. It is the time
and place during which the
story takes place.
 Setting
Setting
Time and place are where the action occurs

Details that describe:
 Furniture
 Scenery
 Transportation
 Clothing
 Dialects
 Weather
 Time of day
 Time of year
 Mood
Mood is the feeling that the author tries to

convey throughout the story. The atmos-
phere or emotional condition created by
the piece, within the setting. Does the au-
thor want the reader to be frightened or sad,
or does the story make the reader laugh
and think happy thoughts?
To figure out mood, examine how you feel
while reading the story. Often mood is
conveyed by the story’s setting.
 Characters
The person,
animals, and
things partici-
pating in a
story
 Characters
Protagonist and antagonist are used to describe
characters.

The protagonist is the main character of the story,
the one with whom the reader identifies. This
person is not necessary “good”.
 The antagonist is the force in opposition of the
protagonist; this person may not be “bad” or
“evil”, but he/she opposes the protagonist in a
significant way
 Plot (definition)
Plot is the organized pattern or se-
quence of events that make up a
story.
Plot is the literary element that de-
scribes the structure of a story. It
shows arrangement of events and
actions within a story.
 Parts of a Plot
 Exposition - introduction; characters, setting

and conflict (problem) are introduced
 Rising Action- events that occur as result of
central conflict
 Climax- highest point of interest or suspense
of a story
 Falling Action - tension eases; events show
the results of how the main character begins
to resolve the conflict
 Resolution- loose ends are tied up; the con-
flict is solved
 Plot Diagram
 3

4
2
1
5
 1. Exposition
 This usually occurs at the beginning of a short story.
Here the characters are introduced. We also learn
about the setting of the story. Most importantly, we
are introduced to the main conflict (main problem).
 2. Rising Action
 This part of the story begins to develop the conflict(s). A
building of interest or suspense occurs and leads to the cli-
max. Complications arise
 3. Climax
 This is the turning point of the story. Usually the main char-
acter comes face to face with a conflict. The main character
will change in some way. This is the most intense moment.
 4. Falling Action
 Action that follows the
climax and ultimately
leads to the resolution
 5. Resolution
 The conclusion; all loose ends
are tied up.
 Either the character defeats
the problem, learns to live
with the problem, or the
problem defeats the charac-
ter.
Putting It All Together
1. Exposition
 Beginning of
Story
2. Rising Action

Middle of Story
3. Climax

4. Falling Action
End of Story
5. Resolution
 Special Techniques used in a Story
 Suspense- excitement, tension, curiosity

 Foreshadowing- hint or clue about what will
happen in story
 Flashback- interrupts the normal sequence of
events to tell about something that happened
in the past
 Symbolism – use of specific objects or images
to represent ideas
 Surprise Ending - conclusion that reader
does not expect
Conflict
Conflict is the dramatic struggle be-
tween two forces in a story. Without
conflict, there is no plot.
 Conflict
 Conflict is a problem 
that must be solved; an issue be-
tween the protagonist and antagonist forces. It forms the
basis of the plot.
 Conflicts can be external or internal
 External conflict- outside force may be
person, group, animal, nature, or a
nonhuman obstacle
 Internal conflict- takes place in a charac-
ter’s mind
 Types of External
Conflict
Character vs Character

Character vs Nature

Character vs Society

Character vs Fate QuickTime™ and a

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 Type of Internal Con-
flict

Character vs. Self
 Point of View

First Person Point of View- a charac-
ter from the story is telling the story;
uses the pronouns “I” and “me”
Third Person Point of View- an out-
side narrator is telling the story; uses
the pronouns “he”, “she”, “they”
 Theme

 The theme is the central, general message,
the main idea, the controlling topic about
life or people the author wants to get across
through a literary work
 To discover the theme of a story, think big.
What big message is the author trying to say
about the world in which we live?
 What is this story telling me about how life
works, or how people behave?
 The Theme is also
the practical lesson ( moral) that we

learn from a story after we read it. The
lesson that teaches us what to do or
how to behave after you have learned
something from a story or something
that has happened to you.
Example: The lesson or teaching of the
story is be careful when you’re offered
something for nothing.
Any questions?

“Figuring it Out”
 Figurative and Literal Language

Literally: words function exactly as defined
The car is blue.
He caught the football.

Figuratively: figure out what it means

I’ve got your back.

