MODULE 2: THE LITERARY ELEMENTS

The Different Literary Elements:

1. Characters are persons, animals and other things that make the story alive.
2. Setting basically refers to the time and place of the narrative. It also includes the set and background of
the story or play.
3. Plot refers to the strings of event present in the narrative.
4. Point of view is the narrator’s way of telling the story.
5. Conflict is struggle of the pre-eminent character with other characters or forces of the story.
6. Theme is the subject of the story.
7. Poetry is an art form that uses figurative languages such as simile and metaphor.
8. Drama is an art form that is usually done on stage.
9. Fiction is an art form that usually uses the ordinary language. Short story and novel are examples of fiction.
10.Dialogue is the exchange of ideas of the characters in a fiction.

Elements of Fiction
A. Character
Characters are beings who live in the story. They can be actual people from this planet to aliens from
somewhere in the outer space. At other times, they can be animals, and even inanimate objects; they can
even be supernatural presences or make-believe creatures like goblins, fairies, dragons, or elves.

Characters can be flat or round. A flat character is not sufficiently developed, described very little, and
plays very minor role in the narrative. Sometimes they are simply stock characters or those known simply
as the “wicked stepmom,” or the “loyal servant.” A round character, on the other hand, has a leading role
in the narrative. In contrast with a flat character, a round character is complex, multi-dimensional, and
well-developed that they seem “to come to life.” These characters may undergo change through the
circumstances where they are placed, hence making them lifelike.

Characters can also be static or dynamic (also called developing). A static character remains the same
throughout the narrative while a dynamic one undergoes change. The change can be brought by factors
and elements.
B. Setting
Simply put, setting answers the question “where” and “when” about the narrative. Answers to these
questions give rise to the two types of setting: the physical and chronological setting.
Physical setting refers to where the story takes place. It can be very general like in a farm, a school, or a
laboratory; or it can be specific, like “in the Metropolitan Naga Cathedral,” or “at McDonald’s Diversion Road
branch.”
The chronological setting can also be general or specific, as during the “Christmas season,” or “during
the early morning of December 16 in 2019.”
Aside from the chronological and physical setting, it also includes the following:
a) the immediate surroundings of the characters such as props in a scene: trees, furniture, food, inside
of a house or car, etc.,
b) the weather such as cloudy, sunny, windy, snow, or rain, etc., and
c) the geographical location including the city, state, country, and possibly even the universe, if the
writer is writing science fiction.
C. Plot
Plot is the order of events in the story. Writers usually follow a particular plot structure, called “Freytag’s
Pyramid,” although this is not always the case, as some may opt to start from the middle part or ending part
and go backwards to where the events began.
Freytag’s Pyramid is named after the German playwright of the 1800s, Gustav Freytag, and has the five-part
plot structure which includes the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement, also known
as resolution.
Freytag’s Pyramid
a) Exposition introduces the characters, time, and the problem. This occurs at the start of the story up to the
point where an inciting incident happens for the main character to handle or solve. The exposition creates the
beginning of the story.
b) Rising action includes the happenings that the main character encounters. As each event develops, more
complications arise, making the problem more complex for the character.
c) Climax refers to the turning point in the story. This is usually a single event with the greatest intensity and
uncertainty. Here the main character contends with the problem hence creating the peak of interest for the
readers.
d) Falling action are the events that unfold after the climax. The resulting events after the climax create an
emotional response from the reader.
e) Denouement or resolution provides closure and ties up loose ends in the story.
D. Conflict
Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces or entities. The main character encounters a conflict which
may be an adversary or any other force to contend with.
Two Types of Conflict:
1) External conflict could be man against nature (a mother and her child evacuating at the height of typhoon
Yolanda), or man against man (a student being harassed by a bully classmate).
2) Internal conflict could be man against society or culture, or man against himself or herself.
E. Point of view
Who is telling the story? How is the story told? Point of view answers these questions.
Three different types of point of view:
a) First person point of view means that the story is told from the viewpoint of one of the characters who may
be the protagonist or main character in the narrative. Here, first person personal pronouns are used like I, me,
my, we, and our.
b) The second person point of view which is seldom used, speaks to the reader as if the reader is the
protagonist. At other times, the narrator may use apostrophe, a figurative language where the speaker talks to
an absent or unidentified person. The second person pronouns are used here like you and your.
c) The third person point of view is classified into third person limited and third person omniscient. In both
types of view, the narrator is not a character nor in the story. In third person limited, the narrator is limited
only to one of the character’s thoughts. In third person omniscient, the narrator is “all-knowing” and “all-
seeing” and knows various characters’ thoughts. This view uses third person pronouns like he, she, it, and
they.
F. Theme
Theme is the underlying truth conveyed by the author through the story. Themes are usually universal which
means that they are understood by readers across cultures, eras, or nationalities.

Elements of Poetry
Rhyme
This is the easiest feature to identify in a poem. If the last word in the first line of poetry rhymes with the last
word in the second line, or the third, you can easily identify a pattern. Rhyme does not depend upon spelling;
it is a matter of sound, or pronunciation.
Rhyme Scheme
When you can identify a repeating pattern of similar-sounding words at the ends of the lines, then you have a
rhyme scheme. Simply assign a letter of the alphabet (starting with A, of course) to each word at the end of a
line of poetry; rhyming words are given the same letter. Sometimes a pair of words nearly rhymes; you assign
the same letter to each of these words also.
Rhythm
Rhythm (or meter) is a slightly more difficult aspect of poetry for some students. There is a natural rise and
fall in our language: we stress certain syllables and words more than others in order to emphasize meaning. In
poetry, these patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables or words form a rhythm or meter. There is a name
for each of the common patterns. In your study of poetry, it is not necessary to memorize and agonize over
these lists of terms. They are presented here merely for your information and as a starting point in
understanding the rhythm of poetry.
There were rules in writing poetry in the past. Poets arranged lines (also called verses) into groups called
stanzas. Usually, the poems were quite neat and evenly-shaped - the lines were roughly the same length, the
stanzas all contained a pre-determined number of lines. The rhyme schemes were regular, and the rhythm
was identifiable.

Elements of Drama
Drama is pretty much similar in certain narrative aspects to fiction, like the presence of characters, plot,
setting, conflict, and theme. Since drama is intended for performance, it has particular elements, though,
which are distinct from other genres.
This includes presentation elements like venue, costumes, set design, lighting design, and music.