You’re a doll.
^Figures of Speech
 Simile

Comparison of two things using “like” or “as.”

Examples

The metal twisted like a ribbon.

She is as sweet as candy.

 Important!

Using “like” or “as” doesn’t make a simile.

A comparison must be made.

Not a Simile: I like pizza.

Simile: The moon is like a pizza.

 Metaphor
Two things are compared without using “like” or “as.”

Examples

All the world is a stage.

Men are dogs.

Her heart is stone.

 Personification

Giving human traits to objects or ideas.

Examples

The sunlight danced.

Water on the lake shivers.

The streets are calling me.

 Hyperbole

Exaggerating to show strong feeling or effect.

Examples

I will love you forever.

My house is a million miles away.

She’d kill me.

 Understatement

Expression with less strength than expected.
The opposite of hyperbole.

I’ll be there in one second.

This won’t hurt a bit.

 Onomatopoeia

 A word that “makes” a sound
 SPLAT
 PING
 SLAM
 POP
 POW
 Idiom

 A saying that isn’t meant to be taken literally.
 Doesn’t “mean” what it says
 Don’t be a stick in the mud!
 You’re the apple of my eye.
 I have an ace up my sleeve.
 Pun
 A form of “word play” in which words
have a double meaning.

 I wondered why the baseball was getting
bigger and then it hit me.
 I’m reading a book about anti-gravity.
It’s impossible to put it down.
 I was going to look for my missing
watch, but I didn’t have the time.
 Proverb

 A figurative saying in which a bit of “wisdom” is
given.
 An apple a day keeps the doctor away
 The early bird catches the worm
 Oxymoron

 When two words are put together that contradict
each other. “Opposites”
 Jumbo Shrimp
 Pretty Ugly
 Freezer Burn
 Quiz

On a separate sheet of paper…

1. I will put an example of figurative language on the

board.
2. You will write whether it is an simile, metaphor, per-
sonification, hyperbole, pun, proverb, idiom, ono-
matopoeia, oxymoron or understatement.
3. You can use your notes.
 1

He drew a line as straight as an arrow.
 2

Knowledge is a kingdom and all who learn are kings and
queens.
 3

Can I see you for a second?
 4

The sun was beating down on me.
 5

A flag wags like a fishhook there in the sky.
 6

I'd rather take baths
with a man-eating shark,
or wrestle a lion
alone in the dark,
eat spinach and liver,
pet ten porcupines,
than tackle the homework,
my teacher assigns.
 7

Ravenous and savage
from its long
polar journey,

the North Wind

is searching
for food—
 8

Dinner is on the house.
 9

Can I have one of your chips?
 10

Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
 11.

 The clouds smiled down at me.
 12.

 SPLAT!
 13.

 She is as sweet as candy
 14.

 I could sleep forever!
 15.

 He drove his expensive car into a tree and found out
how the Mercedes bends
 16.

 I used to have a fear of hurdles, but I got over it
 17.

 The wheat field was a sea of gold.
 18.

 The streets called to him.
 19.

 POP!
 20.

 She was dressed to the nines.
 21.

 The early bird catches the worm.
 22.

 Old news
 23.

 Your face is killing me!
 24.

 She was as white as a ghost.
 25.

 She has a skeleton in her closet.
 
Elements of Poetry
•What is poetry?
•Poetry is not prose. Prose is the ordinary language
people use in speaking or writing.
•Poetry is a form of literary expression that captures in-
tense experiences or creative perceptions of the world
in a musical language.
•Basically, if prose is like talking, poetry is like singing.
•By looking at the set up of a poem, you can see the dif-
ference between prose and poetry.
Distinguishing Characteristics of Poetry
 Unlike prose which has a narrator, poetry has a speaker.
 A speaker, or voice, talks to the reader. The speaker is not

necessarily the poet. It can also be a fictional person, an ani-
mal or even a thing

Example
But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you.
from “Once Upon a Time” by Gabriel Okara
Distinguishing Characteristics of Poetry
• Poetry is also formatted differently from
prose. 
– A line is a word or row of words that may or
may not form a complete sentence.
– A stanza is a group of lines forming a unit. The
stanzas in a poem are separated by a space.
Example
Open it.

Go ahead, it won’t bite.

Well…maybe a little.
from “The First Book” by Rita Dove
 Figures of Speech
A figure of speech is a
word or expression that is
not meant to be read literally.

A simile is a figure of speech using a word such as

like or as to compare seemingly unlike things.
Example
Does it stink like rotten meat?
from “Harlem” by Langston Hughes
 Figures of Speech
 A metaphor also compares seemingly unlike things, but
does not use like or as. 

Example
the moon is a white sliver
from “I Am Singing Now” by Luci Tapahonso

• Personification attributes human like charac-

teristics to an animal, object, or idea.
Example
A Spider sewed at Night
from “A Spider sewed at Night” by Emily Dickinson
 Figures of Speech

 Hyperbole – a figure of speech in which great exaggeration
is used for emphasis or humorous effect.

Example
“You’ve asked me a million times!”

• Imagery is descriptive language that applies

to the senses – sight, sound, touch, taste, or
smell. Some images appeal to more than one
sense.
 Sound Devices

 Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the
beginning of words.
 Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within a
line of poetry.
 Onomatopoeia is the use of a word or phrase, such as
“hiss” or “buzz” that imitates or suggests the sound of
what it describes.
 Example of Sound De-
vices

“In the steamer is the trout
seasoned with slivers of ginger”
from “Eating Together” by Li-Young Lee

And the stars never rise but I

see the bright eyes
from “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
 Rhyme

Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed
vowel sound and any succeeding sounds in two
or more words.
Internal rhyme occurs within a line of poetry.
End rhyme occurs at the end of lines.
Rhyme scheme is the pattern of end rhymes
that may be designated by assigning a different
letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme
 Example

“All mine!" Yertle cried. "Oh, the things I now
rule!
A
A
I'm king of a cow! And I'm king of a mule! B
I'm king of a house! And what's more, beyond B
that, C
I'm king of a blueberry bush and cat! C
I'm Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see!”
from “Yertle the Turtle”
by Dr. Seuss
“Penelope” by Dorothy Parker
A
In the pathway of the sun,

In the footsteps of the breeze,
Where the world and sky are one,
B
A

He shall ride the silver seas, B

He shall cut the glittering C

wave. D
I shall sit at home, and rock; D
Rise, to heed a neighbor’s knock; E
Brew my tea, and snip my thread; E
Bleach the linen for my bed. C
They will call him brave.
 Rhythm and Meter
 Rhythm is the pattern of sound created by the arrangement of

stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. Rhythm can be
regular or irregular.
 Meter is a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
which sets the overall rhythm of certain poems. Typically,
stressed syllables are marked with / and unstressed syllables
are marked with  .
 In order to measure how many syllables are per line, they are
measured in feet. A foot consists of a certain number of sylla-
bles forming part of a line of verse.
 Iambic Pentameter

 The most common type of meter is called iambic pentame-
ter
 An iamb is a foot consisting of an initial unstressed sylla-
ble followed by a stressed syllable. For example, return,
displace, to love, my heart.
 A pentameter is a line of verse containing 5 metrical feet.
 Significance of Iambic
Pentameter

 Iambic Pentameter is significant to the study of poetry be-
cause
 1. It is the closest to our everyday speech
 2. In addition, it mimics the sound of heart beat; a sound
common to all human beings.
 3. Finally, one of the most influential writers of our times
uses iambic pentameter in all that he writes – William
Shakespeare.
Example #1 Examples
And death is better, as the millions know,

Than dandruff, night-starvation, or B.O

from “Letter to Lord Byron” by W.H.

Auden
Example #2
When you are old and grey and full of sleep

And nodding by the fire, take down this book.

W.B. Yeats
 Connotation and Denota-
tion

Connotation - the emotional and imaginative association sur-
rounding a word.

Denotation - the strict dictionary meaning of a word.

Example: You may live in a house, but we live in a

home.
Which of the following has a more
favorable connotation?
thrifty penny-pinching
pushy aggressive

politician statesman

chef cook

slender skinny
 Elements of Poetry
When we explore the connotation and denota-
tion of a poem, we are looking at the poet’s dic-
tion.

Diction – the choice of words by an author or

poet.

Many times, a poet’s diction can help unlock the

tone or mood of the poem.
 Elements of Poetry: Tone and Mood

Although many times we use the words mood and tone in-
terchangeably, they do not necessarily mean the same thing.
Mood – the feeling or atmosphere that a poet creates.
Mood can suggest an emotion (ex. “excited”) or the quality
of a setting (ex. “calm”, “somber”) In a poem, mood can be
established through word choice, line length, rhythm, etc.
Tone – a reflection of the poet’s attitude toward the subject
of a poem. Tone can be serious, sarcastic, humorous, etc.
 Narrative Poetry
Narrative poetry is verse that tells a story.
 of narrative poetry in-
Two of the major examples
clude:
 Ballads – a song or poem that tells a story. Folk bal-
lads, which typically tell of an exciting or dramatic
event, were composed by an anonymous singer or au-
thor and passed on by word of mouth for generations
before written down. Literary ballads are written in
imitation of folk ballads, but usually given an author.
 Epics – a long narrative poem on a great and serious
subject that is centered on the actions of a heroic fig-
ure
 Dramatic Poetry

 Dramatic poetry is poetry in which one or more characters
speak.
 Each speaker always addresses a specific listener.
 This listener may be silent (but identifiable), or the listener
may be another character who speaks in reply.
 Usually the conflict that the speaker is involved with is ei-
ther an intense or emotional.
 Lyric Poetry

 Lyric poetry is poetry that expresses a speaker’s personal
thoughts and feelings.
 Lyric poems are usually short and musical.
 This broad category covers many poetic types and styles,
including haikus, sonnets, free verse and many others.
 Haikus

 The traditional Japanese haiku is an unrhymed poem that
contains exactly 17 syllables, arranged in 3 lines of 5, 7, 5
syllables each.
 However, when poems written in Japanese are translated
into another language, this pattern is often lost.
 The purpose of a haiku is to capture a flash of insight that
occurs during a solitary observation of nature.
 Examples of Haikus

Since morning glories
hold my well-bucket hostage
I beg for water
- Chiyo-ni First autumn morning:
the mirror I stare into
shows my father’s face.
- Kijo Murakami
 Sonnets

 Background of Sonnets
 Form invented in Italy.
 Most if not all of Shakespeare’s sonnets are about love or a
theme related to love.
 Sonnets are usually written in a series with each sonnet a
continuous subject to the next. (Sequels in movies)
 Sequence of Sonnets

 Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets and can be broken up by
the characters they address.
 The Fair Youth: Sonnets 1 – 126 are devoted to a young man of
extreme physical beauty. The first 17 sonnets urge the young man
to pass on his beauty to the next generation through children.
From sonnet 18 on, Shakespeare shifts his viewpoint and writes
how the poetry itself will immortalize the young man and allow
his beauty to carry on.
 The Dark Lady: Sonnets 127 – 154 talk about an irresistible
woman of questionable morals who captivates the young poet.
These sonnets speak of an affair between the speaker and her, but
her unfaithfulness has hurt the speaker.
 The Rival Poet: This character shows up during the fair youth
series. The poet sees the rival poet as someone trying to take his
own fame and the poems refer to his own anxiety and insecurity.
 Structure of Sonnets

The traditional Elizabethan or Shakespearean sonnet con-
sists of fourteen lines, made up of three quatrains (stan-
zas of 4 lines each) and a final couplet (two line stanza).
Sonnets are usually written in iambic pentameter. The
quatrains traditionally follow an abab rhyme scheme, fol-
lowed by a rhyming couplet.
Sonnet 18
Example

William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed:

But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.
 Free Verse

 Free verse is poetry that has no fixed pattern of meter,
rhyme, line length, or stanza arrangement.
 When writing free verse, a poet is free to vary the poetic
elements to emphasize an idea or create a tone.
 In writing free verse, a poet may choose to use repetition
or similar grammatical structures to emphasize and unify
the ideas in the poem.
 Free Verse

While the majority of popular poetry today is
written as free verse, the style itself is not new.
Walt Whitman, writing in the 1800’s, created free
verse poetry based on forms found in the King
James Bible.
Modern free verse is concerned with the creation
of a brief, ideal image, not the refined ordered
(and artificial, according to some critics) patterns
that other forms of poetry encompass.
 Example of Free Verse

The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum a confirmed case,
He will never sleep any more as he did it in the cot in his mother’s bedroom;
The dour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws works at his case,
He turns is quid of tobacco, his eyes blurred with the manuscript;
The malformed limbs are tied to the anatomist’s table,
What is removed drops horribly in the pail;
The quadroon girl is sold at the stand….the drunkard nods by the barroom
stove…

Excerpt from “Song of Myself” (section 15)

Walt Whitman